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Just got my console (and I assume my account) banned from Live for playing Halo 4.

Vilam

Maxis Redwood
stores have strict date contracts including a big orange seal they have to break.

How does that have any bearing on the copy that he exchanged money for in a retail store for a non-counterfeit copy? He shouldn't be under any obligation to rat out whatever retailer sold it either, it's MS's job to handle that stuff.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
Sorry to hear man. I saw your impressions in the Halo OT; sucks that you got banned.

Kudos to Frank, very cool to see that he's going to fix that.
 

Judderman

drawer by drawer
Ok, those guys can go belly up.

Belly up for selling a game before street date? Please.
KuGsj.gif
 
Just as a side note, was skimming the H4 nda before

teh amount of shit you are not allowed to talk about in the campaign makes it very difficult to even talk about it =) so yes they are super worried about spoilers

if you see vague descriptions of campaign when the NDA is up, you know why.

Hmm, might actually read some of the reviews before the game releases then...
 

SRTtoZ

Member
Pretty balsy of that local game shop to take a chance on selling one of the most popular franchises this gen early and risking a HUGE fine.
 

JABEE

Member
relax. I will take care of it. Your copy is not legitimate - the store efffed up. But you will be unbanned soon.
Why is it the consumer's responsibility to know when a game was released? They did nothing wrong purchasing a product that said it would work in their Xbox 360 and would have online multiplayer.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
How does that have any bearing on the copy that he exchanged money for in a retail store for a non-counterfeit copy? He shouldn't be under any obligation to rat out whatever retailer sold it either, it's MS's job to handle that stuff.
I didn't ask him to rat anyone out
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Why is it the consumer's responsibility to know when a game was released? They did nothing wrong purchasing a product that said it would work in their Xbox 360 and would have online multiplayer.
Seems like he's holding the store responsible. I don't know, maybe I can't read.
relax. I will take care of it. Your copy is not legitimate - the store efffed up. But you will be unbanned soon.
 

Tunavi

Banned
sounds like Frankie took care of this, but I can't believe you left the store with no receipt and still posted about it on GAF. Risky move
 

Zeal

Banned
The guy obviously doesn't want to endanger the retailer, which is understandable. In terms of Frank saying it is not legitimate, do you mean it isn't 'legitimate' because it was sold early or that this is actually a bogus/pirate copy that the retailer unintentionally or intentionally sold? Looks legit to me.

Just curious.
 

StuBurns

Banned
It might be anti-consumer, but I'm with MS on this. They have to ring it up on the day? Maybe you bought it legitimately, but they didn't sell it legitimately, and you were aware of that. If you chose to be party to a company circumventing the system, you're as to blame as they are.

I imagine MS will undo it though.

EDIT: Oh, they are, cool.
 
Belly up for selling a game before street date? Please.
KuGsj.gif

Yeah, pretty much. They should operate ethically. It may come across as harsh, but based upon the OP's description and what Stinkles posted, these folks cannot claim this to be an innocent misunderstanding. They are bad corporate citizens.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
Even the mom and pop stores I frequent give receipts for street broken purchases.

I guess the OP's store didn't want a record of it being sold to avoid being fined



Also, we should talk about how Halo 4 doesn't have a manual. What the fuck MS :mad: They even saved a piece of paper by printing the fine print on the back cover
 

SRTtoZ

Member
The guy obviously doesn't want to endanger the retailer, which is understandable. In terms of Frank saying it is not legitimate, do you mean it isn't 'legitimate' because it was sold early or that this is actually a bogus/pirate copy that the retailer unintentionally or intentionally sold?

Just curious.

I think he means it was an 'under the table' type of deal. Its not the same as walking into Walmart and picking up a copy off the shelf and being like 'Oh, I didnt know this was out yet, sweet!". Just my guess.
 
Why is it the consumer's responsibility to know when a game was released? They did nothing wrong purchasing a product that said it would work in their Xbox 360 and would have online multiplayer.

He admits in the OP that he knew the street date and selling it like that to him was shady.
 
It's either Wal-Mart or a Ma & Pa shop.

I remember when a street dated title was sold early at Gamestop. An email was sent to every store in the zip code that Microsoft alerted and the store manager was fired in the same week.
 

Miles X

Member
There is no way they wouldn't unban you, AFAIK there is nothing in T&C that you can't play games early. Just contact them and you'll get it sorted.
 

Wildesy

Member
Why is it the consumer's responsibility to know when a game was released? They did nothing wrong purchasing a product that said it would work in their Xbox 360 and would have online multiplayer.

