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Some new info on Xbox 360 replacements
Drez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This was being discussed in another thread a couple of days ago which prompted me to call Xbox Live support and get my own situation with DLC purchased before Microsoft replaced my Xbox 360 straightened out, so I thought you guys would like some super-secret infos. Some people claimed that they could delete and redownload the content, and then it would tie the license to their new, replacement console, and others claimed that it didn't work for them. It didn't work for me. So, anyway, Microsoft called me today to clarify a few points, and asked me to try this with a game while I was on the phone with them. It didn't work, and out of curiosity, I asked her about that process. I bolded the most relevant part for you guys, but I think the whole thing is a good read. :P
http://www.snackbar-games.com/n2652.html
http://www.snackbar-games.com/n2652.html
Xbox 360 Console Repair: What To Expect When You're Expecting
Author: Roger Helgeson
Posted: Wed June 20, 2007 - 12:54 pm
So, I just got off the phone with Xbox Live support. A little backstory: my Xbox 360 “died” in November, last year. That is, the optical drive simply stopped reading or even recognizing discs. The console itself booted up and functioned otherwise - this wasn't a “ring of death” tale that people on the cynical blogosphere are so fond of telling - but otherwise, I couldn't do anything with it. Xbox Live Arcade is great, but it wasn't enough, and I needed to have a working optical drive in my 360.
Having purchased the console in February, I was eligible for a free repair/exchange, the warranty having been just recently extended from three months to a year for consoles manufactured before 2006, which mine was. I called up the very helpful Xbox repair support team and, long story short, though I had to foot the bill to send my Xbox out for repair, I got a totally different, fully-working console (likely a refurbished one) ten days later, which I reconnected in the same spot my last console was in, and went on enjoying the system.
Now, I'm a fan of Xbox Live. I'm not a huge fan of multiplayer; I don't play too consistently. But I own enough multiplayer games and I have enough friends with libraries that match mine that I will randomly play a session now and then, so I like that the ability to jump online is there for me whenever I'd need it. I keep my console permanently connected to broadband internet and I keep my Xbox Live Gold account active; I've never had any interruption in either service…until last weekend.
Last weekend, my internet service wasn't as smooth as it normally is. I kept dropping offline and would be unable to connect. Frustrated, I turned to my Xbox 360, to play one of my Xbox Live Arcade titles, and lo! It wouldn't let me. I was, of course, unable to log into Xbox Live due to the temporary state of my ISP, so I did some research and apparently, when you purchase any non-free content on Xbox Live, you are really buying a license for your gamertag AND your console.
That is, if you go buy Prince of Persia Classic today, for 800 Microsoft Points, that Xbox Live Arcade game will be licensed both to your gamertag and your console. This is done for a variety of reasons: one, so that other people on your console, say your brother's silver account, can also enjoy the purchased content and score their own achievements. And, two, so that you can play the content you've purchased whether you are online or not.
As you may remember, my console repair was done in November, and I received a brand new console as a result, with a new serial number and a new manufacture date. If they had repaired my console and sent the same one back, there would have been no problem. But, since they replaced it, my console had a different unique...identity, and the licenses I had purchased using my main gamertag were not tied to this new console. Apparently, this is a problem that people struggle with after they get their console replaced through the repair process, it just took me half a year to realize it because I was never not logged in to my original gamertag.
The normal process, when this happens, is to call Xbox Live support, and they historically check the information out and refund any Microsoft Points that were used before the repair. This is, of course, an unwieldy process and one that lends itself to economic abuse: from what I've heard, nothing stops the recipient of these replaced points from simply using them as they like. This is certainly a system Microsoft would want to avoid.
In looking it up, though, there were conflicting reports on this process. Some people claimed that they were able to delete their purchased content, say an Xbox Live Arcade title, re-download it, log off, and use it online. Others called these people liars, claiming that they tried this and it did not work. I was just on the phone with an Xbox support supervisor and I was asked to try this very process, to no avail; it did not work for me.
