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MS still hasn't fixed 360 transfer problems - UPDATE: Fix next month!!!
The_Spaniard
It's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
It's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
History lesson time!
So there is the basic problem in a nutshell. This is a huge problem and when it was very public MS made a promise to provide a fix. As soon as the public eye turned away they turned on the customers. Their official stance as of now is that if you want your content back just re-rebuy it. This is ridiculous to those of us that have spent several hundred dollars on download content. It is also ridiculous to just tell us to never sign off of xbox live. Sometimes internet connections die, sometimes we go on vacation where we do not have internet access. They told me they wouldn't refund my points unless my system was broken. I replied by telling them that if I can't access the content that I already purchased on my system I consider it broken.
So who else here is a victim of this problem? Who has been told to screw off my MS? Who has actually been able to get MS to help them? What do we do now?
Well if anybody can remember exactly where MS promised a fix and link it, I'd love to see it because it would give us all a great deal of leverage if we all called tech support back and cited it when they told us tough luck.
This is completely outrageous and if I can't get help from tech support, I'm going to call their press department and ask them what's going on and let them know that I'll be writing an article about this. I just need do see where they said they had a fix in the works. I do remember seeing it somewhere and initially I was told the same by tech support. What do you guys think?
UPDATE: MS changed their minds, fix coming next month!!!
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/22/xbox-com-tool-to-fix-xbla-drm-fiasco-next-month/
Microsoft: Announces that it is coming out with a new 120GB HDD as well as a new Elite system with HDMI and a 120GB HDD built in.
Customers: Awesome, but what will happen to our saves and files if we upgrade?
MS: Well we are developing this transfer kit that will let you take all your files from one HDD to the next.
C: Cool! But what about people that might just make a bunch of copies of their saves or download content?
MS: We thought of that, the transfer kit will only transfer your files once and then delete them from the source.
C: Smart move, but what about DRM?
MS: *cough* Well that might be a problem, if it is, your download content won't be accessable offline.
C: That sucks, hopefully that isn't your only solution right?
MS: Well it really shouldn't be a problem *DRM issue is neatly swept under the rug and almost never mentioned again so that hardly anybody is even familiar that it exists*
*120GB HDD and Elite is released and stores around the nation even set up transfer stations so that customers upgrading can transfer all their files before leaving the store. No mention of DRM issue is mentioned to customers when they buy, when they transfer, or even on the box*
C: Oh shit none of my content is working anymore when I go offline.
*MS call centers are swamped with tens of thousands of calls nearly bringing them to their knees*
MS: We are sorry about this whole issue, we had no idea it would be this big and we surely never expected people to be upgrading from regular xboxes to elites! (bullshit since they were advertising the elites on xbox live, which you need an xbox to even see. They knew full well what was going on and expected people to upgrade) We are doing our best to resolve this issue and believe that we will be able to fix it in a future system update. Please just be patient.
*Customers begin to wait, days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months. Customers thinking they have been patient enough already begin calling MS to ask what's going on*
MS: Oh well now that the issue is out of the limelight we don't care anymore.
C: Can't you just refund our points so we can just get the content that we bought to begin with?
MS: Naw, we don't refund points unless the system is broken. Sorry, but you are going to have to just re-buy all your content.
C: That is completely unfair! You promised a fix! I have over 500 dollars in content, you want me to buy it again?!
MS: *fingers in ears* LA LA LA not listening LA LA LA not my problem anymore LA LA LA.
So there is the basic problem in a nutshell. This is a huge problem and when it was very public MS made a promise to provide a fix. As soon as the public eye turned away they turned on the customers. Their official stance as of now is that if you want your content back just re-rebuy it. This is ridiculous to those of us that have spent several hundred dollars on download content. It is also ridiculous to just tell us to never sign off of xbox live. Sometimes internet connections die, sometimes we go on vacation where we do not have internet access. They told me they wouldn't refund my points unless my system was broken. I replied by telling them that if I can't access the content that I already purchased on my system I consider it broken.
