Xbox's new policy — say goodbye to unofficial accessories from November thanks to error '0x82d60002'

“Made for Xbox” branding for proprietary accessories approved by Microsoft incoming. Anything else won’t work.

How hypocritical of MS to pull this on their consumers after making it such a big deal that competitors like Apple do this same thing. Pot meet Kettle.

The optimist in me says “maybe this is just to prevent cheaters from using XIM and Cronus and it’ll be cheap and easy for other manufacturers to get authorized”

The pessimist in me says “so Microsoft is going to charge a shitton for authorization… great”

The realist in me says “I play on PC”

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"it's all just for your protection!" I'm amazed that people actually believe this shit. That's the same argument as with various countries fighting against CSAM, seeing that as an excuse for total privacy invasion. Like come on...

Modern consoles are just PCs - there are no architectural differences like how the SNES could manipulate background layers better than any consumer PC back in the day.

They're just PCs... but you're tied to outdated hardware, one specific game store, one specific set of accessories, one specific set of software updates...

Why?

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Ah yes the infamous and completely utterly useless 0x8 hex Microsoft errors.

If I had a nickel for every time I encountered one, I'd have paid Microsoft to properly document what they actually mean, instead of spending 2 years finding some ye olde ass archived help request where some ancient wizard sys admin gives the answer after the default and also equally useless MSFT Associate reply of "Did you try DISM or try to reinstall windows?"

So goodbye custom-built accessibility controllers? Little Timmy, who was born with no arms and loves video games but has to play with his feet on a custom controller, is going to be told "Git good stumpy"?

Another attack on ownership. The user is the only one who can authorize an accessory being used with their hardware.

Where was this outrage when Xbox blocked the ability to use third party headsets? This just seems like a continuation of their long-held policy and is likely only happening now that they have their accessibility controller on the market.

So we're back to the DRM machine dream of Xbox One.

Just hook up a gaming pc to tv and play there with any controller.

There's still no official word or reports yet on whether XIM or Cronus controller-spoofing mouse and keyboard adapters will be banned as a result of these policy changes, but manufacturers like Brook Gaming who build unlicensed, but fair adapters for fighting game sticks seem to be caught in the dragnet. We'll be sure to update you on further changes.

I think XIM and Cronus are the reason they're doing this, especially since the main games on Xbox are shooters.

Cronus allows you to run scripts which give you an unfair competitive advantage, from using exploits and humanly impossible controller inputs to fire weapons ultra fast, to removing weapon recoil, to going auto-prone when you fire your weapon, to quickscoping, to other things.

XIM on the other hand lets you plug in a mouse and keyboard. While this allows you to play games on console that otherwise don't support M&K controls, it also gives you serious unfair competitive advantages by making the console think you're a gamepad player whilst giving you superior M&K controls and aim assist at the same time. With a XIM device you can go seal clubbing in console-only lobbies.

My other hypothesis is that they want to safeguard their console from firmware exploits that could bust the security of their console wide-open and allow for software piracy.

The enshittification is getting worse

i feel like the EU will fight this, but it still might not matter for NA users

Nowadays Consoles are just locked down, consumer-hostile PCs with many unnecessary artificial limitations. Get an actual PC and install Linux on it, that way you have the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want with both your hardware and your software. Probably the only console that respects its users is the Steam Deck, which also runs Linux. Most games work really well on Linux, and it's constantly improving. Also check out !linux_gaming@lemmy.ml

Get a Steam Deck and use any Controller you want ;) (including the corresponding controller glyphs for many games)

This surely can't be legal? Right? Right?

They can 0x82d60002 Deez nutz

Honestly surprised they allowed them in the first place.

Pretty sure Sony don't.

What a shitty move, glad I use PC/SD

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In a significant development for Xbox users, the era of tinkering with your console to use unapproved accessories is drawing to a close.

I asked for a photo of the controller, and I'm not surprised it didn't work, given the included adapter looks like something you get for free at the bottom of a box of cereal.

we have received player feedback concerning these products when used on Xbox consoles (the latest OS version 10.0.25398.2266. released on 10/16) during online gameplay.

Brook Gaming's statement highlights a series of issues that have been plaguing third-party, unlicensed accessories, particularly since the rollout of console build 10.0.25398.2266, which was released on October 16.

As of right now, we haven't seen any evidence that these types of accessories will be affected by the recent changes since Xbox has historically been unable to detect them, but we're investigating.

Our sources indicate that Microsoft is lifting restrictions on the ability for third-party hardware manufacturers to build wireless accessories for Xbox Series X|S devices.

The original article contains 1,026 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 84%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Going to have a controversial opinion here, but as someone who primarily plays competitive FPS games this is a huge win. Strike Packs have been dominating console lobbies for years now. Controllers that do scripting won’t work anymore, and that’s a massive W.

It’s not universally good, and they’ll need to expand the authorization program, but imo it’s well worth it to ban the cheaters using 3rd party controllers.

Edit: Downvote as much as you want. I’m fed up dealing with console players cheating with controllers they can buy from walmart. This is a huge positive for anyone who wants people to stop cheating.

Historically, 3rd party accessories on all platforms have been garbage. Glad to see them cracking down. There are rare exceptions like this Atari 2600 joystick:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAC-2

I have a pair that must be almost 40 years old now, still work!