Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) this week banned as many as 1 million players from its 20 million-strong Xbox Live gaming service, contending they had modified their consoles to play games illegally downloaded from file-sharing sites, technology- news provider InformationWeek.com reported Wednesday.
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Does Microsoft's Action mean the eventual death of the Xbox Game Console. Will people start turning back toward computers they build for themselves to develop and play games on. This action certainly was not just the slap in the face of people who may deserve what they got, but also a slap in the face of techheads.

Yes, the gaming service has 20 million users and slapping the face of 1 million players who may very well have deserved it doesn't seem like a very dangerous move by Microsoft. But if Microsoft develops a reputation as a Company that does not recognize privacy, how quickly will people start looking at all the alternatives for game play. Especially when people look at Windows and it seems like for every security hole they feed an update for there seems to be another security hole created. Will people use a search engine from a company that puts its self interest ahead of privacy.

How many games were hacked and backward engineered for piracy and how many were actually altered for more entertaining game play?????

We all know the story of how Bill Gates and Steve Jobs entered the old Xerox Labs like sugar junkie pirates in a Candy Store.

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Consoles banned from Xbox Live will still function if games are played offline, but players booted from the Xbox Live service will not be able to sign into their accounts or engage other players over the Internet.

"All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live," the Redmond, Wash., company said in a statement.

Article: http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/peripherals/showArticle.jht...