Many reports have been posted on various internet websites related to the Microsoft Xbox 360 console. Even Bungie, the developer of Halo 3, has commented about the bans on their own forums.

When Halo 2 came out for the Xbox, many of the original Xbox consoles were banned. Similar to that incident, Halo 3 Beta was just made available for download on Wednesday of this week, and on Thursday reports of banned consoles started being posted.

A quote from "BIGVIP" of the Xbox Gamerscore Blog:

"One of the great things about LIVE and the unified community is that we work hard to create a level playing field for all gamers and have a no tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior like hacking or cheating. As part of our commitment to our members, we do not allow people that we have detected to have modified their console to connect to LIVE. This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules. This topic is more important than ever given the recent release of the Halo 3 beta. As a result, some consumers that try to login to LIVE who we detect have illegally modified their console will get an error code (Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D) when trying to connect to the service. These users will not have their account automatically banned from LIVE, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the console they modified."

Similarly, Larry Hryb a.k.a. Major Nelson, the Microsoft Xbox Live Director of Programming posted this message on his own site:

"As you can imagine, we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to modded consoles connecting to LIVE.

"We're very serious about this, and if we detect you have a modded Xbox then you will not be able to connect to Xbox Live. If you see this screen and get Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D... that means your console has been banned.

"We'll continue to enforce this rule to ensure the integrity of the service and protect our partners and users.

"To the members of our community who play by the rules, thanks and we'll see you on LIVE."

For now, there may not be any recourse against this action. Some individuals at the official Xbox.com forums has noted that their consoles have also been banned, but that they are unmodified.