Microsoft recently banned all modded Xbox 360 consoles from their Xbox Live network, and as a result cheap consoles have been showing up for sale online in droves. If you are in the market for a used Xbox 360, be very careful and know exactly what you are buying.
These modified Xbox 360 consoles have been altered by their owners in order to play unauthorized games. Some 360 owners make backup copies of their games as a security precaution, while others download games they do not own from the Internet and burn them to discs which are then playable on modded Xbox 360 consoles.
Microsoft considers all of this to be piracy, and has subsequently detected and banned all of these consoles from playing multiplayer games on the Xbox Live network. The modded consoles are showing up on sites like Craigslist in huge numbers for low prices, so you should be aware that if you purchase one of these cheap systems you may not be able to play multiplayer games online. Microsoft will not extend warranties for these consoles, even if the owner acquired it accidentally.
