posted on 15. 10. 2009 by Lori in Microsoft, Xbox 360 

Forza 3 evokes Microsoft’s Banhammer

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Forza 3 evokes Microsoft’s Banhammer

Ok, I don’t know how to tell you this, ok, let’s just rip it off like a band-aid, shall we?
If you have pirated “Forza Motorsport 3″ then you will probably need to buy a new Xbox 360.

If Turn 10 community manager Che ‘chespace’ Chou’s post on NeoGAF is to be believed, Microsoft is currently building a list of users who had pre-release access to the game:

Hey, APB to all the folks on NeoGAF that I sent green discs to in both U.S. and Europe.

Send me a PM with your gamertag. Trust me, you want to do this soon. [cheerful emoticon]

We are assuming that the term ‘green disc’ refers to a pre-release copy of the game, as they are primarily of the colour green.
Oh, and consider this a personal scolding: You are the reason why we can’t have nice things.

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6 Comments
me 15. 10. 2009 18:52

But gamertags aren’t linked to a console, and it’s the consoles that are getting banned, not the gamertags. So I doubt there’s going to be a ban wave because of Forza 3…

Either way, anyone clever enough to play a pirated game before the games launch is asking to get banned.

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Lori 15. 10. 2009 23:04

I am not an expert when it comes to the technicalities of the banning, but consider this a public service announcement.

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Sidherich 16. 10. 2009 11:19

They will likely gather more information than just the MAC Address of the console. Every time you log into XBL they will at least log your Gamertag and your MAC Address. The ban will always be done on the MAC Address but they can use the Gamertag to find legitimate users. Sending the gamertag to microsoft is alot easier than getting the MAC Address which is hidden well in the Dashboard.

My Xbox -> System Settings -> Network Settings -> Configure Network -> Additional Settings -> Advanced Settings

versus

Press Guide Button -> Tilt your head to the left

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Sidherich 16. 10. 2009 11:23

Even if they ban the Console Serial Number it is alot easier to just send the Gamertag. And what if the legit person has 2 consoles and he plays on both … does he need to send 2 numbers? As i said: Gamertag is alot easier to do.

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me 16. 10. 2009 16:38

MS doesn’t ban the MAC address of your 360. Each xbox has a unique “key” that gets banned. Now I don’t know how much data MS collect every time you sign onto LIVE, but your gamertag is definitely not tied to your console. Maybe it’s reliable enough to trackback the console that was used to play an early copy by someone that didn’t receive a review copy… I don’t know.

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me 19. 10. 2009 09:51

LIVE accounts have been banned. Consoles were left unharmed :P

http://www.xbox360-hacks.com/2009/10/18/xbox-live-banhammer-for-playing-forza-3-early/

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