Xbox 360 Game Piracy Spreading In China 91
simoniker writes "Xbox 360 game piracy appears to be spreading notably in China, with at least one Shanghai-based vendor offering Xbox 360 titles such as Hitman: Blood Money for around 30 Chinese yuan ($3.50). This comes after hackers managed to flash changes to the BIOS on the Xbox 360's Optical Disc Drive earlier this year, which allowed non-authenticated (copied) games to be played. Microsoft's John Porcaro commented at the time: 'The core security system has not been broken. However, on some Xbox 360 consoles the authentication protocol between the optical disc drive and the console may be attacked.'"
You know what this means? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You know what this means? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You know what this means? (Score:1)
XBox 360 Type ARRR
Ruled by the market? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Ruled by the market? (Score:2)
$3.50??? (Score:1)
*hops flight to china*
Re:$3.50??? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:$3.50??? (Score:2)
There was a 'Chinesse getaway' showcase on the travel channel a few weeks ago that showcased some primo suits for $200 or less a night. $200/night might get you a two bed suite in Las Vegas, but definately nothing poshe.
-Rick
Re:$3.50??? (Score:1)
And really, the only thing expensive there are American/Western world type products. Sure decent class hotels will cost similarly to prices in other countries, but you're comparing wrong prices. These items aren't meant for the Chinese public. Pirated DVDs are. And they're cheap. Very cheap.
In other news... (Score:1)
Re:Piracy? No, Just Their True Market Value (Score:1)
Re:Piracy? No, Just Their True Market Value (Score:4, Funny)
Hmm. (Score:5, Funny)
"The core security system has not been broken. However, on some Xbox 360 consoles the authentication protocol between the optical disc drive and the console may be attacked."
Cheers for the core security system! Jeers for the authentication protocol!
Re:Hmm. (Score:2)
Re:Hmm. (Score:2)
BTW, your tag line is hilarious.
Re:Hmm. (Score:2)
Re:Hmm. (Score:1)
Re:Hmm. (Score:2)
Re:Hmm. (Score:2)
Yarrrr ! The problem is elsewhere! (Score:1)
Bucanneers 1 x Microsoft 0
Piracy: The New Marketing Tool! (Score:3, Interesting)
Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Well so far with MS loses in the billions over gameing they have a lot of games to sell.
It might make the 360 more popular, however people buying the system because you can buy pirated games probably will then buy pirated games. Its unlikely they'll switch to the more expensive legit games.
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:1)
And hence the reason why they continue to lose literally billions of dollars on the Xbox and Xbox 360.
Sony and Nintendo understand how the game industry works. MS doesn't. They haven't learned this very basic fact; that it's not just about selling razor blades, it's about selling razor blades and razors. To be profitable in this business, you have to be profitable at both ends.
It was
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
And yet, Sony's game division once again posted a loss last quarter [gamasutra.com].
Have a nice day!
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
It looks to be a MS/Nintendo console generation. Sony seems to have a bad case of Blu Ray madness.
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:2)
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:1)
And in case you don't think Microsoft believes in piracy, look at that 1999 or so trip that Gates took to China. It was widely reported in the chinese/hongkong papers that he said something along the lines of "if you have to pirate software, pirate microsoft software".
Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable (Score:1)
Re:Piracy: The New Marketing Tool! (Score:1)
Re:Piracy: The New Marketing Tool! (Score:1)
So they manufacture and lose more money on the consoles without selling any more software, it's a lose lose situation for them.
Marketshare doesnt help if they don't get any more money from it.
Re:Piracy: The New Marketing Tool! (Score:1)
Re:Piracy: The New Marketing Tool! (Score:1, Insightful)
Hmmm, one poster jokes that cracked 360 games might actually help Xbox 360 marketshare in China and Taiwan. It's a just a joke now, but what if this actually turned out to be the case?
---/snip---
What made the Windows PC so popular? Guess?
Do What Sony Did (Score:1, Flamebait)
Microsoft should do what Sony did. Sony is making ALL games region free, meaning that import games will work in the PS3 without needing a Modchip or hacked BIOS. This does two things, it keeps people from mucking with the PS3's internal hardware and its pretty much kills any possible demand for pirated PS3 games, or at least minimizes it.
Re:Do What Sony Did (Score:2, Insightful)
It does one other thing: It removes a legal reason for Chip Modders to make chips. This may let them go after chip modders more aggresively, since they can claim that the only reason for a mod chip is to play pirated content.
Homebrew? (Score:1)
What about to develop and use homebrew?
Re:Do What Sony Did (Score:1)
Re:Do What Sony Did (Score:1)
They could have thought of that earlier. The PS2 swapping solution is infinitely more annoying than the one on the Gamecube and region free beats everything.
it keeps people from mucking with the PS3's internal hardware and its pretty much kills any possible demand for pirated PS3 games, or at least minimizes it.
Nonsense. We're talking about territories where the cost of one game is
I might consider buying one now (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:1)
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:1)
If they have a PSOne, that have copied games.
If they have a PS2, that have copied games.
If they have a xbox, that have copied games.
If they have a dreamcast, that have copied games.
If they have a GBA, that have copied games.
If they have a NGC, they don't.
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:1)
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:2)
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:2)
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:2, Insightful)
You have a chicken or egg dilemma.
How much time and effort goes into cracking a console the first time? How much time refining it into a consumer-level solution? Isn't it equall
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I might consider buying one now (Score:2)
I have one lying around that pretty clearly tells there's a correlation between sales numbers for consoles and cracking ability. I'm curious, though, whether the sales of games is affected and if, in what direction. I wouldn't be surprised if mod chips actually meant that games sold better (because people b
Biggest security threat is home-brew? (Score:1)
Since breaking the 'authentication protocol' seems to have enabled piracy, MS's 'core security system' only prevents homebrew apps now. I would have thought that 'core security system' == 'stop pirates', since that's where all the money is. Go figure...
way to sugar coat the issue (Score:5, Insightful)
This core security system doesn't seem to do much if one can play pirated games without breaking it.
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe, but who cares that you can't make it run Linux? You can download games and actually play them now. That's good enough for 98% of the people who would be interested in this development.
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:1)
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:2)
The one problem that still remains with this is there's no way to run games from a different region or video system; the region checks still apply. So, you can't download a game that's been released in the US and play it on your European 360. The Xbox was never very interesting from an import POV, though (as opposed to
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:2)
Ok, a couple of things then. If you're a developer, you're not going to put yourself into a position to get sued into oblivion by Microsoft by developing a game without paying them. But, if it's easy to copy games,
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:2)
Re:way to sugar coat the issue (Score:2)
I wonder if anyone has ever successfully executed un-certified code that didn't ship on a game disc
Hmmmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:1)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:1)
-So the saga continues...
30 yuan??? (Score:1)