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It turns out that Microsoft not only has the power to ban you from Xbox Live permanently, but it can also turn your Xbox One console in to a useless brick, as the beta testers behind the Gears of War Remastered leak have found out.
This week, videos showing off the latest internal build of Microsoft's unannounced Gears of War remake were leaked on to the web. These videos originated from testers working for VMC, a third-party agency hired by Microsoft. Obviously neither company was particularly happy when the leaks hit the web. The leakers were quickly found and have been banned from VMC's beta testing program. Additionally, Microsoft has taken matters in to its own hands, removing access to their consoles entirely.
Microsoft also permanently disabled their Xbox LIVE accounts (as well as other suspected accounts present on their Xbox One kits) and temporarily blocked all of their Xbox One privileges – meaning that for a period of time which Microsoft decides on depending on the severity of the offense, their Xbox One is entirely unusable.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday May 16 2015, @02:23PM
Whether this story is true or not, people find it very believable that Microsoft can brick your device, and wants to brick your device if they get the idea you're a pirate. And everyone realizes it's all too easy to be accused of piracy and hit with punishments, without any proof or evidence. Then maybe they get scared and run from Microsoft. If I was even interested in a gaming console, I certainly would run away from the Xbox.
Maybe Microsoft's reputation for being tough on piracy and generally anti-social is finally catching up to them? Very slowly, but it's coming. Who can trust a company that gets in bed with the MAFIAA, funds and directs the Business Software Alliance, and all the time while moralizing about piracy, cheats and lies everywhere? There was the Microsoft Tax, the Halloween documents, Office file formats, especially the unethical methods employed to ram OOXML through the standardization process, the bundling of Internet Explorer, their campaign to squash Ogg Vorbis, and their attempt to take over Java. They've been in court over and over for their behavior, losing more often than not, but then ignoring court orders evidently because they have the arrogance to think they are above the law. At any time, they could fire up another Windows Genuine Advantage campaign, and trot out that really stupid and insulting propaganda about how this very user unfriendly move is actually for us. They really stumbled with the initial overly strong anti-piracy measures they baked into Windows Vista, and only backed away, reluctantly, because the market forced them to. Really, the mistake of dumping the start button in Windows 8 was much more forgivable. They really were honestly trying to improve the UI. Whereas Vista's DRM and anti-piracy measures were most definitely not improvements, and everyone realized that no matter how much their propaganda machine tried to spin it otherwise. The more they tried to spin that one, the more they made themselves look bad.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2015, @03:42PM
Whether this story is true or not, people find it very believable that Microsoft can brick your device, and wants to brick your device if they get the idea you're a pirate. And everyone realizes it's all too easy to be accused of piracy and hit with punishments, without any proof or evidence. Then maybe they get scared and run from Microsoft. If I was even interested in a gaming console, I certainly would run away from the Xbox.
This is yet another reason why people shouldn't be using proprietary software, and especially not DRM-ridden proprietary software.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Saturday May 16 2015, @04:33PM
Yeah everyone should write their own OS and games.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2015, @07:00PM
Or use free (as in freedom) software.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday May 17 2015, @02:31AM
And I never cease to be astonished that people still run that OS on their machines. Microsoft's marketing is terrible. I used to work in advertising, and they spend a mint on it. But it sucks. The creative directors assigned to their account must absolutely hate them, because MS allows them to do nothing creative. Remember that campaign they had that featured Seinfeld like, 8 years after his show went off the air? They spent fortunes on it and it was an epic flop. Likewise their UI is terrible, and their quality control is terrible.
A long time ago people said they only stayed with Microsoft because of Office, but it's been years now that Open Source alternatives have been good enough, and Google Docs have taken bites out of them, too, because it's easier to collaborate on documents with others who are working on multiple devices (and don't require expensive Sharepoint licenses).
Other people said they stayed with MS because they can't part with their games. Except, now that there's Steam, that's not very true anymore either.
It's quite academic to me personally, because I've been on linux for 16+ years, and everyone else in my family runs it now, too. But I wonder how long inertia can carry a company like Microsoft that keeps shooting itself in the foot over and over.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by khedoros on Sunday May 17 2015, @06:52AM
Except, now that there's Steam, that's not very true anymore either.
I have 145 games listed on my Steam account. Out of those, 37 support Linux. Games are still a major reason to keep Windows around, although the situation is *much* improved over when I started using Linux about 15 years ago.