Bannination surge on Xbox Live!

    One of the most stupefying things in the Modern Warfare 2 universe is the pervasiveness of cheating, as you can see from the Xbox Live Account Suspensions and Console Bans forum. The FFA matches are a haven for boosters busy off in a dark corner tactically inserting each other, tho Microsoft does not technically view this as cheating. (It does fall squarely in the category of douchebaggery, tho.) There are a buttload of JTAG-modded consoles out there to rocket-boost every wanna-be douchebag to the stratospheric heights of 10th Prestige heaven. How many legit 10th prestiges do you think there are, actually? I only know one on my friends list, and he's got a bajillion hours played. Every time I play MW2, I get at least one message offering me a chance to join a "10th Prestige Lobby" for 1600 Microsoft points. The Microsoft Policy Enforcement Team is busy cracking virtual heads, tho. There's an increase of "I've been banned for no reason!" posts on the Xbox Forum. These jagoffs are spamming their recent players list trying to get free MS points or even soliciting payments thru PayPal! Of course, it's blatantly dishonest and a violation of the Xbox Live CoD and ToU. Many of these, of course, are doubly dishonest: The douchebag takes your points, then unfriends you, and changes his gamertag. Even more astounding (and, to me, hilarious) is the legion of bucketasses who are now crying to Xbox Live because they got scammed by a 10th Prestige Lobby cheater in just this way. Get it? They're complaining that they were cheated out of being able to be cheaters! Some are parents complaining that their offspring were denied the chance to become cheating douchbags!

CVG: Infinity Ward: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 no threat to Modern Warfare online.

• NetworkWorld: Modern Warfare 2 dominated UK sales in 2009.

• Destructoid: What the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 VIP package gets you.
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 reviews: LiveMint; VentureBeat.
• GameDaily: Bad Company 2 stays on top of Steam sales list.

• BigDownload: StarCraft II prequel novel collector's edition announced.
• OriginalGamer: 5 reasons why MAG is a better multiplayer experience than Bad Company 2.
• Joystiq: Best of Big Download 22-28 March 2010.
• Playstation Blog thru Slashdot: "Install Other OS" Feature Removed From the PS3.
• Xbox Engineering Blog: Xbox Live Parties.
• VG247: Miyamoto: Violent games may damage “the potential of what games can do”.

• DailyTech: Lady Gaga is First to Reach 1 Billion Web Video Views.
• MaximumPC: 40 most important phone models in history.
• Telegraph UK: The Origin of coffee. "It is by Caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, It is by the Beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, It is by Caffeine alone I set my mind in motion." 
• FoxNews: Global warming advocate freezes to death in Antarctica.