Out of curiosity, I asked her if this whole process was going to be changed, because it felt very cumbersome and potentially exploitative, to simply refund a massive number of points to someone after a console repair (my figure was an astounding 21,000 points spent by last November). She agreed and said that, actually, the download-again process works now in 75% of all cases, but for some reason, it fails 25% of the time, and they are working vigorously to get it fixed so that they don't have to go through this whole process again. Apparently, check marks are ascribed to a person's gamertag when they make a purchase, so if they delete the game and then re-download it, the license should tie itself to the replacement console.
So, those hoping to exploit the system are in for a rude awakening when the points-refund process goes bye-bye and the much less painful, easier, and more logical process works for every consumer.
Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
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Either way, I need to call them and get mine setup for repair, so I suppose I might be seeing if this works in the near future if I end up with a new system.
She said that she had to go through the whole rigmarole with me because it didn't work for me - they need to heavily document cases where it doesn't work, and then they escalate the data so MS can figure out why it doesn't work all the time.
*shrug*
Or they could just institute a rule allowing it to only be licensed to one console at a time. Exploit fixed
Yes. Someone confirmed this process in the thread I am referencing - it's a few pages back.
As DesertBox says, there are definitely ways around it. The supervisor didn't get into specifics with me or anything, but she mentioned flags/checkmarks tied to the gamertag. I'm guessing that they can somehow flag it so that you can re-apply your license to a new console after it's been replaced, maybe by flagging that you have one newly-available "console license" for the DLC you purchased before the repair. I don't know.
She could have been lying, of course, which I think is what you're implying. But I doubt it. Based on the fact that someone in the other thread stated that this processed worked for them and that Microsoft called me this morning to ask me to try the process over the phone with them, I doubt it was for show.
I'm editing this now that I read your post Drez. I didn't bother reading the thread you mentioned. So is this process something they have to have a hand in initiating on their side (MS), versus something that would happen automatically if you just went do it again? If so, that makes more sense. I guess I should really read the thread . .
For the record... no amount of re-downloading is working for me. My wife does play the arcade games and this is really annoying.
Hmm. I get what you're saying but now the scenario becomes:
You download something and never go online again.
Then you take your gamertag to your friend's and d/l the item again and he never goes online again.
Then your brother downloads the same thing and never goes online again.
So all three of you would never go online again to get a free copy of a $5 - $20 piece of software. Not as worth it anymore, is it?
Also, that scenario is less of an exploit than rebating tens of thousands of points.
Or they could simply go another route and do what Drez suggested
Honestly, I'm not sure. It makes sense that way, and they probably have the capabilities to do that, but I don't know, and I wasn't given any info or clues pointing either way.
I actually edited my post after I read what Drez wrote. I understand what you are saying, which yes, would be impractical, but in that case, I was actually imagining it working more like it does now, where it would try and verify that the machine that was playing it was the valid machine (since we assume this information gets stored remotely now), and assuming that if it couldn't validate it (because it was offline for example), that it wouldn't work at all, which would not solve the issue of being able to play the games your purchased offline. So it seems like it would be the 2 extremes, either everyone can download it, or it still has to do a check which screws people who are not online.
The whole thing is just a mess. I've always thought the solution should have been to tie the purchasing ID into the content locally, so that whenever it gets used, it validates that the gamertag that purchased it is either the one trying to use the content, or is at least a gamertag that is on the system. That way, other users playing on your 360 could use it (assuming your ID is on the 360), and you could still use it if you were offline (since the check is being done locally). I assume this would open things up for hackers though, and would have probably have had to been implemented like this originally, so it isn't really a solution . ..
If so, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. That is exactly what they've needed to do all along.
looks like taking advantage of the points refund system is about to end soon
oh well
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Its possible that it will work right now. Go to the Marketplace and find and select Download Again for an item you bought. Once its done, see if it works.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
I should go home tonight and see if I can play me some Geometry Wars offline.
you know, i haven't tried that. Do i have to delete it first, or can i just go straight to, say, Geometry Wars, and choose to re-download?
Why would Oblivion saves be part of this at all? They're not downloadable content.
Granted, I'm curious how things like the Oblivion expansion work within the confines of this nonsense.
For those who've been affected, how does downloadable content factor in? Can say, Oblivion with the expansion not be played offline?
Just find it in the Marketplace and choose Download Again (while signed in under the profile that purchased the content.) I didn't delete anything.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685