Microsoft remotely bricks Gear of War leaker's Xbox One console

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Microsoft will undoubtedly announce a remake for the original "Gears of War" soon, thanks to information leaked online by some users testing the game. Unfortunately for those exact people, however, they won't be able to use their Xbox One consoles for a temporary period of time, as Microsoft has made them "entirely unusable."

According to an email obtained by Kotaku, Microsoft and VMC Games, a company that provides testing services with contractors, sent messages to users who leaked information about the upcoming remake informing them that they are banned from Xbox Live and their consoles are now unusable. The relevant passage from the email, which was sent by VMC, is as follows:


Now, new wording is about to reach the community regarding this particular event. The nature of the leak having had occurred through Xbox One, actually also went against the Microsoft EULA, which is agreed upon when creating an Xbox LIVE account, or any other type of Microsoft account. This being said, as per that agreement with the testers in fault, Microsoft also permanently disabled their Xbox LIVE accounts (as well as other suspected accounts present on their Xbox One kits) and temporarily blocked all of their Xbox One privileges – meaning that for a period of time which Microsoft decides on depending on the severity of the offense, their Xbox One is entirely unusable.

In the previous console generation, Microsoft was known for banning the accounts and online capabilities of hackers and cheaters, though it wasn't capable of making a console "entirely unusable." Kotaku claims that the leakers in question stated their Xbox One consoles are their personal versions and not debug or development consoles.

The revelation that Microsoft can essentially press a button to brick a console comes after the company received a public evisceration when it revealed its original digital rights policies for Xbox One, which included an Internet connection requirement for verifying games. The company later changed the policies following the immense backlash.


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Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-is-forcing-leakers-xbox-one-consoles-to-become-entirely-unusable

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"Microsoft remotely bricks Gear of War leaker's Xbox One console" :: Login/Create an Account :: 59 comments

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TTG_Storm132Posted:

gtapro151
GTXPlayer
UZl Wow, thats a bit harsh but thats what the agreement between the user and Microsoft is used for. They used to be more lenient by just banning the account but to actually brick the console, thats too much but rules are rules


They would have done it on the X360 if they had the software and backend to do it, however, with it being outdated hardware, they probably couldn't. I don't get why this is too harsh? People forget how long devs work on their games. We're talking years, not a few weeks. It's disgusting what leakers do.


xbox 360 did do it it was called a console ban i lost like 8 consoles due to playing games early mods etc...


Console bans only blocked the console accessing Live. It banned their KV permanently, but the console itself was still completely usable.

gtapro151Posted:

GTXPlayer
UZl Wow, thats a bit harsh but thats what the agreement between the user and Microsoft is used for. They used to be more lenient by just banning the account but to actually brick the console, thats too much but rules are rules


They would have done it on the X360 if they had the software and backend to do it, however, with it being outdated hardware, they probably couldn't. I don't get why this is too harsh? People forget how long devs work on their games. We're talking years, not a few weeks. It's disgusting what leakers do.


xbox 360 did do it it was called a console ban i lost like 8 consoles due to playing games early mods etc...

SkittlePosted:

What is when people finally mod the Xbox one, they have access to something like this as well :o

GTXPlayerPosted:

UZl Wow, thats a bit harsh but thats what the agreement between the user and Microsoft is used for. They used to be more lenient by just banning the account but to actually brick the console, thats too much but rules are rules


They would have done it on the X360 if they had the software and backend to do it, however, with it being outdated hardware, they probably couldn't. I don't get why this is too harsh? People forget how long devs work on their games. We're talking years, not a few weeks. It's disgusting what leakers do.

VatasyPosted:

Hey atleast it has better graphics right?

Mario350Posted:

thats funny but it isnt much of a brick if ms can unbrick it plus they can easly get a new console shows how bad ms is sony barely cares for some shit i own both consoles so yeah i just found it funny they can deactivate the console it self

KatsumiChanPosted:

I hope this next one doesn't fall so short like Judgment did.

TomPosted:

Its cool how they are actually remaking this game with better graphics but I dont see why microsoft would do this just because of leakers.

ihave3armsPosted:

This is almost as unfair as the NFL banning Brady for 4 games jk thsee guys deserve it they were trusted with game testing and secrecy and went against st the rules f**k em

OGPosted:

Wow, thats a bit harsh but thats what the agreement between the user and Microsoft is used for. They used to be more lenient by just banning the account but to actually brick the console, thats too much but rules are rules


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