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Microsoft Points in 400-point chunks!
Samphis
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Microsoft points just got a lot less crappy! There is a way to buy them in non-stupid amounts. I found this little gem this morning:
For people that do not have MS points and don’t want to be forced to buy a 500 point pack off of live for $6.25 you can go on the Zune website (uses same login you use for Xbox.com) and they offer a 400 point pack.
Log in to the Zune.net website. Choose Social -> My Account -> Buy MS Points. Buy 400 point pack. You won't have any "remainder" points and you'll be able to pay exactly $10 for Geometry Wars if you want to.
Credit to some commenters on the Braid website.
For people that do not have MS points and don’t want to be forced to buy a 500 point pack off of live for $6.25 you can go on the Zune website (uses same login you use for Xbox.com) and they offer a 400 point pack.
Log in to the Zune.net website. Choose Social -> My Account -> Buy MS Points. Buy 400 point pack. You won't have any "remainder" points and you'll be able to pay exactly $10 for Geometry Wars if you want to.
Credit to some commenters on the Braid website.
Samphis on
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I call that getting it for free! Woo.
I never asked for this!
i think it's silly that it's possible to end up with like 30 MS points. Can't buy shit with that. it basically comes down to spending more than you want to and wasting money.
Well, it feels like a scam, and Microsoft shouldn't be forcing people to buy into their stupid points bullshit. You would think they would want to entice people to support digital distribution instead of penalizing people for supporting it.
because arcade games are priced in 400 point denominations. 400, 800, 1200, 1600
But the ability to buy in 400 point increments is nice, thanks for the heads up!
I never asked for this!
buck fifty or a penny. holding any money hostage gets my panties in a twist. When you go to any brick and mortar store would you allow them to hold your money hostage? no, then why should a virtual store be held to any different standards?
Steam
XBOX
Only if you never EVER buy any other thing on XBL again.
Also, you're not gonna die over $2.25. The stuff some people get worked up over... *rolls eyes*
Because you can't reach through the internet and choke a bitch.
And at the end of the day, even if you get the extra points, you're still putting in 12.50 to afford Geometry Wars or whatever instead of the 10 it's listed at.
Think of it like if there was a store that only let you buy stuff with gift cards, but they only sold charges in 6.25, 12.50, 20, 25, 50, and 62.50 dollar amounts. Would it kill you? No. Would it be annoying to have to spend extra? Yes.
OP, you are a hero.
I guess I'm not seeing the "penalizing" part. If I'm buying points in the first place, I'm using them to buy stuff off of the Marketplace ... which means I'm likely to buy something else off the Marketplace at one point or another. I just use the extra points then, sort of a coupon off of the next purchase (like Scarab above just gave an example of). So next time people get in an uproar because a game they like is 1200 points instead of 800 points, they'll already have the 400 points sitting there. ;-)
You've never ended up with $1.76 left over on a gift card? This is how everyone functions nowadays.
I agree the system's pretty inconvenient, but I guess it's just never bothered me. The main reason I like the abstracted MS Points system is because stores are far more willing to offer sales on them. For example, next week Target is offering 1600 point cards ($20 value) for $15. There's no way on earth they'd sell cards that said "$20" on them for anything less than $20. Hell, late last year Circuit City had a buy-1-get-1 free sale on points cards, and I bought six cards just to stock up and use for myself.
I don't know how you can call $15 'leftover points'.
I never asked for this!
Because they're not forcing you to buy points in the first place. They're not holding money you don't have to spend in the first place hostage. And as someone else pointed out, every store out there these days have gift cards, and you can easily end up with spare small amounts of cash left over on them that you can't use without recharging the card with more money, so yeah, any brick and mortar store pretty much does allow it.
Edit: That being said, it never bugged me much. The left over points always eventually added up enough to go towards something else, or some cheap, silly theme or picture pack finished them off, a random song for Rock Band, etc. But then again, I don't genuinely get bent out of shape about much anymore :P
2000 for Geometry wars. 1200 left over. BAM I get Braid for free.
My logic is undeniable.
I have 10 points in my account.
What the FUCK can I buy with 10 points?!
WHAT A GRAND FUCKING IDEA.
Yea, but I can still kick your ass in Guitar Hero.
steam
What can you buy in the real world with 12.5 cents? Very little. I'm guessing that, instead, you'll add extra money to that 12.5 cents in order to buy something else that you'd want.
That's the thing. What the hell can I add 10 points to? It's not like I can buy 90 points, or something that's 410 points.
The same way you got to 10 points in the first place. They'll add up eventually.
He doesn't seem bothered even remotely.
And now you are in an utter state of despair that you can never redeem those 12.5 cents?
Your life must be really easy and drama free if this is what you worry about.
Not really, no. I'm using hyperbole for comedic effect. It's a bit ANNOYING to have these useless points, much like only having 12.5 cents to my name, but it's not world-ending.
Yes I'll use them when received as gifts, but like mentioned above, I treat them as a coupon like everyone does with the leftover MSpoints. I'll always try and find a more expensive item I really like, but would never spend $$$ on, but with this nice coupon it seems that much more reasonable.
yeah XBLA games to make me throw that principle out the window as the fun outweighs my petty beliefs.....but I still don't like it.
Steam
XBOX
Quit bothering me!
Kidding. I'm not shitting on the way to buy 400-point increments, I think it'll make more people happy, but I've just seen enough people saying "I'm not buying a game I want because of the Funbuxx System" to make me wonder. I'll admit that I'm Part of the Problem, though, as I've bought so many oddly priced Rock Band songs and movie rentals that any concept of zeroing out my point balance has flown out the window.
And seriously, guys, you should go buy points cards at Target next week anyway. Just buying retail cards in 1600pt and 3200pt intervals will bypass this whole debate.
You are speaking to someone (Samphis) who owns in excess of like 90 Live Arcade titles. There IS no bigger source of the problem than he is.