Xbox Live was launched in Singapore late last month, allowing users to play multiplayer games over the Internet. At a press preview in March, Alex Chua, Microsoft Singapore's division manager for home and entertainment, maintained the company's global position that it would check units for modifications and bar tampered sets from logging onto the network .
"When you subscribe and open an account on Xbox Live, we scan the console and make sure it's not been altered," he said in a previous interview. "If it is, you'll be banned from the Live service."
However, Microsoft's efforts have only been partially successful, claimed one local user, who performs Xbox modifications in his spare time.
By affixing "mod chips", gray-market add-ons that are soldered onto the main circuit board of a video-game console, owners can play pirated games or run third-party applications on their units. In addition, some mod chips even come with a switch designed to circumvent the authentication system behind Xbox Live.
"I have tested the Live kit on my modded set, which has an upgraded hard disk drive of about 20GB," he said. "I logged on and played online without any problems by switching off the mod chip," he said.
"But if you go online, and you forget to turn off the chip, they [Microsoft] will ban your console's physical address," he added.
Declining to be named, he told CNET Asia that even if the mod chip is turned off, Microsoft should be able to detect the alterations made on consoles by scanning hard drives that have been replaced. However, he is skeptical the company will go to such lengths as he feels it still stands to benefit from software sales.
"To play online, you have to buy original games," he said.
When contacted, a Microsoft representative said the company is currently "investigating this issue".
Mod chips have been a recurring bane for game hardware makers like Microsoft, which has combated this threat on multiple fronts. Besides barring modified units from its Xbox Live service, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant has repeatedly altered the configuration of the Xbox and teamed with rivals to initiate legal action against mod chip sellers.
