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Saturday, May 05, 2007
Dead XBox...just in time.
Well, 2 weeks after my 1 year warranty on my premium XBox 360 expired, it has gotten the dreaded 3 Red Rings of Death. Seems awefully "coinicidental" this is just the day before they are planning to roll out the new "Spring Dashboard" Update. This sucks. I wouldn't mind trying to get upgraded to an "Elite", but I'm guessing they won't let me do that. Plus, I'm guessing I will lose all my save games and stuff if I send it all in (and have to pay $169 for service). This really does suck. I guess I could try getting an "elite" system and then transfer the content to it with the XSATA. But I'm not sure that is working yet for the 120GB drive of the elite.Update (4/5/2007): Well, just got off the phone with Microsoft XBox Support and it turns out that my XBox warranty is good through December 2007!!! Woot! I may still get an xbox elite and try to xfer the content over to it and then use the repaired XBox as a second system in my computer room. We'll see. I'm sure my wife won't like that idea.
Update (4/5/2007): I have downloaded XBLA content with both MY gamer tag and with my wife's. Everyone with a profile/gamer tag on my current XBox 360 can play that FULL content (my sons and wife can all play stuff I downloaded/paid for from my GT). The problem, as I see it, is if I transfer this content (or even recover my tag onto an elite), then ONLY I will be able to play this content anymore. My wife and sons will not be able to. As I research this, it looks like even my repaired XBox 360 will probably be a refurb and not the same serial number, so I'm equally screwed there too. If that is the case, I'm super pissed off.
Update (4/6/2007): Found an Elite at my local Fred Meyer store (and got a free copy of Fusion Frenzy 2). I also picked up an Xport 360, which allows you to pop your 360 HDD into a base stand that connects to your computer via a USB cable. Well, the dang thing doesn't recognize my HDD (the 20GB or the new 120GB one). So, I'm back to just playing on my old 20GB drive or petitioning MS to give me some points. I'm super upset that my Viva Pinata save game won't transfer...sigh.
Update (5/31/2007): Finally got my repaired XBox back, and after 2 hours on the phone with Microsoft support, trying to explain the situation to them on why my wife and kids couldn't play the content I had purchased (worse, some had been bought by Sarah, so she could play but not me or the kids), and after being transferred to three different people, I finally got to someone that wasn't trying to run me down a "clear cache/HDD" trouble shooting sheet and actually understood the DRM problem. Had to go through and give a list of all the games (twice), they looked them up and finally had a total (jeezus, don't these people have the accounts right there?!?) points. They said they would call back in 5-10 days with information. Right at 10 days later, I have a PAGE full of codes to enter. And damn if they said they couldn't even EMAIL them to me, let alone just credit it to my account. Are you serious?!? This is a flipping joke. So, got 2 codes wrong when I went to enter them and had to call them back (yeah...you know how hard it is to 783 letters correct when the support person barely speaks English...). Finally done, so, I guess...sigh.
Comments:
There is always a lot of confusion regarding how the DRM works on XBLA. Let me see if I can clear some of this up.
First, you must understand what occurs when an XBLA title is purchased. The title is given a license that depends on a _combination_ of the user's Gamertag and the console serial number. This serial number is unique to each 360 and is in no way tied to the hard drive. This license is necessary to prevent unauthorized copies of the game from being played on other systems. Without this DRM, it would be possible to simply copy the game to a memory card and then on to another system.
Second, you must understand what occurs when an XBLA title is launched. In order for a 360 to execute the game, it must match one of two things. Either, the gamertag that was purchased must be signed-on and logged-in to Live OR the game must be launched on the system where the game was originally purchased. If either of those conditions are true, then the game will run. This is to limit the number of copies of a game can be running anywhere on any 360. Technically, you could get two copies of the game running if you were playing it on the original console NOT signed in to Live and on another console where the gamertag is signed into Live. However, that would be the theoretical limit of the number of copies the game could be running at the same time.
