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images/news/xbox.jpgMicrosoft has begun issuing temporary bans to players taking advantage of an exploit in Modern Warfare 2, while Infinity Ward works on a patch to fix the issue. While the servers may be kept slightly cleaner for the efforts, the amount of control Microsoft holds over owners of their consoles, and the arbitrary way they are able to wield it, is troubling.
Stephen Toulouse is the Director of Policy and Enforcement of Xbox Live. When gamers need to be banned, his job is to find them and cut off Xbox Live access to their machines. The latest group to get his attention? Gamers using an exploit in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to increase their kill counts.
First it was piracy leading to mass bannings, and now Microsoft is tasked with keeping the Modern Warfare 2 servers clean while Infinity Ward works on a patch. We're going to explore what gamers are doing, and why this is a somewhat unsettling precedent for consoles.
What's going on?
The issue in question is called the Javelin Exploit, and it allows players to detonate a grenade instantly upon death. Here's a video detailing the glitch, if you'd like to know exactly what's happening on the servers and what it looks like.
"While IW works on getting the MW2 glitch fixed, people we catch using it will recieve suspensions from LIVE. Play fair everyone," Toulouse said via Twitter. He also noted that this policy isn't anything new, and that it's in place for more games than just Modern Warfare 2. If you get caught taking advantage of the exploit, you'll be banned for 24 hours. If you're a particularly bad case, the banning could last up to two weeks.
The ban isn't for Modern Warfare 2, it's for the entirety of Xbox Live. If you're banned, no new content for you. No playing online... in anything. Major Nelson posted the details on his blog: "Keep in mind, this isn't just a ban on a particular game. This is a ban on the Xbox Live service as a whole, so you won't be able to go online at all during your ban. Initially, you may be banned for a day, a week, or depending on severity, permanently! Kiss that $50 goodbye," he wrote.
Read on at Arstechnica
Stephen Toulouse is the Director of Policy and Enforcement of Xbox Live. When gamers need to be banned, his job is to find them and cut off Xbox Live access to their machines. The latest group to get his attention? Gamers using an exploit in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to increase their kill counts.
First it was piracy leading to mass bannings, and now Microsoft is tasked with keeping the Modern Warfare 2 servers clean while Infinity Ward works on a patch. We're going to explore what gamers are doing, and why this is a somewhat unsettling precedent for consoles.
What's going on?
The issue in question is called the Javelin Exploit, and it allows players to detonate a grenade instantly upon death. Here's a video detailing the glitch, if you'd like to know exactly what's happening on the servers and what it looks like.
"While IW works on getting the MW2 glitch fixed, people we catch using it will recieve suspensions from LIVE. Play fair everyone," Toulouse said via Twitter. He also noted that this policy isn't anything new, and that it's in place for more games than just Modern Warfare 2. If you get caught taking advantage of the exploit, you'll be banned for 24 hours. If you're a particularly bad case, the banning could last up to two weeks.
The ban isn't for Modern Warfare 2, it's for the entirety of Xbox Live. If you're banned, no new content for you. No playing online... in anything. Major Nelson posted the details on his blog: "Keep in mind, this isn't just a ban on a particular game. This is a ban on the Xbox Live service as a whole, so you won't be able to go online at all during your ban. Initially, you may be banned for a day, a week, or depending on severity, permanently! Kiss that $50 goodbye," he wrote.
Read on at Arstechnica
