Xbox 360 Hacks - News, Hacks, Cracks, Mods.

eam HyperX now officially released the new firmwares and the readme/nfo confirms it comes with ‘Strict’ Wave 4 compliance:

-Strict Wave 4 compliance! hybrid (modified disks) will not boot!
Strict Wave 4 compliance means wave 4 games will only boot if they have correct PFI/DMI/SS and timestamp for wave 4

Note for unofficial releases:
It is highly recommended that you do not flash unverified or unofficial releases. We often do not implement specific security features in beta firmwares that are neccessary precaution’s to help keep everyone as safe as possible on Xbox Live.

Microsoft Confirms LIVE Console Ban Wave to IGN: “We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs,” a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN. “In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox LIVE.”

Microsoft also added this is a standing policy and isn’t tied to any specific time-frame.

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New Console Ban Wave on Xbox LIVE? We are getting some new information on console bans in the forums, and home page.  Use the the thread HERE to post your ban info only.  As always, it doesn’t seem to be linked to any particular FW version or drive model.  Users with all type of CFWs, and drives, have report bans, while others with the same configuration still seem fine.

A new version (v1.61) of the iXtreme DVD Firmware for both Samsung and BenQ DVD drives has been released. A Lite-on version is still in development and will be released later (NO ETA).

These were released without any type of readme or NFO, but early user reports claim they work fine like v1.6 with added support for ‘Wave 4′ discs.

Xamp from Xbox Scene has released a patched version of Xplorer360 to work with the 250GB HDD.

The Good:
* Drag and drop content to and from (inject/extract) confirmed working on both Partitions 2 and 3.

The Bad:
* Do not use any sort of backup or restore image features with this patched version.
* Do not use this version with 20, 60, or 120 gig drives.

The Details:
* Changed the cluster chain length value to 00 08 39 at offset 0xF0C2.

As it says, DO NOT use with the other drives, and backup does not work. So, maybe a later release will be fully functional.

When you sign in to Xbox LIVE you will receive a prompt to accept this mandatory update. If you are signed into LIVE already, you may be signed out and asked to accept the update and you’ll be back online in a few moments.

This update does not include the Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune features. Those will be coming to Xbox LIVE later next month. This update adds WPA2 support for the Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter.

IT was said that an update for the product will be released shortly to enable the device once again!

“Due to recent actions by Microsoft, there is a possibility that these memory units will not fully function after the upcoming Microsoft Dashboard update.

Datel are aware of the changes that are required to remedy this problem and will shortly release a solution in readiness for this potential update. This will be made available to you and your retail / domestic customers shortly. In the meantime if you are holding any stock of this product you can, if you wish, return this to us and we will exchange / replace with new updated versions in readiness for the Microsoft Dashboard release.”

mputten from ombouwservice-webshop.com reports that he’s seen new Xbox 360 consoles without the 2nd-GPU heatsink/heatpipe (like the early Xenon consoles). This European Forza3-pack Xbox 360 Elite has a MFG 2009-08-17, LOT 0942. It seems like Microsoft is now confident enough their HW no longer needs the extra GPU heatsink.

The device also came with an Philips-LiteOn DG16D2S-09C drive which seems unreadable by DOSflash atm (’Invalid Drive Data’).

Nice! Team MODFREAKz released a new version of HDDHackr, a tool that allows you to use some Western Digital laptop HDDs as Xbox 360 HDD.

What’s new/fixed (since v1.00 Build 20090523):
* Added support for the Western Digital Scorpio Series manufactured 2009 (v1.22)
* Fixed issue with Intel ICH9, ICH10 and VIA chipsets (v1.20)
* Implemented progress bar (v1.20)
* Added support for 80GB and 250GB HDDs (HDDSS.BIN required) (v1.20)
* Fixed issue, that sometimes caused flashing of Model Name to incorrect offset. (v1.11)
* Added option to create Partitions 0/2/3 (no more manual hex editing) (v1.10)
* Bug fixed, that caused errors like “LBA size does not match” (v1.10)
* Improved compatibility (v1.10)
* Minor changes (v1.10)

DOWNLOAD

Bootable USB Drive Creator Tool

“Looks like we were wrong in assuming that iXtreme v1.51 was fully compatible with 4th Wave PFI/Video. Turns out that only Hitachi iXtreme v1.51 will boot 4th Wave backups, and BenQ/LiteOn/Samsung iXtreme v1.51 will NOT boot 4th Wave. It would have been fully compatible if only the Video data had changed but not with the change in PFI (capacity). So currently the only safe option for booting 4th Wave backups on a BenQ/LiteOn/Samsung drive is to use iXtreme v1.6 and the one shot boot disc.”
Official Site: abgx360.net

Notification of Permanent Suspension: Pre-release title play

This email is to notify you that your Xbox LIVE account privileges have been permanently suspended due to illegitimate pre-release title play.

Your conduct was brought to the attention of the LIVE Enforcement Team through the course of our operation of the service. The LIVE Enforcement Team has reviewed the complaints and other evidence regarding this content and determined it violates the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and/or Code of Conduct. Because your conduct is in violation, the Xbox LIVE Enforcement Team has enacted this permanent suspension against your gamertag.

During your suspension, you will not be able to log into Xbox LIVE. Your Xbox LIVE privileges will not be reinstated.

Customer Support is not able to modify or provide any further details about your suspension.

Microsoft expects that all customers abide by the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct provides guidelines for appropriate behavior while using the service.

The word is, it is an account ban, not a console ban? Guess we’ll see..