Xbox 360 Live Update Addresses Bugs, Hacks

A mandatory software update for the Xbox 360 fixes some bugs and fixes a potential security hole being investigated by would-be modders.

Microsoft has released a free, mandatory update to the Xbox 360 gaming console via its Xbox Live service. The software patch does not offer new features, but instead corrects a number of minor issues with the Xbox and closes a potential security opening being investigated by the so-called “modder” community as a possible way to circumvent the Xbox 360’s copy protection technology.

The update now enables users to choose to retain saved games when deleting a user profile and improved synchronization of games between the Web and the console itself. The update also includes unspecified improvements to the Xbox Guide, network configuration improvements for Xbox Live users in the Netherlands, and more detailed error messages when the system encounters a disk that is unreadable or produces a region error.

The update also seems to close a mechanism being investigated by the so-called “modder” community which may have pointed a way around the (as yet uncompromised) Xbox 360’s copy-protection technologies. A demo disk originally produced for Xbox 360 retail kiosks was found in mid-December to be copyable