Microsoft Will Only Block Downloads, Won't Ban Accounts

We all have used fake European and Japanese accounts to get content that is not available in North America and Xbox 360 owners on the other side of the ocean have done the same thing. But now that Microsoft is offering movie and TV shows, the use of fake Live accounts would no longer be possible simply because it’d be like the software giant would have made the DVD or HD DVD drive region free.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, there were rumors that Microsoft would start banning fake Xbox Live accounts that use a geographic region different to the one where the system really is located.

We found those rumors hard to believe as such course of action would automatically ban citizens that have traveled overseas (ex: U.S. soldiers) just for connecting from a different region.

It’ll be more practical to simply block a download from Xbox Live Marketplace when the I.P. address of the user doesn’t match the console’s region. Well, that happens to be the case.

Commenting on the rumor, Chris Paladino, who is a member of the Microsoft’s Games Global Marketing, posted the following comment at the NeoGAF forums:

Details aren't all in yet - BUT, I do know for a fact that we are NOT banning the accounts.

We are blocking downloads in cases where gold accounts are being used to gain US content in foreign marketplaces.

I think (my opinion) that it is a legal issue - still waiting to hear back the official word.

We are still waiting for an official statement from Microsoft that confirms the new rules but it seems we won't be able to turn into Europeans and Japanese any more.