Al sinds jaar en dag is Microsoft (terecht) genadeloos als het aankomt op consoles die zijn omgebouwd. Deze worden dan met grote regelmaat van het wel werkende Xbox Live netwerk gekickt. Maar vandaag konden deze warez aapjes door waarschijnlijk een fout even tijdelijk weer online. Maar de vreugde was van korte duur en waren alle omgebouwde consoles weer gebanned. Microsoft's hoofd van beveiliging Stephen Toulouse wilde alleen maar even kwijt dat je forum berichten niet moet vertrouwen. Geruchten gaan dat Microsoft bezig met het updaten, beveiligen en voorbereiden op de nieuwe dashboard update, en dat daar door de ban lijst tijdelijk voor enkele uren was opgeheven.

Reports began swirling Tuesday evening that Xbox Live users with banned Xbox 360 consoles were able to reconnect to Microsoft's online service. Forum users across Xbox.com, Xbox-Scene and NeoGAF claimed to have reconnected banned consoles, though said consoles were unable to download content from Xbox Live, including Marketplace purchases and game updates. As of early this morning, however, Xbox-Scene users are reporting that previously banned consoles have been totally barred from Xbox Live once again.

It's unclear just what happened, though Xbox-Scene user DUBiSM noticed Tuesday afternoon that the Xbox Live status page (image above) noted that users could experience problems "creating new Xbox Live accounts, managing those accounts, or recovering an account on a different console." The message has since been changed to warn of Modern Warfare 2 phishing scams.

On Twitter, Xbox Live director of policy and enforcement Stephen Toulouse said that all banned consoles are still banned, adding, "you can't trust message boards." For the moment, it would appear that the alleged reconnections were a fluke, though still a fluke that deserves attention given the ongoing drama surrounding the recent attack on Sony's PlayStation Network. We've contacted Microsoft for further comment.