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stories filed under: "xbox"
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Nov 11th 2009 8:01pm


Filed Under:
freedom to tinker, mod chips, uk, xbox

Companies:
microsoft



UK Again Says That Mod Chipping Isn't Legal

from the you-bought-it,-but-you-don't-own-it dept

The war against actually being able to own the products you (thought you) bought continues. An appeal by a guy convicted for installing mod chips in video game consoles in the UK has been rejected. Even though the guy himself might not have been violating copyright law, apparently the fact that such mod chips could be used by others to potentially violate copyright law is enough to get him convicted. So, basically, modifying the hardware that you legally purchased? Not legal.

And... in somewhat related news, a bunch of folks have sent in the story of Microsoft cutting off what may be hundreds of thousands of players from Xbox Live for using modded consoles. Microsoft, obviously, is trying to stop players from cheating (one use of a modded console), which is understandable, and certainly within Microsoft's right. Still, the action does come across as a bit heavy handed. There are perfectly good reasons to mod a gaming console, such as to play unofficial games -- and as much as I understand the desire to stop people from cheating or playing pirated games, it still seems like you should be able to modify hardware that you legally purchased.

46 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Oct 23rd 2009 2:04pm


Filed Under:
3rd party storage, freedom to tinker, xbox

Companies:
microsoft



Microsoft Wants To Block Out 3rd Party Storage

from the freedom-to-tinker? dept

faceless writes "Xbox Live's Major Nelson (aka Microsoft's Larry Hyrb, Director of Programming for Xbox Live) announced on his blog that the newest Xbox 360 Dashboard update will block unauthorized 3rd party memory devices. These 3rd party items are big sellers because Microsoft charges $30 for a 512MB Memory card and $130 for a 120GB HDD. A 3rd Party 2GB Memory Card is $40 and is also expandable as it supports Micro SDHC cards. A 3rd party HDD is $70, and the Microsoft HDD's are just 2.5" drives in a proprietary enclosure.

Consumers having larger memory devices is good for Microsoft, since more space means people can buy more Xbox Live Arcade games and more Downloadable Content such as new map packs, levels and expansions for retail disk based games, as well as buying and renting Movies and TV Shows via the Xbox 360's online marketplace. Another important factor is these devices have been sold for years. In the case of the hard drives, the Microsoft and 3rd party devices look identical, so many consumers may not even know that they have purchased an unauthorized device.

People on various videogame forums, such as NeoGAF are worried about the content they bought not working and not even being able to get online on their Xbox 360 console if their memory device is locked out by the update."

Once again, this seems incredibly short-sighted by Microsoft. The idea of breaking legitimately purchased hardware that makes the core of Microsoft's profit center (the games) more valuable, this only serves to piss off Microsoft customers and drive them away from Microsoft. Blocking out third party hardware -- especially without a detailed explanation for why -- goes against the basic right to do what you want with your own, legally purchased, hardware.

43 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Oct 14th 2008 7:05am


Filed Under:
delivery, lawsuits, xbox

Companies:
dhl, microsoft



Microsoft Sues DHL Over Trainload Of Dropped Xboxes

from the big-or-small,-they'll-break-them-all dept

Over the years, I've certainly had my fair share of bad experiences with both UPS and FedEx, but for me, personally, no delivery company has been worse on a regular basis than DHL. Almost every time I've had to deal with the company the experience has been somewhere between bad and ridiculous -- and I've heard similar stories from friends as well, from undelivered packages, to crushed packages -- even to a story of a phone shipped via DHL that arrived with the box torn open and the phone missing. It appears that we individuals aren't alone in our annoyances with DHL. Microsoft is now suing the company for how it dealt with a shipment of Xboxes that were on a train that derailed. Consider this a scaled up version of the old "crushed box" delivery that you or I might be used to. Apparently, the train had six containers full of Xboxes that were damaged -- with DHL refusing to pay for the damages or missing Xboxes that didn't make the rest of the journey.

72 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Overhype

Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Tue, May 27th 2008 7:15pm


Filed Under:
bad interface, long tail, shelf space, video games, xbox, xbox live

Companies:
microsoft



Microsoft Apparently Still Confused About The Long Tail Concept

from the there's-no-shelf-space dept

The concept of "The Long Tail" seems so common to be almost a cliche these days. While it used to be a part of nearly every startup's VC pitch, it's long passed the point where VCs now roll their eyes when they hear about a "long tail" company. However, it appears that plenty of folks are still unfamiliar with the concept. For example, Microsoft seems to be killing off Xbox Live games that aren't performing well, even if they have some audience. Microsoft claims that it's because it's too confusing to find games, but as Chris Kohler points out in the link above, that's a problem of Microsoft's Xbox Live interface -- not the fact that there are too many games. Cutting off the games doesn't make much sense. It doesn't "cost" Microsoft much to keep them on the shelves, and these unwanted games can bring in plenty of revenue in the aggregate. The real problem is that Microsoft needs to fix its UI.

12 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Predictions

Predictions

by Joseph Weisenthal

Tue, Jul 10th 2007 4:35pm


Filed Under:
xbox

Companies:
microsoft



Analyst: Microsoft To Cut Xbox Prices To Match Sony

from the price-war dept

The smoldering pile of carnage that is today's video game industry looks set to grow even larger, as analysts expect Microsoft to slash the price of the Xbox 360. Such a move would be a response to Sony's own price cuts on the PS3, which have woefully underperformed initial projections. For its part, Microsoft denies that it has plans to cut prices, but in the end, the market may force its hand. With losses continuing to mount in the Xbox division, the company can ill afford to cede any more market share. What's happening right now at Sony and Microsoft would feel very familiar to companies in cyclical, commoditized industries, like PCs or semiconductors. The fact that these companies have let themselves fall into this rut is a good sign that by focusing on computing power, graphics and price, actual innovation and creativity have fallen by the wayside.

17 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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