According to a report found on The Register yesterday, are cracking down on those who decide to ‘tamper’ with the innards of the Xbox, through adding modding chips, by banning them from using the Live service.

Apparently, upon connecting to the service, the Xbox’s unique user ID will be collected, and if the console’s found to be modded then it will be banned forever from using the service. Clever indeed.

This is of course a fairly reasonable move by Microsoft to protect their product, etcetera, though has it that if you have a mod chip that can be turned on and off then you may still be able to connect as normal, providing you remember to turn the chip off!

Apparently, once banned, an Xbox’s user ID cannot be reinstated, as Microsoft believe it can never be trustworthy again. There’s a moral in here somewhere, folks, and I think Microsoft are trying to hint towards it.

By Luke Guttridge