Topic: Gears of War remaster leaked. Leakers punished.

[idolminds]

Well now.

Video has been leaking out of an Xbox One version of Gears of War. Seems like game testers broke NDA and are now in trouble. Did you know Microsoft can basically brick your Xbox One? Apparently they can.

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.

I dunno, that might be the bigger story here.

[W7RE]

Wasn't there something like this on the Xbox 360 as well? They used to ban accounts and consoles of people with modded 360's. This could just mean you can't connect to Xbox Live, not sure. Obviously if you can't connect to Xbox Live, you can't use any digital games you own, but I would think being offline, discs would still work. I have no idea on any of this though, I never had a console banned, or even an account ban/suspension.

[idolminds]

Seems the article got an update where MS attempted to clarify but...not really. They stated those players weren't having their systems entirely disabled. But of course whether they actually have the ability to do that is still up in the air.

Getting banned from Live I get. Thats fine. If they have the ability to completely disable your hardware then that is a major issue concerning ownership rights and shit.

[W7RE]

It sounds like the consoles are banned from Xbox Live, but will still work fine while offline (assuming you don't need patches or whatnot). This was exactly what I heard was what they would do with 360 systems when people were found cheating or using modded hardware.

I skimmed the article and it didn't seem like it made it clear: these testers were testing from home, but they were also being paid for their work. So this isn't quite like someone getting into a beta they opted in to and then leaking screens. This is someone being paid to do a job, and breaking the terms of their contract by leaking information.

[Cobra951]

I get that, but MS showed a very ugly part of their hand, if what they wrote can be taken at face value.  The clear meaning of the text is that they have the power to DESTROY YOUR CONNECTED CONSOLE at any time.  They can beat the shit out of it with a digital sledgehammer.  If that is not what they meant to say, they better correct themselves quickly--not that it would dispel all suspicion about it.  Pandora's box is now open.

Seems the article got an update where MS attempted to clarify but...not really. They stated those players weren't having their systems entirely disabled. But of course whether they actually have the ability to do that is still up in the air.

Getting banned from Live I get. Thats fine. If they have the ability to completely disable your hardware then that is a major issue concerning ownership rights and shit.

Should have read the whole thread instead of only the OP and W7RE's last post.  Yep, exactly.  I posted about this on another forum yesterday, and I was floored by the number of idiots defending MS on having such power.  ToS and NDA used as exculpatory.  Man, just let me back into my century.  This one sucks.

[gpw11]

Completely playing devil's advocate here, but is there a chance that the beta testers would have specialized hardware that could play unsigned betas, etc, and that's what would be blocked?


In either case, Microsoft REALLY needs to clarify that statement just for PR sake.

[W7RE]

Completely playing devil's advocate here, but is there a chance that the beta testers would have specialized hardware that could play unsigned betas, etc, and that's what would be blocked?

No, I do remote testing work for VMC on occasion just like they do (did). I use my own Xbox One and PC. They distribute information about tests and schedules through email, have an Xbox Live account add you to friends to monitor you during the test, and use Skype to coordinate and give instructions during the test.

[MysterD]

IGN -> The differences w/ Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (from the old Gears of War edition).