tagged w/ Modding
-
Xbox LIVE Enforcement “Unicorn Ninja” Keeps Service Safe and Fun for Everyone
Hackers, cheaters, phishers, account thieves, game code modifiers, communication abuses – the Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement team polices it all, even sometimes actual crimes, says Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE enforcement unicorn ninja (yes, that is his actual job title). Redmond, Wash. Aug. 2, 2011.
At Microsoft, a small, tight-knit team works long hours – often sorting through downright offensive content – to help ensure that the company’s booming Xbox LIVE service is safe, non-offensive and fun for all.
Microsoft PR issued a story about a special team of employees that few gamers have heard about, nor do they ever want to run into them. The text is presented here in an unabridged format.
In an otherwise typical Microsoft hallway, a black curtain stretches across the doorway to a large room. The whiteboard next to it offers this ambiguous, if not curiosity-inducing, explanation: “Please do not disturb. Sensitive material behind curtain.”
Resized to 47% (was 1500 x 2250) - Click image to enlargePosted Image
Behind the black curtain is a unique team of Microsoft employees. Their existence is not widely known, and probably for good reason – if you have a close encounter with a member of Xbox LIVE’s Policy and Enforcement team, chances are you’re on the wrong end of right.
Hackers, cheaters, phishers, account thieves, game code modifiers, communication abuser – they help police it all, including actual crimes in some rare instances. The team is there to help make sure Xbox LIVE is safe, non-offensive and fun for all users.
“If you’re playing a game on Xbox LIVE, and somebody snipes you from across the map and you drop the F-bomb, we’re not going to ban you – not for the occasional slip. We focus on the really bad stuff,” says Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE Enforcement Unicorn Ninja. Yes, that is his actual job title.
Adds Erickson: “We are not here to be the arbiters of all speech. But there are certainly some kinds of communication on Xbox LIVE that crosses a line – racism, homophobia, sexism, offensive comments about nationalities, and more.”
Day in and day out, the inboxes of Erickson and his fellow enforcers are piled high with stacks of complaints about offensive behavior, speech, and materials. They dutifully sort through it all and decide what’s next. That could be requiring a user to remove an offensive word or phrase from their profile to – in the more egregious cases – outright banning users.
“Or, as we like to say, inviting them to not be our customer,” Erickson says. “These are paid subscriptions we’re taking away, so we want to make sure we’re doing exactly the right thing.”
All Xbox LIVE users agree to a code of conduct when subscribing to the entertainment service. But, as Xbox LIVE tops 35 million users – and, as it incorporates an ever-widening range of entertainment, gaming, and communication features – it’s a given that there will be opportunists and rule-breakers, Erickson says.
But the team’s director, Stephen Toulouse (known widely by his Microsoft e-mail alias, Stepto), says despite Xbox LIVE’s explosive growth over the last several years, the number of complaints his team handles has remained tiny in proportion to the growing number of people who use the service.
“Looking at the stats, the cross-section of bad apples we deal with every day is small – typically less than one percent of the overall population,” Toulouse says. “The user complaint volume has tended to stay relatively flat compared to the line of new users. What that says to me is that our efforts are having an impact, and also that we’re broadening our audience. We’re bringing in different people that want to experience different things on Xbox LIVE, not just gaming, and at the end of the day that’s going to improve everything.”
The Explosion of Xbox LIVE
When Toulouse joined Xbox LIVE in 2007, the entertainment service had not yet reached one million users online at the same time.
“Enforcement was literally done by one guy with a spreadsheet who would go through the complaints once a week,” Toulouse says.
Though it took years to hit the one million user mark, it took one year to hit two million concurrent users.
“We knew Xbox LIVE was going to explode,” Toulouse says. “We knew we were on the cusp of something huge, especially when we saw how many people came into the service with the launch of Halo 3.”
The folks at Xbox LIVE, including Toulouse, wanted to stay ahead of the game. He slowly started assembling a team, and they started designing a tool to help the team effectively police the growing community of users. The result was a software program called Vulcan to help enforcers handle and escalate complaints.Xbox LIVE Enforcement “Unicorn Ninja” Keeps Service Safe and Fun for... more
-
-
here is a video and modding zombies info found. Modded Zombies No Clip(no reload), God Mode All Guns|Unlimited Ammo much more *WORKING ONLINE
has a video to prove it. says "we have done glitches and modding for all the zombies maps and we are now doing brand new modded zombies Shangri-la lobbys.
A new video will be released showing proof on this map within a week. here is a other video sample proving it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3y8AJ72sTQhere is a video and modding zombies info found. Modded Zombies No Clip(no reload), God... more
-
-
Richard DaLuz is no stranger to game system modding. His works, such as the Super Genintari ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGQnU4TaYU ) and the original Nintoaster ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9-wX0aaFU ) have been featured on major tech blogs throughout the internet. His videos have hundreds of thousands of views and he has gained a cult following.
But his fame came at a price. The ignorant masses came in droves asking questions by the million. Richard, the industrious fellow that he is, decided to quell the wave of non-Google using random Youtube commentors with a tell-all video into the process. Even better, it's done in a retro style with semi-retro music.
This is a 30 minute long epic by Youtube standards, but his quirky personality keeps you entertained and wanting more. Just remember to use Google first.