So who else here is a victim of this problem? Who has been told to screw off my MS? Who has actually been able to get MS to help them? What do we do now?
Well if anybody can remember exactly where MS promised a fix and link it, I'd love to see it because it would give us all a great deal of leverage if we all called tech support back and cited it when they told us tough luck.
This is completely outrageous and if I can't get help from tech support, I'm going to call their press department and ask them what's going on and let them know that I'll be writing an article about this. I just need do see where they said they had a fix in the works. I do remember seeing it somewhere and initially I was told the same by tech support. What do you guys think?
UPDATE: MS changed their minds, fix coming next month!!!
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/22/xbox-com-tool-to-fix-xbla-drm-fiasco-next-month/
Playstation/Origin/GoG: Span_Wolf Xbox/uPlay/Bnet: SpanWolf Nintendo: Span_Wolf SW-7097-4917-9392 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Span_Wolf/
The_Spaniard on
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NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
I swear DRM is whats holding back digital distribution not only with music but with downloadable games.
It doesn't work for all people apparently.
Though since it does for some (me! yay), it does look like they are working on a fix.
They've said months ago that a fix was being looked into. Then one day, a handful of people can redownload their content on refurb consoles. Its obvious they've put some effort into it.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
"Since it [works] for some (me! yay)]" means that because I have observed this behavior, it means they are trying to fix the problem. But the fix they have only works for some people, as opposed to all people. So the fact that re-downloading the content worked for him makes him say that it looks like they are fixing the problem of not getting DRM to work.
The Theories:
The Problem:
People replace consoles (upgrade, repair). The previously purchased content, for many people, continues to be unavailable offline after re-downloading. This, from the extrapolation, is likely due to all newly downloaded copies still containing the old Console ID stored on the Microsoft side. The quick solution would be to update Microsoft's side to link the New Console ID, but this increases the probability of someone downloading content on one Console, calling up and changing IDs, and downloading it to a second console. Both copies of the content would function; thus, Microsoft's reluctance to alter the hardware link.
Potential Solutions:
Assuming the above is correct, which can only be verified by Microsoft (and I see no reason why they would), potential solutions may include:
Does this sound about right?
In my case, it was not luck. I called in fully expecting to have my points refunded. The tech put me on hold for abour 5-10 minutes, then came back instructing me through redownloading a title, then testing it again to see if it played on an offline profile. It did so I went through the remainder of my content while he finishing up the ticket.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Luminous Live! won't work for me anymore, online or off. It loads up the "press A to start" screen but then kicks me back to the dashboard before getting to the selection menu. I tried deleting and redownloading but that didn't help. Any suggestions?
I just tried this and it worked for me as well.
Maybe it only works on refurbs?
I finally did try it and it worked perfectly for me.
I sent my console in for repairs in February and kept my harddrive. When I got back a different, refurbed console, I could access my content when I logged into my gamertag, but I never had to have a physical connection to the internet, or even sign on to live. I just needed to log onto the dashboard as my gamertag. No redownloading, even
My console is likely about to kick off again, from the sounds of it, and I'd to upgrade it to an Elite anyway. Is there really no way to avoid all this issue? What if you use a third party utility to transfer data and savegames instead of the official transfer kit?
From what I understand, getting a refund in points to rebuy all your content when you get an elite isn't possible for whatever retarded reason.
No. You can go into offline mode on any computer you install to.
Well, if they refund you $200 in points and then you give your old Hd to your best buddy microsoft just lost tons of money.
They rang back in 72 hours (they said 48) and gave me all my points back, and then some. And now everything works fine, except the PA picture pack I bought because I forgot the DRM also fucks with picture packs as well as Arcade games.
Your mileage may vary, but that's what happened to me. And I got the idea by asking people who had the exact same problem, and this was before the Elite was even announced.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
And then, of course there's the whole transfer being irreversible issue. If he could transfer his stuff without worrying about losing it forever, he might actually take a shot at it, but as it is it's far too risky.
