Is Microsoft using 'Halo 2' to thwart Xbox hackers?

[Vorlin]

That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside...I, for one, don't understand why someone would want to "mod" their XBox or PS2 or whatever any number of ways to do any number of things. The PS2 and XBox are nothing more than glorified base PCs and of course, we knew they'd be hacked into in short order. A bigger hard drive, IMHO, isn't a hack; it should've been already allowed since we all knew whatever size HD they put in there wouldn't be big enough, especially since there aren't any standards on game save sizes, etc.

I could rant a lot longer, but those that tried to connect to XBox Live with a modded box definitely aren't smarter than the equipment in use and should've known that.

Glad I have a PC and a legit copy of everything I own. I spend money so I don't have to worry about issues of piracy or illegal games or whatnot.

[kryptonic]

hmmm M$ is also giving out 2 free months when you buy halo 2....maybe thats another strategy of catching these "ub3r 1337 H4x0rz" LOL.

[hexadecimal]

hahaha i was gonna use that in conjuction with the mod chip i wanted for chirstmas.....darn....o well...its a bold move my m$...one side of me is glad to see it becuase im tired of being owned by cheating *cough* starcraft *cough* .....and another part of me wants to mod my xbox because i like that type of stuff.....o well....as most of you know my intentions of getting a modchip is so i could have a cool logo after the m$ load movie when u turn it on AND so i could load my games into my hdd and not have to worrie about forgetting my game when going to a lan party or the slighty rare and off chance that the dvd-rom frys my disc....has happened before...

i agree wit phisphreak....i would be taken aback if a workaround wasnt out by the end of this weekend

[unhappy]

"The PS2 and XBox are nothing more than glorified base PCs and of course"

XBox IS a "glorified base PC" but PS2 is far from it... check your facts before you put the hands on the keyboard

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/1q00/...ion2/ee-1.html


they said they are trying to crack down on cheaters, which is crap, since you cannot get on Live w/out turning off your mod chip in the first place and having an original DVD of the game. But like the phishphreak said. We will crack they protocol very, very, very soon.

And by the way. There are alternatives to Live. I've been playing halo 1 on xbox online by tricking the Xbox into thinking that it's system link connection.

But I have to admit, playing FPS on a console is kinda self defeating (Mouse and Keyboard) is the only way.

Halo doesn't even come close to other PC FPS's to justified buying it so soon.

[The Texan]

I have halo 2 ans xbox live and i have thought about modding my xbox but it sure seems like alot of trouble so i havent done it.

[unhappy]

all you have to do is turn off the mod chip and keep the original HD... and you won't have any problems

www.xbox-scene.com

[i2c]

Microsoft always has to revert to solutions that arent as innovative as its competitors, one might say clunky - Slightly OT but ive just seen rumours about the gamecubes security being beaten, now the security on the GC to start with was amazing. the XBOX was hacked in a few weeks after it came out - sure by a PHD student in electronics at MIT but still, the GC's been around for ages and theres still no means of playing pirated copys of the disk on it.

Can't you just change the HD serial? I know the disks were locked or something but im sure someone must of found a way around that..Also doesnt a Mod chip just work passivly and just re-routes some signals and processing them to alter them to the way that is required? so if thats the case then its not actually the mod chip having an effect..

BTW i like thats quote by datapusher - "Microsoft may be clever, but not as much so as the open-source community" thats true hacker sprit and its true in my opinion, although MS having more money to plough into the whole thing

i2c

[ZomBieMann77]

Can't you just change the HD serial? I know the disks were locked or something but im sure someone must of found a way around that..Also doesnt a Mod chip just work passivly and just re-routes some signals and processing them to alter them to the way that is required? so if thats the case then its not actually the mod chip having an effect..

Now im not much of xbox freak. But AFAIK every peice of hardware including the motherboard of systems has a "footprint". And if all the legit xboxes are limeted in the number of possible footprits ie configurations than any kind of post factory moddification will change said footprint and cause the changes to be detectable. Even if it is a passive chip. If i remeber corectly it works kind of like the md5 checksum method of software validation. I learned all this the hardway when i "hacked" a semi trucks computer so i could drive it faster. Long story short... i got caught. Not by the police but by the shop techs.

[XTC46]

I cant help but laugh at all the guys who were banned by this. I am big on security and try not to look at it as a big company destroying the little guy...its a company defending their money. This is just a new challenge for the hackers to over come...and they will overcome it. MS just won this round, but the war is far from over. But come on, you all have to admit it, using an icredibly popular games sequal to pull this kind of thing...thats just plain smart.

[The Grunt]

Most people with modded boxes deserve to be beaten to death anyway... Most are kiddies/noobs/"1337s"/etc.... At least most that I have met... One of them made fun of my friend (who knows about as much about computers as me) a dumbass noob because he didn't know what 1337 meant... How lame... The people who put the mod chips in for them on the other hand... They are just good businessmen... Sit in a mall all day and have kids bring you there xbox and you put a $20 mod chip in and load a few nintendo roms and sell it for $100... That's seriously what these guys do... If my town was big enough I would conisder it...