okay so i DON'T know my system's firmware/disc drive/etc, i bought it pre-modded to play backups (copied games, i guess; i would buy them for a dollar apiece in shanghai) in dec 08.
here's a basic rundown of my situation:
i played live regularly from dec 08 to oct 09, when the ban wave rolled around. i stayed offline until about the 2nd week of november and have been playing on live since. no problems.
i have ac2, borderlands, and l4d2, all copied. every time i want to play these 3 games, i have to put in some CD that bypasses my xbox (i think?) and lets me play; otherwise, the game won't even load. i think this is because my firmware is really old and can't read newer games? i guess?
i have beaten ac2, gotten 3/4 of the achievements in l4d2 and about half of the borderlands ones (so therefore i have played these games a LOT)
my question is, i want to play a LEGIT version of mw2 that my friend's bringing over in a couple days. because it came out around the same time as ac2/l4d2/borderlands, i assume it's got the same copy protections/whatever on it, but just to be safe i'm posting here.
would putting in that CD and then playing it on live mean risking a ban, just because it's a legit game? mind you, i've got the legit versions of ODST, the ODST multiplayer disk, and DJ hero, and play all 3 regularly as well, so i'm not sure whether the disk being legit or not is a problem.
oh and apparently one of my friends in shanghai has played his copied mw2 since dec-ish, using the CD thingy, without being banned or anything. i'm tempted to try it and see what happens :\
The CD you are talking about is called the activate disc. There's a certain wave on the discs that needs to be bypassed, and the activate disc was just a temporary until they released an updated firmware (which was iXtreme 1.61). Now when you say he's bringing a legit game, do you mean the actual copy, or is it a backup that he made or what? If it's a retail game, you don't need the activate disc to play it cause it's a retail disc, and you should be fine on live, but I can't guarantee anything.
As for L4D2 and ACII, were you connected to Live when playing those? If so, I'm surprised that M$ hasn't banned you yet, unless those are retail games...
