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Kotaku - Microsoft Punishes Gears Leakers By Making Their Xbox Ones Unusable

Are some people in this thread actually suggesting the testers getting their pants sued off them is actually a better result than Microsoft bricking their console or stopping them for using it for a time? Even though litigation is universes more problematic than a bricked console?

Really!?

Firsthand look at just how far some posters on this board will go to vilify Microsoft.
 

TechOne

Member
good. now they can buy a ps4. ahaha.

13Vp89B.gif
 

Eusis

Member
They broke NDA for internet fame. I don't feel sorry for them.
I worry more about the possible ramifications of how this lockdown capability can be used. I certainly don't feel particularly sorry for them, especially the dumbass who ran across the internet with the leak.
 

cackhyena

Member
These people don't inherently work for MS do they? Ban them from the game fine. But bricking the entire console? Idk

And let's be real. GOW remaster is the worst fucking kept secret this e3. Let it ride.
It's an NDA. The actual penalty could be a lot worse, if they wanted it to be, I'm thinking. I wouldn't think of breaking NDA with the smaller companies I worked with. I'm not a dumb shit, though.
 

DNAbro

Member
I have never understood why the gaming part of the internet really seems to love to defend video game NDAs whose sole purpose is to allow marketing a clear shot at creating hype. Who gives a shit? Leak away for all I care!

cause contracts are contracts. If someone breaks it, cool I know info earlier. But I'm not going to feel bad when the leaker gets fucked by the contract.
 

Metzhara

Member
It shouldn't surprise people that MS can brick your console if it needs to. Your consoles (PS4 included) update regularly enough with updates of all kinds so it wouldn't really be that difficult to realize this, coupled with the wording in all of your EULAs, is something that can be performed.
It's not about "marketing" soley, it's about the livelihood of a company. Their own errors and mistakes should bind them, not some jackass simple minded testers who want their internet fame.
A few persons have said it's a dumb move for MS to do this before E3. I say those testers are LUCKY it's before E3. I'm almost certain this would have included litigation if it weren't.
Rumors are usually released deliberately. Confirmation is meant for when the company feels it can garner the most interest.
I dunno... maybe those testers really did have it right. I mean, who's to say they don't have business degrees? None of us have owned a console we personally owned since the Digital Millenium Rights Act so... there's that.
 

Omikaru

Member
Like getting sued for thousands and thousands dollars ? I would take the Xbox one being unusable.
I don't care about the NDA breakers. If you're stupid enough to violate a contract for Internet fame, you have what's coming. But if you want to look at it from a weighted punishment comparison, then sure, the $350 console is a better forfeit than a lawsuit. Can't and won't argue that. However, the principle behind being able to brick people's consoles remotely in the first place is disgusting. That they have shown they are prepared to use it to mete out punishments sets a bad precedent.

Any console maker can stop you from playing games at any time by sending you a faulty software update.
And it'd be a major dick move if any of them did that intentionally.
 

schaft0620

Member
The shitty part is this didn't need to leak at all, this is not a "lets get internet famous for a day" type of leak.


The leaks stole some of the thunder from their E3 show and MS needs all the hype it can get. Theses consoles don't even sound like they are personal property to me or am I wrong?
 

Chris1

Member
Good they were punished but it's kinda creepy to know that MS can remotely brick your console...

They've been able to do this forever. Remember that one guy who got an xbox one early and they bricked his console until release date? There's countless situations where that happened on 360 too.

While some may question why they have the ability to do that, and to some extent I do too, as long as they don't misuse it, and they haven't on next gen so far, I don't see a problem.
 
I have never understood why the gaming part of the internet really seems to love to defend video game NDAs whose sole purpose is to allow marketing a clear shot at creating hype. Who gives a shit? Leak away for all I care!

Your brain can't understand why some people aren't sympathetic to leakers who break legally binding contracts?
 
No, but it's the mentality of "our PR plans are so meticulous and essential that this people deserve the ULTIMATE SMACKDOWN".

Lose the gig? Well, yeah, no shit. And they'd deserve it, if they signed an NDA. And that's what would normally happen. But obviously that wasn't enough, and so Microsoft fucked up their personal possessions.

The thought crossed their mind because this is the mentality of big game publishers. Their marketing is their baby, and if you dare ruin the moment they get to walk out of the hospital with it coddled in their arms, well, how could you.

Lose the gig? What? You clearly don't have a fucking clue as to just how serious NDAs are to be taken. This isn't something unique to Microsoft. It's universal.
 

golem

Member
That shouldn't be a power any of the console manufacturers have, or at least one they can't exercise without the user's permission (in case of theft, for example).
The user gave permission im assuming when they signed the testing contract and nda
 
MS could have sued them back into the stone age

VMC will do it for them. MS didn't have them sign a contract. MS banned them, but VMC will sue and take legal action. Happened with ACU too.

