Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Whoops. Looks like Microsoft's latest banhammer spree on Xbox LIVE has caught a few unsuspecting - and undeserved - Xbox LIVE members.

Talking in a recent post on MajorNelson.com, Stephen Toulouse, overlord of the Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement team, revealed that, after a number of customers complained after the most recent banning spree, the team found that "a handful" of banned consoles were in-fact banned erroneously for having modded consoles - which they didn't.

"... after an initial investigation we have confirmed that a handful of banned consoles did in-fact appear to not have been modified or tampered with," stated Toulouse. "We’re still conducting our review but the cause appears to be a software issue, not an error on the part of the enforcement team’s normal actions. It’s very specific and occurred between August 29 and September 9, affecting a very small percentage of users."

To try remedy the situation, Microsoft will be handing out 3 months of free Xbox LIVE Gold credit, along with 1600 MS Points to those affected. The credit will be applied automatically.

"I’d like to take a moment to personally apologize for the inconvenience this has almost certainly caused to the affected customers," said Toulouse. "You have my assurance that we are investigating how this error occurred and have since discontinued use of the software that was used. The Xbox LIVE community is the best out there and we regret the inconvenience this may have caused for our loyal members."