MS tackling fake Live accounts?

Microsoft is reportedly planning to shut down "fake" Xbox Live accounts set up by 360 owners looking to bypass regional lockdown on certain demos and movies.

Interest in the practice, which involves creating an account using false contact details, has grown on both sides of the Atlantic recently - with American gamers keen to access the Rainbow Six Vegas demo we had before them, and European gamers now keen to try out the US-only Video Marketplace.

Reports of Microsoft's intention to shut the bogus accounts emanate from website Xbox-Archiv, which claims it heard about the plan confidentially. The German website has since removed its story after what sounds like a bit of shouting from Microsoft.

Meanwhile, representatives for the Xbox platform holder here in the UK declined to comment "for legal and security reasons".

Those are likely to stem, in particular, from the finer points of its Video Marketplace content deals, which see 360 owners able to download TV shows and films - some in high definition formats - under agreements put in place with the likes of HBO. That those deals only apply to the US is obviously the problem.