Also they have been able to do this since the 360 days, they just did it to modded consoles.

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/consoleban

New phones are also going to have a kill switch in them. You read the TOC and you agree to it. You violate it and you get punished. Its pretty simple.

Cue HumanCentiPad
 
It's stuff like this that keeps me from getting all bent out of shape when people want to jail-break/mod their hardware to do whatever nefarious and/or legitimate things that happen to pop into their mind.
 

nel e nel

Member
VMC tester here.

The last time a leak like this happened, EVERYONE involved was tempbanned from live until they could find the culprit.

NDAs are serious fucking business.

Breaches and leaks like this hurt the company, and they hurt the community of testers, because developers and publishers will think twice before using them.

Testing is both a privelige, and a PAID JOB FROM A LARGE COMPANY. Leaking a game may get you about 15 minutes of internet fame, but it WILL get you banned, and it WILL ruin any chance of you ever getting into the gaming industry, let alone your job prospects in other industries that may handle sensitive information.

Think before you do something stupid like that. Please.

Were you still able to use your console offline?
 
Firsthand look at just how far some posters on this board will go to vilify Microsoft.
It is sad honestly. I'm not one for cheering big business but this seems like a totally reasonable result. Break legally binding contract, get punished. A bricked Xbox is a slap on the wrist compared to the world of hurt Microsoft could bring down on these people.
 
I've seen some very NASTY lawsuits arise out of NDA breaches. They got off lucky.

There's a NDA clause in my work contract, would not think for a moment to break it.
Hell at my internship place they had a NDA clause in the contract.
Leaking information meant i had to pay up 120k, for each day i could not pay that amount it would increase with 10k or something impossible to cough up.

I rather have a bricked console, from what i know can be the alternative...
 

jbug617

Banned
Maybe MS doesn't have a way to force the people to remove the beta from their console. They probably can't access their XB1 until the game is announced.
 
For those wondering, yes Sony can do the same:
Unless otherwise required by law, SNEI is not responsible for monitoring or recording any activity on PSN, including communications, although SNEI reserves the right to do so and you hereby give SNEI your express consent to monitor and record your and your Sub Account's activities and communications. SNEI reserves the right to remove any content and communication from PSN First Party Services at SNEI's sole discretion without notice and to terminate any account through which violations of the Community Code of Conduct occur. SNEI may also take steps on behalf of its device platform partners to disable permanently or temporarily any device on which you receive PSN First Party Services and through use of which you violate the Community Code of Conduct. SNEI may use any data it collects, including the content of your communications, the time and location of your activities, your Online ID and IP address and any other collectable data, to enforce this Agreement or protect the interests of SNEI, its affiliates, PSN First Party Service users or SNEI's or its affiliates' licensors. Such information may be disclosed to appropriate authorities or agencies. Any other use is subject to the terms of SNEI's Privacy Policy. SNEI has no liability for any violation of this Agreement by you or by any other PSN First Party Service user.
 

woen

Member
Yeah. Just read that e-mail. While I understood the standard procedure when an NDA is broken, bricking several personal consoles is stupid, it's totally disproportionate. They just want to make an example out of them. With all the "zero tolerance i have no problem with they deserve this" theme we can read here, it worked.

Think a bricked console is getting off pretty lightly. A few of my previous jobs required me to sign NDA's, and I would have ended up in litigation if I had violated them.

SMH at all the people who think MS is overreacting. Are you guys little kids or something, not knowing how the real world works?

And the patronizing "big guy" is...

They broke NDA for internet fame. I don't feel sorry for them.

Snapchat =/= Neogaf
 

Com_Raven

Member
After thinking about it a bit more, here is my reading of the situation:

- Assumption: The banned testers have only one Xbox One, set up as their primary Xbox, so any game they download is accessible for every account on the console

If that is the case, then rendering the Xbox non-functional for a while is likely the only way to prevent users from putting another gold Gamertag on the console and keeping playing the build.

So the whole problem would be necessitated by the account and DRm structure of the Xbox- on the PC, most games are handled purely at the account level, so an account ban would have been sufficient to prevent the tester from playing the game again.

Anyone agree with that reading?
 
Jail time for a breaking a corporate NDA? Are you serious? It's a civil issue, not a criminal one. That's a completely ridiculous notion.
its not ridiculous-and it could easily have been done

edit:a quick google search yields a few cases of people uploading unreleased scenes from movies-that ended in lawsuits and years of jailtime- for SCENES-not even a full movie-
 
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