A while back, thanks to the modding scene on the Xbox, we learned that Microsoft began requiring developers to press their discs differently. Jason raised the question: "Will these new tactics be enough?" For those that don't know, the new method would add extra data to each disc on a new partition that houses the now standard NXE update. For most pirates, this meant that these games would not work on their systems. Everyone assumed this to be an anti-piracy measure brewed to stop the moungrels in their tracks.

While this is all only speculative, it makes just as much sense that Microsoft simply wants to ensure that everyone will be able to update their Xboxes to the latest firmware (assuming that there are still un-networked, older consoles floating about). If the former is true, though, it seems that the pirates have won again as they always seem to stay one step ahead of the game (no pun intended... maybe).

Recent developments, just more than a week after this discovery was made, have already pushed this barrier aside. Microsoft probably had dual motives in the new disc-pressing policies, and if that's true, they've already lost on one of the fronts. The new question could be raised, then: will piracy ever stop? Will Microsoft make more attempts in the future to elegantly thwart off the sickening disease? Whatever the case, it looks like they'll just have to keep at it on the whiteboard and continue to ban on a case by case basis