When I traded in my system and bought the elite, I was told nothing. When they offered to transfer my files right there in store with an official MS product, I was told nothing. There were no warnings on the box (I know I checked), or on the many advertisements for the elite (especially the ones featured on xbox live which you know are aimed at people to upgrade). When I called MS tech support to ask them what they were going to do about it, they told me that tons of customers were experiencing the same issue and they were working on a solution. I never did and never would have agreed to just be able to access my content online seeing as I travel a lot and don't always have internet access. And MS seems to conveniently forgot that they told myself and others that something was being worked on for the however many tens of thousands of people that have already called in and are suffering from this issue because MS didn't feel it was necessary to widely publicize or inform on it.
So bottom line, I, no everybody was told there would be a fix about this exact problem. Not only has there not been a fix, but MS is telling us to screw off and just re-buy all our content. That is completely unacceptable and had they made a serious effort to let people know what was going to happen by putting a warning on boxes and having employees tell customers instead of a couple of casual mentions in podcasts things wouldn't be half as bad as they are now.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/console/datamigration.htm
This page has been up for a long time ... it pretty clearly states what will happen if you transfer your information
(I agree with you btw, but I'm playing devil's advocate here)
As has been pointed out in this thread when you download content there are 2 liscenses issued. One liscense is for the 360 (tied to serial number of console not HDD) purchasing the content, the other is for the gamertag making the purchase. When you switch 360's you lose the console liscense, which means the only way they can check that you own the content is when you are connected to Live with the gamertag that originally purchased the content. This is why when your 360 breaks they will refund all your Xbox Live MS Points.
My guess is that they didn't want to get burned anymore with point refunds so they put in the FAQ linked above that they simply won't refund the points ... buyer beware.
Some other fun facts about Microsoft's Liscensing System:
Did you know you can split the cost of Marketplace content with local friends?
1. Put you gamertag on a Memory card
2. Load your gamertag on your friend's 360
3. Download/purchase content with YOUR gamertag. This liscenses the content to your friend's 360 (and all gamertags on it) and to your gamertag
4. Port your Gamertag back to it's home 360.
Voila. Both of you can now access the same content on seperate 360's. This is legal btw as when you download DLC it clearly states that both the 360 downloading the content and the gamertag purchasing the content are given liscenses to use aforesaid content.
I accidentally deleted that post while you were quoting it.
Me either.
They're out the minute of bandwidth that you use to re-download everything. That's it.
You'd think they'd be giving away points like candy, considering how far they've been going to attempt to keep customers happy.
Oh I agree with you 100 percent. I'm just saying I've heard the "olol it's in the FAQ's" argument used before and wanted to put it out there to be demolished.
Personally I think the reason they don't want to give out new marketplace point refunds is because there is a very large portion of folks that would buy all new content instead of redownloading their old stuff. Keep in mind that you can still access the old "broken" content while online through your gamertag. Most people are always connected to the internet anyways. It would be very easy to call in, ask for a point refund and then buy thousands of points worth of new content.
*cough*
What they need to do is fix their god awful Liscensing system. Not only is it open to abuse (see "split cost of marketplace content" example in the post above), this abuse is LEGAL because of the way the liscensing system works (look really closely at the message that comes up next time you go to purchase XBLA content).
They could just refund your points and clear your damn license list (updating your account on next sign on or requiring you to be logged on while they do it).
edit:
Seems like a good plan. But there isn't any indication that you actually transfered the content. You might have the games which still work offline and you also got your points back. The best solution would be to to update the license of the transfered content to the new console. Apparently the transfer kit can't/won't do this.
So they are willing to say in an official capacity that MS is working on a fix. Though we don't know if it's true or just a comment being spouted to do nothing more than simply to placate the masses.
My computer is out of commission right now and I'm on a borrowed laptop, but when I get the part I need back in the mail I'm going to look into contacting the press department about an official statement from MS.