This is why you must be signed in to Live on the Elite after transfering the data over. Because it is not the system it was originally purchased on, you must satisfy the second condition. Even if the license was copied over, the license is tied to the gamertag AND the original system serial number. Note that this won't be an issue if you are simply upgrading from a 20GB drive to a 120GB drive ON THE SAME SYSTEM.
What does this mean? It means this cable is essentially useless. Why? Because you can simply redownload any content you have purchased anyway from any system where you are logged in. If you are logged in to the original system it was purchased on, the you won't be required in the future to be logged in to play. If you are logged in from your new Elite, then you will be required to logged in to play. You are in the same boat as you were when you use the cable. The cable is only good because you won't have to redownload everything (which could take a while) and possibly for transfering stuff like music, pictures, etc. that you've copied over to your 360.
Microsoft could fix this by allowing you to transfer a license between two systems. Make it a requirement that both systems are connected to Live at the same time and then revoke one license and generate another.
One last thing: if you sent in your 360 for repairs, you can squawk to MS about the issue of having to be logged in and they will reissue you all of the points you spend on your previous system to repurchase your games. However, you do need to have a new gamertag (they usually just have you create a silver account) to re-purchase. The reason? If you are logged in with your originaly gamertag, you can't repurchase the titles because Live knows you've already purchased them! I have no idea if enough squawking might get you the same resolution if you switch over to an Elite.
First, you must understand what occurs when an XBLA title is purchased. The title is given a license that depends on a _combination_ of the user's Gamertag and the console serial number. This serial number is unique to each 360 and is in no way tied to the hard drive. This license is necessary to prevent unauthorized copies of the game from being played on other systems. Without this DRM, it would be possible to simply copy the game to a memory card and then on to another system.
Second, you must understand what occurs when an XBLA title is launched. In order for a 360 to execute the game, it must match one of two things. Either, the gamertag that was purchased must be signed-on and logged-in to Live OR the game must be launched on the system where the game was originally purchased. If either of those conditions are true, then the game will run. This is to limit the number of copies of a game can be running anywhere on any 360. Technically, you could get two copies of the game running if you were playing it on the original console NOT signed in to Live and on another console where the gamertag is signed into Live. However, that would be the theoretical limit of the number of copies the game could be running at the same time.
This is why you must be signed in to Live on the Elite after transfering the data over. Because it is not the system it was originally purchased on, you must satisfy the second condition. Even if the license was copied over, the license is tied to the gamertag AND the original system serial number. Note that this won't be an issue if you are simply upgrading from a 20GB drive to a 120GB drive ON THE SAME SYSTEM.
What does this mean? It means this cable is essentially useless. Why? Because you can simply redownload any content you have purchased anyway from any system where you are logged in. If you are logged in to the original system it was purchased on, the you won't be required in the future to be logged in to play. If you are logged in from your new Elite, then you will be required to logged in to play. You are in the same boat as you were when you use the cable. The cable is only good because you won't have to redownload everything (which could take a while) and possibly for transfering stuff like music, pictures, etc. that you've copied over to your 360.
Microsoft could fix this by allowing you to transfer a license between two systems. Make it a requirement that both systems are connected to Live at the same time and then revoke one license and generate another.
One last thing: if you sent in your 360 for repairs, you can squawk to MS about the issue of having to be logged in and they will reissue you all of the points you spend on your previous system to repurchase your games. However, you do need to have a new gamertag (they usually just have you create a silver account) to re-purchase. The reason? If you are logged in with your originaly gamertag, you can't repurchase the titles because Live knows you've already purchased them! I have no idea if enough squawking might get you the same resolution if you switch over to an Elite.
After over 2 hours on the phone with three different "customer service" reps trying to debug why my wife and sons couldn't play my purchased xbox live arcade titles anymore (I had a full list of all that had been purchased as well as the points each cost) and I even explained why it wouldn't work anymore, due to the repaired xbox being a different serial number and it no longer meeting the DRM requirements, I was finally put on with a supervisor that seemed to completely understand the issue. They went through title by title and we figured out how many points would be needed to 'repurchase' the titles on the replacement under my "son's" Silver account. Said they would call back with the codes and when I could proceed in 7-10 business days...sheeze. You would think this would be easier.
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