Dude at the store told him he was giving it to him before launch for starters, he told him he couldn't even give him a receipt for his purchase at the time of the transaction. You're right, the OP didn't really do anything wrong by still buying it, but he doesn't really have the grounds to be abusing Microsoft for getting banned. He bought it knowing full well it was before the game's launch day and Microsoft ban people for playing games early.

Anyway, seems like it is getting straightened out. As a side note, I guess this means Microsoft can't tell the difference between people playing with legitimate copies and people playing pirated games? Or was that already obvious/known?
 

FyreWulff

Member
I think he means it was an 'under the table' type of deal. Its not the same as walking into Walmart and picking up a copy off the shelf and being like 'Oh, I didnt know this was out yet, sweet!". Just my guess.

In the strictest of terms, the way the store did it, the OP hasn't even bought the game. The store could just say he stole it or borrowed it out the back door and throw him under the bus, because it's not recorded as sold, and if they're a chain and get audited, they're going to be short on copies.

In terms of ethics, the store decided to play around with someone's hundreds of dollars console in order to make a sale. Yet people are defending them because of some misguided anti-corporate stance.


Do you honestly think the store would replace the OP's Xbox and all of his Live purchases if he came back and told them the copy of Halo 4 they "sold" him got him banned? They'd probably just go "we don't know what you're talking about, we didn't sell any copies of Halo 4 yet" and OP would be up shit creek.
 
Dude at the store told him he was giving it to him before launch for starters, he told him he couldn't even give him a receipt for his purchase at the time of the transaction. You're right, the OP didn't really do anything wrong by still buying it, but he doesn't really have the grounds to be abusing Microsoft for getting banned. He bought it knowing full well it was before the game's launch day and Microsoft ban people for playing games early.

Anyway, seems like it is getting straightened out.

In the general sense, I would not hold the average consumer responsible for knowing when the street date of a game is. If a consumer walks into a store and the store sells the game, the consumer should instead assume it is OK to purchase and play the game. (That being said, I would also do just as Microsoft did. Ban first, ask questions later. There is a certain history with Halo that cannot be ignored.)

In this specific sense, that is not what happened at all. But I would not assume this scenario is the "normal" scenario.
 

Hypron

Member
Banning people for that kind of stuff is completely stupid... Since the issue resides on people playing the game while being connected to the xbox live, why doesn't Microsoft just put some kind of timelock like steam does? If the current date on MS' severs is anterior to the release date, you can't play the game. Bam.

That way, no one gets banned for no reason.
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
I can't say I'm familiar with Stinkles/Frankie, but I genuinely and thoroughly appreciate him jumping to the rescue. I've PM'd him to thank him, and will check my account tomorrow to see if any progress has been made and will update this thread. And fwiw, he did not ask me to rat out any store, as he mentioned above.

My my, has the last 48 hours been an emotional roller coaster! ;p
 

StuBurns

Banned
In the general sense, I would not hold the average consumer responsible for knowing when the street date of a game is. If a consumer walks into a store and the store sells the game, the consumer should instead assume it is OK to purchase and play the game. (That being said, I would also do just as Microsoft did. Ban first, ask questions later. There is a certain history with Halo that cannot be ignored.)

In this specific sense, that is not what happened at all. But I would not assume this scenario is the "normal" scenario.
If the store told that consumer they couldn't give them a receipt, do you think it's on the consumer to question why?
 

Veezy

que?
I'd call them.

Look, I don't mean to sound like a dick, and I don't know if it's been mentioned, but having a non consumable product and not walking out of the store with a receipt for exchange or POP purposes is bad. Don't do it again.

Go to the store and tell you need a receipt. Explain the situation. Call MS. Ask if you can fax them a copy of the receipt as proof that you're not a thief. If that doesn't work, as if there's anyway you can be unbanned and you won't play till after street date.

It's a fucked situation, but if you raise enough hell hopefully you can get satisfaction.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
Banning people for that kind of stuff is completely stupid... Since the issue resides on people playing the game while being connected to the xbox live, why doesn't Microsoft just put some kind of timelock like steam does? If the current date on MS' severs is anterior to the release date, you can't play the game. Bam.

That way, no one gets banned for no reason.

Because people have been known to pirate the game and pirating is bad. Microsoft is putting a nuke on everyone probably cause Halo 4 is high profile
 
B

bomb

Unconfirmed Member
So you bought it early and I am assuming you know that people have been banned before for playing early released games while signed in. So why'd you do it?

Your post just makes you seem like such a victim and Microsoft is so evil.
 
Hundreds of stories of people getting banned for playing Halo 4 early, and you go ahead and do it anyways?


Yeah you deserve what you got.
 
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