The Xbox 360 dashboard update issued yesterday by Microsoft appears to have contained anti-piracy measures.
Yesterday Xbox Live mouthpiece Major Nelson said that the mandatory dashboard update restored the boot to disc option that was erroneously removed in a similar update last November. However the update took significantly longer to download and install than normal.
According to members at modding website Xbox Scene – spotted by Engadget – players using modded or chipped consoles have found that they are unable to play Call Of Duty: Black Ops, Halo: Reach or Modern Warfare 2 online using illegal backup copies.
Other games continue to work without problems, so it appears that Microsoft has focused on specifically safeguarding Xbox Live’s most popular titles by adding new checks when one of the games is booted.
Of course, it should be noted that the modding scene tends to get around these things pretty quickly, and this may only keep the pirates at bay temporarily. Regardless, Microsoft’s proactivity in its attempted safeguarding of its online service is to be welcomed, and puts into context Infinity Ward’s recent claim that only Sony can fix the rampant problems in the PS3 version of Modern Warfare 2.
We’ve contacted Microsoft for comment.