For more of his work, please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/vomitsaw (Youtube Channel) or his website, http://www.stupidfingers.com/Richard DaLuz is no stranger to game system modding. His works, such as the Super... more
-
-
Here's the first video update from one of the teams that are hacking, modding and developing the N900.
This one's from Solderin Skaters that are building an application that takes skateboarding gaming back to the streets and lets its users challenge friends with the tricks they've accomplished.
There's a whole heap of info on the project over on the blog: http:/blogs.nokia.com/pushn900/Here's the first video update from one of the teams that are hacking, modding and... more
-
-
Check out this competition that Nokia have been running - some of the videos of what they've got hackers doing are seriously cool!
The competition called out to hacking/modding communities to harness the power of the N900 and attach it to something that's both cool and that they love and the results are nothing short of epic. It's too late to submit your own ideas, but that just means it's now the time for the five winning teams to bring their creations to life!!
The five winning teams are:
“Haptic Guide” – a modern take on directions with this ‘wearable’ guide.
“Solderin Skaters” – record and score your skateboarding tricks to your phone, then challenge your friends.
“KAPing With The N900” – flying high with aerial photography taken on an N900.
“Light Hack Crew” – merging light graffiti and the N900’s photo capabilities.
“Sketch Your World” – the N900 and Etch-A-Sketch teamed up to create kitsch custom art.
There's more info on all the teams here: http;//blogs.nokia.com/pushn900/
Plus, the teams will be uploading regular progress updates via the blog.
http://twitter.com/pushn900Check out this competition that Nokia have been running - some of the videos of what... more
-
-
A clever modder has crammed a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) into a NES game cartridge. Not only that - it has a screen and controller built-in too!
Sadly, this isn't a full sized NES pared down - but a software emulator. I mean the guy isn't a miracle worker or anything - do you remember how big the NES was?
As well as being able to play NES classics such as Super Mario Bros, this thing can play GameBoy titles and play mp3s and video.A clever modder has crammed a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) into a NES game... more
-
-
Very rarely are we rendered speechless by a mod, but we have just seen a video that seriously blew our minds. It seems that someone called JoblessPunk DESIGNS has managed to imbue a PSP Slim with dual nubs (more on that in the video below), a second USB port for charging, a camera, custom firmware (for emulators and the like), and switched out the UMD for 32GB flash memory.
But that's only the beginning: this gentleman is on a mission to single-handedly destroy the PSP Go by bringing his own vision of handheld gaming to the masses -- and to help him do just that he's put together one hell of an infomercial, complete with multiple camera angles, a vintage cable access set, and a truly mystifying soundtrack.Very rarely are we rendered speechless by a mod, but we have just seen a video that... more
-
-
Welcome to Micro Saturday at Engadget! In the absence of hard hitting stories and shocking exposés, we thought we'd turn to the lighter -- and thinner -- side of the news. Enter the Xbox Micro, a 1-inch thick celebration of all that is good and holy about the world of DIY mods. It took six months to make, with a few clever design decisions along the way, but it looks good enough to make even the ninja-black Wii suck its gut in. Comparison pics with the original behemoth are after the break, and hit the read link to see the exposed guts of this little beauty.Welcome to Micro Saturday at Engadget! In the absence of hard hitting stories and... more
-
-
A California State University student has been arrested for modifying and selling game consoles for the sole use of playing pirated games. The student, 27-year-old Matthew Crippen will be sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
Read the full article at http://www.digidose.com including 10 other crimes that result in a 10 year sentence. Was this a fair sentence or not?A California State University student has been arrested for modifying and selling game... more
-
-
Most modded consoles and computers these days are alien looking contraptions that have flashing neon lights and are cooled by some fancy geo-engineering project, but not this one. One modder has incorporated the natural world into his PC; he's hollowed out a tree trunk and shaped a whole heap of custom hardware fixings for his components.
It's pretty cool and there's a load of pics at the link.Most modded consoles and computers these days are alien looking contraptions that have... more
-
-
The geeks and gurus over at Popular Mechanics have mixed their construction and PC building skills to create this rather astounding desk. As well as being a proper desk, it's also a full-fledged computer. Packing a half-gallon of glycol, twin 300GB VelociRaptor hard drives, a GeForce GTX 280 GPU, seven fans, a Sony Blu-ray drive, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 3GHz Core 2 Quad processor and copious amounts of "win."The geeks and gurus over at Popular Mechanics have mixed their construction and PC... more
-
-
Mirrors Edge looked like it was going to be an awesome game, but truthfully it sucked. Don't get me wrong, it was an original idea, and a very well put together game, but it lacked substance. The game itself was too short, and there wasn't much replay value.
"Hackers of the world unite!" Some dudes at the Beyond Unreal forums figured out a way (they always do) to create a level editor using the unreal engine.
Clink on the link to see how its done.
Note: This isn't exactly stable, or legal for that matter, so don't blame me if something happens. ;D
Via BigDownloadMirrors Edge looked like it was going to be an awesome game, but truthfully it sucked.... more
-
-
As if a Macbook isn't sexy enough, some guys have modded theirs so the Apple logo on the back of the screen acts as a second monitor. Albeit just a really, really small, practically useless one.
Regardless of how pointless it is, you can't deny it's pretty freakin' cool.As if a Macbook isn't sexy enough, some guys have modded theirs so the Apple logo... more
-
