After the current Xbox Live banning that occurred a few weeks ago, a Texas Based Law Firm is in the process of organizing a class action lawsuit. On their website, Abington IP has a form for those who were banned to submit their information and story.
From reading the information on the site, it’s not due to being banned from Xbox Live itself, but also what Microsoft did personally to your console.
Additional *reported* problems resulting from the bans include, but are not necessarily limited to:
* Disabling/altering Xbox functionality *NOT* associated with Xbox Live or piracy (HDD functionality for example);
* Disabling/altering Xbox functionality *NOT* associated with piracy (Netflix, game add-ons, music, and arcade games for example);
* Obtaining information from Xbox consoles without permission of the owner;
* Other problems/consequences associated with these bans have been reported here and elsewhere. [Read More]
As if Halloween isn’t enough for today, Microsoft has confirmed that it has started the mass banning of modified drives in the Xbox 360. These drives are known to be flashed with iXtreme Firmware. This flashing allows members of the Xbox community to play Pirated games in their console, or what we like to refer to it as, “Backup Games.”
In response to inquiries from IGN, a Microsoft spokesperson said:
?We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs. In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox LIVE.?
To keep from being banned, users who have their drive flashed, should always remember to verify their backups with ABGX. ABGX will verify that the backup you’re going to play, is “Stealth Verified”, which will stop Microsoft from determining that you have a flashed drive.
You should also make sure you’re running the latest version of iXtreme Firmware, and verifying your backups with abgx.
For more information on iXtreme Firmware and ABGX, head over to iXtreme.net