The Verdict is In!

Well, that's about as good an ending as we could have hoped for.

It would seem that iTzLuPo has lost the battle with Microsoft. His Twitter account has been deleted, as I had mentioned yesterday, and he changed his stance completely, posting an apology on his YouTube channel earlier today. Then, in a really unforeseen move, iTzLuPo's channel was deleted. I took a quick glance at Google, and while there are many stories on Lupo, the guy himself can't be found on the Internet.

So, what happened?

I see two possibilities. One, the online community has completely cast out Lupo, making him realize that he was wrong, causing him to make his apology. His accounts were deleted by Twitter and Youtube, and he decided to take his permaban on Xbox Live.

Two (which, to me, seems like what actually happened), his parents wised up. If you weren't aware, somebody on Twitter, @WeKnowWhoYouAre, posted Lupo's full contact information, including his address, his phone number, and even his parent's names (@WeKnowWhoYouAre has been suspended by Twitter for "suspicious activity", likely because of the posting of Lupo's information). With the number of people that are angry at him, some people were bound to call Lupo's home, and his parents were bound to answer. I'm betting that Lupo's parents finally found out about their son's shenanigans on the Internet, and decided to pull the plug.

As for the pro (apparently, there's a space there), I'm told that he is not actually suspended, or even reprimanded. When going over the video, he admits that he was a bit too aggressive in his tone. That about sums it up on the corporate end.

And as for all of us gamers who watched from the sidelines? We just got told by Microsoft that they aren't going to be putting up with hackers, modders, and general cheaters anymore. Which is fine for most of us, since we don't do any of those things (right?). We should be relieved. But I can't help but sense that there might be even more chapters in this story, and we might see a lot more stories in the future like the saga of Lupo and the pro.

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You lost your mind boy? ('cause I'll help you find it)

Kudos if you know where the quote is from.

It has recently come to my attention that there is a little spat going on concerning a person known as "itzlupo" and pretty much the rest of the gaming world. If you aren't following this, let me explain.

Sometime this week, itzlupo was playing Modern Warfare on Xbox Live. He allegedly was being harassed by a mod called "thepro", who has a history of being a bit on the brash side when acting out his powers. Now, Lupo has a very large, if not long, history of being a modder when it comes to Xbox, having a large Youtube library full of mods and even evidenced in a personal Tweet sent to Robert Bowling, taunting him about his ability to mod (I can't get the tweet because iTzLuPo's Twitter account has been deleted.) Lupo was subsequently suspended from Xbox Live by thepro.

So, being a banned modder, he did what any banned modder would do: he whined. He made a video to share with other people and worked up quite a following. Thepro's previous history as a hasty banner helped along the modder a lot.

However, thepro's boss, Stephen Toulouse, stuck up for his deputy, and released a fully unedited video showing thepro being heavily provoked by your average preteen gamer.

However, I still have to come up with a conclusion on this. I was dead set that Lupo was guilty, but there are serious inconsistencies on both sides. On the fully unedited video, it can be seen that Lupo was not in fact the one provoking thepro, but a guy named mmmmmhhhhmmmmmPie (I might have mispelled that). This one mistake puts me in doubt.

However, there are a lot more things counting against Lupo. The fact that he edited the video in the first place does not look good for him. Also, even if he wasn't doing anything when the video was being filmed, Lupo might as well be banned from Xbox Live with all the obvious modding that he's doing. Calling attention to himself might not have been in his best interest. Like Tiger Woods before him, Lupo managed to blow this whole thing wide open, and even if the first incident wasn't actually incriminating, all the videos on his channel certainly are, especially now that he's under Microsoft's radar. Another thing that might not look suspicious, but doesn't sit well with me is his denial of anything bad said about him. I suppose that we all feel this, but it still doesn't sit right. Lupo has deleted his Twitter account as I had mentioned earlier, and it appears that every comment directed towards him on YouTube has to get approved, of which he only selects the "Pro Lupo" comments, portraying him in an unnecessarily positive light. Lastly, he seems to be talking too much about suing Microsoft. What would he be suing them for? The $60 for the one year membership they cost him? Any other expenses that he might have were agreed to when he accepted the Terms of Service. If he ever went to court for this, it would never turn out well for him, since Microsoft could easily sue him for their legal costs if they won the case, which would be disastrous for Lupo, who still attends high school.

So, who won here? Nobody! Thepro didn't win, since he is reportedly suspended (though this might be false), and Lupo definitely didn't win, because now he has 90% of the internet against him. If more information comes up tomorrow, I'll be reporting a final verdict.

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