A year after they first announced it Microsoft have officially started banning modded Xbox 360 consoles from using the Xbox Live service.

According to the folk over at Microsoft’s official Xbox 360 blog no one’s LIVE account will actually be banned but if their network detects you’re using an Xbox with modified firmware or un-sanctioned hardware modifications (we assume stickers and home-baked paintjobs are OK, no matter how ugly they are) you’ll be blocked from connecting to the service. While Microsoft have said the reason for this sudden fit of proactive-ness is to stop people from being able to cheat at online games (surely the lowest form of online treachery) it’s fairly obvious to us that this move is also being made to stop people playing pirated games online. And fair enough too.

Still, in the couple of days since the announcement interweb message boards have been going nuts with unreasonable people (cheaters or thieves no doubt) presumably panicking that their illegally modded console now won’t work online. Stiff biscuits we say. The fact is the vast majority of mods are made for the sole purpose of enabling your console to run pirated games, so even if this move catches out a few pure of heart souls out there who modded their console to play backed up copies of legitimately purchased games, this move has to be a good thing.

A word of warning though, if you’re thinking of buying a second hand Xbox 360 on Trademe or EBay you may want to get assurances beforehand that it isn’t modified in anyway, or you’ll find yourself locked out of Xbox LIVE for someone else’s crime.