XBox Repair Rant

[tammy55]

So, the darn thing breaks three weeks ago and we weren't blessed/cursed with the Red RIng of Death (DVD drive wasn't spinning up). So, we agree to pay Microsoft $100 to repair the XBox and to extend the warranty. We ship it out and get it back yesterday. So, this morning I sit down to play a game of Carcassonne and have my morning cup of coffee. BUT ... I cannot play because the game is locked. So, is every other arcade game we purchased. I'm irritated and I check DH's gamer tag, and sure enough he has access to the games no problem. I call MS and after a long call I delete and recover my gamer tag (no help there) and so they decide to refund the MS Points. Great, a solution! But oh no, they can't do that immediately I get put on a call back list for Friday so MS can give me an update on where they are on refunding my money!!!!!!!!!


I'm seriously frustrated. I don't have access to anything DH purchased and vice versa. Why exactly did we pay to have the console repaired if it comes back from the repair center in an unplayable condition essentially? I'm beyond ticked off! DH is now talking of selling the XBox and games and just investing in a gaming PC and completely forgoing XBox. I'm tempted, very very tempted right now! [:@][6]

[Sharky]

I feel your pain. If I were you I think I would be trading all my Xbox360 stuff in and getting a PS3 instead.

[tammy55]

If only there was something on the PS3 I wanted to play as badly as I want to play Mass Effect and Halo 3!

[AzShrapnel]

You'll be wantin' one of those repair club badges then ... there ya go. Lemme know if that is just one lump or two []

[ThirdMartini]

I feel your pain. If I were you I think I would be trading all my Xbox360 stuff in and getting a PS3 instead.

The PS3s don't RROD, but unfortunately this particular downloadable content problem infects the PS3 as well.

Welcome to the world of DRM, where you do not own what you bought, you merely have a license to use it at the pleasure of the seller. PS3 downloadable content is also tied to the machine you purchased the content from. Sony is being pretty liberal at the moment allowing you to download most of it to 5 additional PS3s ( IE if yours breaks ) But some content is locked. Supposedly Sony can unlock it in the case of a replacement unit.. but who knows what that takes. And Sony has "expired" some content in the past ( I think 1 or 2 Limited time free downloads at this point.. but who knows what the future will hold )

There is something to be said for having physical media.

[jaymikelee]

If only there was something on the PS3 I wanted to play as badly as I want to play Mass Effect and Halo 3!

Exactly! Sony just doesn't have the library (my how things have changed) for me to jump ship.

[Booyabobby]

Get another 360. Stay with the dark side. [:P] You know you want Halo 3.

[virtual-human]

Good luck! That stinks.At leastwhen theyrefund and you re-buy on the new console you'll be good to go.

[Sharky]

There is something to be said for having physical media.

There sure is. Or at least having DRM-less media. It's good to see the music industry is finally moving towards DRM-less music downloads. I have a feeling we will never see this for games and videos though.

What's going to be very interesting to watch is to see if Microsoft allows us to move our Live Arcade games that we bought on the Xbox 360 to the next generation of Xbox, when ever that is. It wasn't a big deal last gen, but there are a lot of people with a lot of money invested in the Live Marketplace.

[virtual-human]

There is something to be said for having physical media.

There sure is. Or at least having DRM-less media. It's good to see the music industry is finally moving towards DRM-less music downloads. I have a feeling we will never see this for games and videos though.

What's going to be very interesting to watch is to see if Microsoft allows us to move our Live Arcade games that we bought on the Xbox 360 to the next generation of Xbox, when ever that is. It wasn't a big deal last gen, but there are a lot of people with a lot of money invested in the Live Marketplace.

To use Warhawk as an example, I understand where Sony is coming from (gasp!) Apparently, a lot of people used their profiles to DL the beta at friends' houses, and then those people were able to play it on their own profiles. Sneaky. I guess then you run into whether to tie the game to just one PS3, one gamertag, or both. They chose to tie it to one gamertag, so that you can move it to other consoles, although you have to wait 24 hours in between. It might have made more sense to tie it to one PS3. But at least now that people know, they can choose to buy a hard copy.