Multiple 360 consoles question
 

If I want to get another 360 to put in another room, what are the ramifications of playing paid-for arcade games and keeping gamerscores/saves/etc. on the new 360 with my Xbox LIve Gold login? Are they locked into console serial numbers or something along those lines?

To play the games on any other 360 but the one you purchased the downloads on, it requires you to be logged in with your Live profile that you bought the games with. Otherwise, the games will revert back to demos.

The purchases are tied to both your Gamertag and the console SN.

so switching hdds isn't necessary or is it?

This is why I'm trying to get rid of my second 360. They've made it almost impossible to easily bounce between units in the same household. Since everything is tied into your Gamertag, you have to "reconnect" your Gamertag every time you want to switch units. It takes about 8-10 minutes to do and it's been really glitchy for me. I've called support numerous times, and even gotten a few helpful folks. There just not an efficient way of using two units on the same Gamertag for either arcade downloads or normal console games.

Edit: And switching HDDs isn't necessary as long as you pick up a memory card. Moving the game saves isn't a big issue with the card, it's all because it takes FOREVER to log on to your Gamertag on multiple consoles.

I also use a memory card between my 360's, but I've never experienced more than a minute to log in (and yes, my profile is in the memory card).

No kidding. Maybe I'll check on my connection, but everything always runs smoothly through Live, so I just assumed it was the normal time. I get so bored I start timing, and the lowest time I've had to switch Gamertags is about 6.5 minutes.

I've got one in the bedroom and one in the living room downstairs. I just move the HD back and forth and I have no issues. (although the living room 360 is currently being replaced due to 3 red-ring dealy).

How long does it take to transfer a gamertag to a memory card? I'm thinking about picking one up for Rock Band, but will be sharing it between myself and a friend. So we'd probably need to put the tag on our memory card to the 360 and back fairly often. If it takes the same amount of time to transfer from 360 to memory card as it does to just recover from Live, it's not worth it.

Once I get to the dashboard, it takes me less than a minute to sign in to Live, but I'm going from the HDD and I've only got two tags on my machine.
Can you be signed in to Live using the same tag from two machines at the same time? I assume you can be signed in to two (offline) machines at the same time (but that wouldn't get you the full games).

:eek:

No way. I keep my Gamertag on the memory unit and like posted above, logging in clocks in under 1 minute. Never timed it, but I'd even say under 30 seconds.

Or are you referring to transferring back and forth?

Why bother? Leave the gamertag on the memory unit.

I'm referring to transferring back and forth. The only reason I'd be getting this is for the Rock Band World Tour thing, as I've got a friend that games with me and we both like to get our achievements. Whenever one of us goes over to the other's place, it takes like 30+ minutes to recover our gamertag to the box.

I'd like to get one card for the both of us, but obviously we couldn't both run off the same memory card all the time, as we aren't roommates and have two 360's.

So you each get a $20 64MB card and keep your tag on them. Heading out in a hurry? Just grab it and go. No transferring needed (other than the first time).

OK, thanks for the info guys. Moving the hard drive is not a big deal for me (the ridiculous power adapter is though, hence the necessity for two units).

My memory card is wonky and I couldn't seem to get the Gamertag to transfer correctly to it, so my process involves signing into your MSN email account which then downloads the Gamertag to the second console. I've tried it with different memory cards, and I can't seem to get it to work. With everybody here getting their tags transferred in 1 or 2 minutes, I'm going to have to give it another shot, it drives me crazy.

Funny...I thought this was going to be about people who bought multiple consoles due to RROD. I figure for the 11 million 360s out there, probably about 4 million actually work... :lol:

Which sucks, because I really want one. :(

I've wondered that--do the sales figures count replacements, or are they actually units sold-through to consumers from the shelves? of course, many people get more than one, either for multiple family members or to replace broken ones being sent for repair. Are returned units removed from the sales stats?

I'm sure it's just units sold through...but I doubt they count replacements as sold units.

The real question is "how many playable units are actually out there?"...and nobody knows but Microsoft.

Edit: MS really doesn't even know considering some folks probably just buy another one or give up rather than sending theirs in.

Much like Christmas fruitcakes, there's probably like thirty, everyone's recycling the same three dozen refurbed units.
Yeah, stats are interesting. I think I heard once about how many Xbox live members there are, and my question was what is the average number of Live accounts per console? Lots of families have one tag per member, some people may have a gold and a couple silver accounts, etc. I work with numbers/statistics/metrics, and I've learned to take any of them with about a cup of salt.

edit: 20 seconds or so to boot up the 360 to get to the dashboard, and right at 15 seconds to sign in to Live (using a wired connection and the hard drive).
And yeah, the power adapter is insane.

Go into your system blade, then select memory, then Gamer profiles. Select your gamertag then choose move. Once it is on your memory card, leave it there. When you turn on your xbox, it'll automatically see the gamertag on the memory card.

Recovering gamertag is what takes long (6-10 mins) for me. You guys are saying I can keep the gamertag on the mem card?

Yes, makes it easy to move it between consoles. I've been doing it for almost a year now and haven't had any problems.

:lol: That's what I've been saying all along. Keep your tag on the memory card. There is no drawback other than the cost of the card.

The card is freaking big, no way I'm keeping it on my keychain :/

Since some of you guys own mem cards, I was wondering... If you download arcade games to your card rather than to the HD and you take it to a friends house, do you still have to log in to access the full game?

Who puts them on their keychains?