Microsoft Shuts Down Halo Online Mod Allowing Access Outside Russia

A modding team created a tool that would allow Halo Online to be playable anywhere, but Microsoft issued a copyright notice to have the mod pulled.

Last month, we reported on the upcoming free-to-play, Russia-only shooter, Halo Online. Since that reveal, modders have leaked some of the game's files and attempted to create a tool that would allow players from all over the world to play the game. Understandably, Microsoft wasn't too happy with the modding project, codenamed "El Dorito," and filed a copyright takedown notice against Github, the host for the mod.

Speaking with pirate-friendly site, TorrentFreak, one of the people working on El Dorito said that the team has enough backups to keep going and highlighted some of their long-term goals with the mod.

The modder, known by the alias "Woovie," said, "We have made redundant [code] backups on private and public servers. This is to ensure we will always have one working copy. These are being synchronized so that data is always the same. Further [takedowns] may happen potentially, it's not really known at the moment. Our backups will always exist though, and we will continue until we're happy."

Woovie added that the El Dorito team is driven by a deep love for the Halo series, and frustrated by the fact that Halo Online is currently restricted to Russia.

"As someone involved in game development, I'm sympathetic with some developers when it comes to copyright issues. This is different though, in my opinion," he said.

In the same interview, fellow modder Neoshadow42 said that this would be a different situation if they were taking a game that people had to pay for and making it free. Instead, they're just allowing an already free game to be played by anyone. "We're working to improve people's experience, bring it to those who wouldn’t have been able to play it anyway. I'd see that as a noble cause."

The El Dorito team said that gamers have been begging for a Halo 3 release on PC for years. Since Halo Online is being built with a modified version of Halo 3's engine, the team said they found their chance. "El Dorito aims to deliver exactly what everyone wants. The closest thing to a Halo 3 experience as possible, but on PC. If we can manage that, I'll be more than happy."

We've reached out to Microsoft, but the company declined to comment

source : http://www.gamespot.com