Reclaiming a hacked account is always a nuisance, but Josh Hinkle's nightmarish story of losing, reclaiming, re-losing, and then re-reclaiming his Xbox Live account takes the cake.[source]
Settle in for a hell of a yarn that reads like a world tour of the Xbox's worst problems. We've got Russian hackers. We've got inexplicable bans. We've got customer service nightmares. And we've got the Red Ring of Death. Of course we've got the Red Ring of Death!
As much flak as Sony's received for their major hacking scandal that compromised every single member's credit card information, Xbox Live isn't exactly invulnerable. For awhile now, there've been reports about XBL accounts being compromised through FIFA hacks, lousy login interfaces, and now, the Russians. With love. While the quantity of compromised accounts hasn't come near the grand scale PSN suffered last year, this serves as a reminder that just because users pay for Xbox Live doesn't assure impenetrability.
Be sure to read the full article on Kotaku, in which the suffering XBL member recounts his story of being hacked, wrongfully banned, and left in the cold for three months after. Assuming that Mr. Hinkle [aka dmaul1114] isn't, in fact, a covert Russian operative looking to destroy the foundations of the all*-American business of Microsoft, then how Microsoft has treated him in this situation is ridiculous, and furthermore, unacceptable.
While I'd like to rant more on the subject, you can read the article yourself to find all you need to on the situation. Instead, Mr. Hinkle's predicament has sparked a rant on the issues presented by an ever-growing online interface in gaming-- this situation actually being one of them. Check back here for it tonight, and be sure to post on Kotaku in support of Josh Hinkle getting his XBL gamertag back. I'll update this post if I find another way in which you can voice your concerns to Microsoft. Let's help this guy out.
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