(tubbynj)
In a bizarre fluke that sounds like an urban legend come true, five downloadable Xbox Live Arcade games are available for free for those willing to bend their ethics.
Gaming blog Worthplaying uncovered the glitch, which still seems to be live. It’s bizarre that neither Microsoft nor the game publishers affected have done anything to shut it down, even though word about the hack has been going around the internet all week.
We won’t tell you how to accomplish the dastardly feat, but click on the source link for instructions if you must.
‘Modern Warfare 2′ (ALL) Bug Grants Free SNK Games [Worthplaying via Joystiq]
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I saw this but refrained from exploiting the bug. I have way too much respect for the creators of those particular game, particularly the Metal Slug games, to rip them off.
shut up. you downloaded them.
I didn’t. My gamertag is the same as my username here. Feel free to go look.
Not all of us steal software “just because.”
+1 It’s wrong to steal.
You’re not stealing it. When you go try to play them the regular way again, they’re still in Trial mode. It’s just a backdoor, there’s nothing on your account that says whether you played the full or trial version, only that you have downloaded the trial version. It doesn’t register the game, it’s just a backdoor into playing the full version. You’ve already downloaded the entire program. It’s as much stealing as using a coupon to get a free game is.
Bend their ethics!? Noooooooo!
Up for a week and the big M has done nothing….I smell a promotion goin’n on.
I googled “ethics” and my browser crashed.
I’d try this, but I’m afraid of M$ banning my GamerTag for it.
For taking advantage of a glitch that MS did not fix as soon as they knew it? Ill go with Bakergirl and say that it is a promotion. They could have immediately stopped sales of the games, but did not.
Are you familiar with xbox live and MS? There can be game KILLING bugs in a game, and they literally will take months before approving of a patch to fix it. Although the devs can fix something in like 2 minutes: “oh, here is the problem code, there, fixed”, it then has to go through microsoft’s long approval process.
It’s a glitch that one could legitimately stumble upon. You wont get banned. The worst that would happen is the games are removed from your account.
Yeah…tempting…but…they could probably ban you for this, and you’d end up having to get another account, xbox, etc.
It’s a glitch that one could legitimately stumble upon. You wont get banned. The worst that would happen is the games are removed from your account.
Despite what you may think, I’m sure they’d find some way to do it.
Right….and Microsoft won’t know exactly who downloaded the games by their ID. It’s a trap!
I know MW2 is full of glitches, but this one takes the cake.
My son is highly addicted to MW2 on his PS3; he gave me $60 last night and asked me to pre-order the new Modern Warefare: Black Ops that is being released in November.
Could this just be a way of getting people into a game that is going to be “obsolete” in a few months and sell more of the new version?
You can potentially get permanent banned, even though its a glitch. Fifa 10 had a few glitches that allowed you get DLC for free or a B1G1 free scenario. Those who used it, mostly over doing it but some casually exploiting, were perma-banned.
After reading how to do the glitch it doesn’t look like you gain full control of the game, just for the time you use the glitch and then it reverts back to a trial. I really doubt MS will ban users for it.
Not doing this. It’s probably against the TOS and will get you banned. I’m not going to risk it for 5 old and shitty SNK games.
Since when is “stealing” (i.e. taking something and not paying for it) an example of “bending” one’s ethics?
Technically, stealing is “the wrongful or willful taking of money or property belonging to someone else with intent to deprive the owner of its use or benefit either temporarily or permanently.” So it’s not really stealing, but I agree that it is unethical.
It IS stealing, as per your definition above: You are depriving the owner (creator) of this work of its BENEFIT, i.e. the profits or royalties he or she would earn if the games were paid for.
It’s not stealing. You already downloaded the full game when you downloaded the trial. The only real-world comparison is slipping under the ropes when the bouncer isn’t looking. And once you get back out of it, you still can’t get inside again without using the backdoor thru MW2 again. There’s nothing on your account that indicates whether or not you’ve played it either way. You’re depriving the publisher of due wages just as much as if you had played the demo and hated it., or played the full version at a friend’s house.
If this isn’t fixed by the time I get home, I’m gonna do it. If I get in any sort of trouble for it, I can say I thought it was a promotional thing. Play MW2, get these SNK games for free. Granted, they are different companies, but would Microsoft expect all gamers to know what publishers work together?
Worst thing I can see happening is the licenses being voided out for those SNK games.
You don’t really get the license to these titles. They’re still just demos if you go the regular XBLA route.
Right because posting this article and the link to accomplish download the games for free to get traffic doesn’t have any ethical implications either. :-/
I gave it a shot last night. The glitch, while intriguing, isn’t really all it’s hyped up to be. The SNK games are still demos outside of the Modern Warfare demo. I’d guess that bans are unlikely, since there is no permanent gain from the glitch other than possible achievements/gamerpoints (and they’re worthless anyway…).
And that said, the title of this article is a bit misleading, as well. They’re not really being given away (per my previous comment). The “back door” to the unlocked/full versions is bound to close soon, and you’ll just be left with the demos you would have had before.
Anyone remember QCrack? Bending your ethics got you like 7 or 8 free full version games with that.
Not that I used it or anything. Or used it to play Quake….but it was dumb to put that many full version games on 1 CD!
Nice to see that The Consumerist is encouraging people to steal.
It’s only okay because it’s Microsoft and that is one of the companies Consumerist loves to hate.
Replace consumerist with Phil.
That’s what I was thinking…
When you write for a publication you represent the publication.
Also this is pretty funny: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03/05/82-hating-corporations/
The SNK games are awesome if you like fighting games with bad netcode (NGBC excepted, it’s decent netcode)
MS can and will ban your gamertag for life if you use any exploit, glitch, or bug to get free things on xbox live.
They track everything you do on the system, and if you get “free” games that cost points(money), expect to get a ban.
They did it with the FIFA 2010 glitch that gave you free packs – and everyone that did it lost the gamertag used.
So what you’re saying is “we won’t tell you how, we’ll just give you a link to how to do it and tell you that it exists”. Very different!
Ugh – the tin foil haters are ‘calling it’ on this as well,…
Are you people just calling everything and anything, just to be safe??
Also: Very strange that they just slapped some bold text in the middle of what appears to be an article ore review or whatever about the game which unleashes this glitch.
The corporate ethics of Microsoft compel me to do the right thing.