Before you start pinching pennies and buying certified pre-owned Xbox 360s, you might want to take a step back and consider working another two weeks at McDonalds to save up for a new unit. You see, according to a tipster over at Gizmodo, Microsoft is banning Xbox 360 units for life.

The problems began when a guy bought a pre-owned 360, only to discover it wouldn’t connect to Xbox Live. After some troubleshooting, he called customer service who then informed him that his 360 was banned for life and that there was nothing they could do. Really lame. Hopefully the guy had enough sense to return it to his place of purchase. If Microsoft is truly banning consoles for life though, the used-Xbox 360 market is going to go to hell in a hand-basket.

Gamer Buys Banned Refurbished Xbox 360 [Gizmodo]