my gripe with Xbox Live

[PallarAndersVisa]

Ok. Its nearly impossible to get your credit card information OFF of the XBL service. It seems they'll have it forever. Whatever, I'll just assume they're trustworthy.

But my credit card expired around the time the super handy Auto-renewal (sarcasm) kicked in, so I got a new one with a new number, same account of course, so XBL naturally had trouble renewing my account.

So I didn't want to update the information and pay $50 for another year of service.

Some friends came over that night to play Boom Boom Rocket (we're geeks.) Lo and behold, I can't play it. Why? I bought the damn game. It only lets me play the trial version.

Wait a minute, it won't let me play contra, double dragon, castlevania, bomberman, tetris....they're all trials! WTF? I fucking PAID for these games, why the FUCK can't i play them? Because I chose not to renew my Xbox live Gold service? Does this seem right to anybody?

Its because of practices like these that I won't give a dime of my money to Microsoft (or try my damned best) any longer. Fuck you microsoft. Fuck you fuck you fuck you.

[Daria]

Did you try redownloading the games to your account? If that's not working call Microsoft and bitch. They'll sent you some codes for the MS points you need to "rebuy" your games.

[ProgrammingAce]

i recomend people use points rather then a credit card to pay for xbl. If you use a credit card and your account "defaults", you get locked out. If you paid with points, you just go back to silver. Don't ask me why, you *really* don't want to know the answer.

[Poofta!]

i recomend people use points rather then a credit card to pay for xbl. If you use a credit card and your account "defaults", you get locked out. If you paid with points, you just go back to silver. Don't ask me why, you *really* don't want to know the answer.

actually i kinda do. wanna know.


unfortunately i have my CC on file, but i really wanan take that off before it renews in may and set up a point account. is this possible?


and yeah, can you tell us why? =D

[Skelix]

Hey Daria, I've always wondered about that part. So they give you the codes to re-download the games.

But once you're connected to live, you already have them. But if you're not connected you can't download them.

This has always confused me, I have about 10 arcade titles that don't work unless I'm on line. The biggest hassle being all the Oblivion content.

[FrakAttack]

Unfortunately, downloads are tied to both your Gamertag and console, so any DLs you've moved to another console won't work offline from that point on. Some kind of verification process to keep people from duplicating DLed content.

Maybe if enough people complain they'll fix that somehow, but so far they don't seem to care.

[carlcarlson]

I haven't used Live much so this could be completely inaccurate, but couldn't you just connect to Live using your free Silver membership and still have access to your full games? I mean you're still on the same console correct?

[scooterb23]

I have the same "issue" I just made sure that before my CC sub expired, I renewed with a points card. I figure if I keep doing that I'll be ok. Eventually I should call and just get the CC taken off, so in case I forget I don't get hosed, but I don't feel like going through the hassle right now.

[s1lence]

Well, my accounts are on CCs and I have yet to have a problem. Even when an account defaulted, I was ok. You should be able to redownload the games OR call Microsoft and get a resolution. This is another example of why the DRM setup is craptastic.

[Icarus Moonsight]

This is another reason why I am still without a 360, even still. Microsoft products are made broken and are rarely fixed correctly. Best you get is a jury rigged solution or patches/service packs that are hit-and-miss and more often than not lead to other, new issues. Bull. Crap.