Nintendo released a recent update that once again tries to secure some existing bugs on the console, breaks some things, deletes others. This time they’ve also gone around and modified the TOS. As usual, mass panic ensues.
The people who are panicking can be divided roughly into two groups (non exclusive):
- The pirates
- The clueless
This should go without saying, but we don’t want to have anything to do with the former group. Nintendo is obviously going to fight piracy (and that’s going to hurt homebrew). We’ll have to deal with the homebrew part, but don’t expect that to help piracy in any way. It may, or it may not. And if it doesn’t, pirates will have to deal with fighting nintendo themselves.
The usual messages about WADs, “backups”, and all that crap are going straight to /dev/null, and we’re seeing... More »
Yesterday we reported news of Microsoft starting a new wave of XBox Live bans on modded XBox 360 consoles.
Today, Microsoft's Major "Larry Hyrb" Nelson has confirmed it stating the following via his blog linked above:
Xbox 360 Console banning: I’ve gotten a few messages and seen some forum threads pop up on console bannings so I thought I’d post and let folks know what’s up.
In our our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games.
You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void your warranty a... More »
As mcdevitt1985 has reported (linked above) along with some users from our own XBox 360 Forum HERE, it appears Microsoft is on another XBox Live ban rampage.
According to reports, today they have issued a new wave of bans against XBox 360 consoles with modified DVD firmware. That being said, it's recommended to stay off XBL for the time being if you have a modified system until further details are available.
To quote: Dunno if its a massive wave or not, but my console was literally just banned from live within the hour.
If anyone else gets banned let me know please. iXtreme 1.4 and all games were burned right and stealthed.
Recently it was reported that if you were banned from the EA Forums you were also going to be banned from playing their games online.
Today EA Apoc has confirmed this initial statement was inaccurate and a mistake, to quote:
Hey everyone,
If you didn't notice, your C&C Community Manager, me, had a bit of a run-in with the video game blogging media today in reference to a direct quote I made on our forums here a few days ago in regards to how we handle bans and suspensions on the forums and in-game.
You all know how we are greatly trying to protect and serve you from those who wish to disrupt our C&C community by breaking ToS on our forums or in-game, and I know everyone appreciates when we take action on those that are the worst.
That said, the previous statement I made recently (that's being quoted on the blo... More »
Although this is nearly two weeks old, we missed it so here it is... According to eaapoc from the official Electronic Arts boards (linked above) a new policy will see EA simultaneously banning people from both the forums and EA games.
So for example, if you have SPORE or Red Alert 3 and get banned from the forums or in-game, then your SPORE/Red Alert 3 account will be banned too. EA states this is part of their plan to make people play nice and act mature.
To quote: Well, its actually going to be a bit nastier for those who get banned.
Your forum account will be directly tied to your Master EA Account, so if we ban you on the forums, you would be banned from the game as well since the login process is the same. And you'd actually be banned from your other EA games as well since its all tied to your account. So if you have SPORE and Red Alert 3 and you get yourself banned on our forums or in-game, well, your SPORE account would be banned t... More »
Copies of Grand Theft Auto IV have been pulled in Thailand after a teenager confessed to murdering a taxi driver. The 18-year-old high school student is accused of stabbing the cab driver to death by trying to copy a scene from the game.
The biggest video game publisher in the south-east Asian country, New Era Interactive Media, has told retailers to stop selling GTA IV. It is due to be replaced by another video game title.
Thai newspapers say the teenager, whose name has been withheld, was arrested while trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the driver still in the back seat. Police claim the 18-year-old confessed to stealing the taxi and said he killed the 54-year-old driver after he fought back. The teenager could face the death penalty if he is found guilty. Bangkok police Captain Veerarit Pipatanasak said: "He wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game.
"He wanted money to play... More »
To keep in line with their austere “safe and fun” policy, Nintendo has banned the name Hitler from Mario Kart Wii’s online services.
If you attempt to access the Wi-Fi Connection with your Mii licence set as Hitler, you will receive a message stating that such nick names are forbidden and that you must modify your Mii name to proceed.
On the other hand, those who connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection as other notorious gentlemen such as Stalin and Osama will be able to do so without a message/disconnect.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse younger students access to the site are "bad educators".
Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he played down the long-running controversy over the site's authority.
He said young students should be able to reference the online encyclopaedia in their work.
Mr Wales said the site, which is edited by users, should be seen as a "stepping stone" to other sources.
As long as an article included accurate citations, he said he had "no problem" with it being used as a reference for younger students, although academics would "probably be better off doing their own research".
"You can ban kids from listening to rock 'n' roll music, but they're going to anyway," he added. "It's the same with information, and it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia."
In 2005, at the height of the controversy over the ... More »
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