By IT-Observer Staff
Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:32 EST

Microsoft claiming that unlike previous consoles, the new Xbox 360 will require hackers a very long time before they could modify its features for nefarious purposes. Previous versions were modified to add media features such as music and movies, but the main purpose was games piracy for other platforms.

The next generation of Xbox was designed from the group up in order to include much better security features, enabling greater protection from hackers.

"We've taken security to the hardware level and built it in from the ground up," said Chris Satchell, Microsoft engineer. "One of the reasons we went with custom hardware design for all our silicon is that it allows us to build security at the silicon level. There are going to be levels of security in this box that the hacker community has never seen before."

Even though it seems that Microsoft is trying to be a killjoy, the company's position is that Xbox modifications enable games piracy. Apparently, if the software-giant secure design will hold off hackers for the first few months, then at least the first games manufactures for the consol will be happy.