re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

i know i will get flamed for this...but is there anyway to buy just 20 MS points anywhere?

i have such an odd # of 780 and if i want something for 800 points, i would like not to buy 400 or 800 as i never really use them.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

No.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Nope. I think 400 is the least you can buy now through the dash or xbox.com for $4.99. It sucks but I'm sure there'll be something to buy in the future for < 380.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Enter all the text message contests. Eventually you'll win a couple hundred.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

What's a text message? How do I send one? Do I need a data plan? How many minutes of airtime does that take? Do I need an iPhone or Android?

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I'd flame but he's expecting it, so... :scratch2:

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

your about as original as my constant posts stating i will get flamed for my constant questions that could consistently be googled.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

20 MS points would be $0.25 at full price. Do you really expect that to be an option? Think for a minute.

Also, Google.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

In a world with logic, we wouldn't be paying $1 for 80 points.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

But it was marketing genius. Makes things seem a little cheaper to the average consumer who assumes a penny a point. It also leads to us having points left over in odd amounts (which benefits them).

All that being said, I think it also is a small customer advantage when you can find the cards on sale. About a year ago it seemed like every other month there were good sales on points cards.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I'm a fan of points. I don't care about the exchange rate from $->http://marketplace.xbox.com/xweb/lib...ints_12_12.png as long as I can get deals on points directly.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

It's a win-win situation, the standard/average consumer will buy points at normal price and think that maybe it's saving money.

The smart consumer will always buy points at discounted prices. Even if you save only a couple of bucks, that's a saving.

I think I've saved at least 30% using points.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

And the smart console maker pads the price of the points to begin with to make people think they are getting a deal when points are on sale :D

Basically the reason for points is to abstract it from $. Kind of like some people don't realize how much they are spending on a credit card. You create your own currency so that people don't understand what they are really paying for something.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

The real reason (at least the one given) is far less sinister than the conspiracy theories here. The reasoning behind it was so that points have the same value around the world. Braid is 1200 points here, 1200 points in France, 1200 points in Japan, and 1200 points in Zimbabwe. The price of the points can be dictated based on economy and conversion rates. While 1600 is $20 here, it may be $25 in Moscow or $30 in Sidney, but the point value of the game stays the same.

As for allowing you to buy less than 400 that's due to MS wanting to avoid credit card fees. Pricing points that low means the cc fee eats into their profit more than the larger sums of points offered for sale. Similar to how places don't want you to charge a pack of gum.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I was thinking more along the line of: You paid $16 for 1600 points, the XBLA game goes for 1200 points and $15 in PSN. Do the math.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

:up: It's also a great system for helping to hide just how much you're spending on video game purchases from a non-gamer SO. ;)

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Which makes you wonder why the two Japanese companies choose to charge actual money or points that translated to US currency.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I've always viewed the voice quality on XBL to be lacking so I think this is good news. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ity-to-improve Any limitations on the hardware end then (wired or wireless) for the current mics?

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

:up: That's a nice and welcome surprise.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Just won 400pts for the JCP thing. Nice!

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

XBL Gold price increases: http://majornelson.com/archive/2010/...scription.aspx

Current
1M Gold: $7.99
3M Gold: $19.99
12M Gold: $49.99


Starting Nov 1, 2010
1M Gold: $9.99
3M Gold: $24.99
12M Gold: $59.99

So, now it's officially $5/month. Better start stocking up on deals while you can.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Well that's weak ass. Fortunately I'm good through mid-2012.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Time to stock up on a couple of the 12 month cards, hopefully they are $30 somewhere.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

What the french, toast?

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Yes! You're totally finally vindicated! :rolleyes:

Except the reality is it's still worth $5/month.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Guesses on what's driving this? I can't help but think ESPN is a good chunk of this, whether you use it or not. I know cable companies have complained for a long time about their fees and I can't imagine Microsoft getting off for free.

I'm good through 1/22/2013 right now and I have another card or two tucked away.

Curious when they're about to release the family pack for $100 for 4 memberships. I think it's obvious now that those won't simply be 4 gold cards with a way to tie the accounts together ;)

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

It doesn't even take 10 minutes for me to make this much money from my job.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

While I am never excited for something to be made more expensive I actually don't care too much on this one. The price had been static for a long time as features were added so this isn't surprising.

I just hope we see some new usable features like dedicated servers, bringing back 1v100 (or even cooler would be a MMO version of You Don't Know Jack), or some sort of loyalty or discount program.

Bear in mind, I'm also one of those lazy gamers who allowed it to auto-renew at the 50$ price point so the pricing was never my primary concern.



Now if they could get a version of Live that costs 75$ a year and is certifiably 21+ then I would even consider that. Strip out a good number of the total tools.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Realistically the price increase won't phase any of us, since we all buy deals anyway. But the perception is just bad all around for Microsoft. We're in a recession, PS3 online play is still free, and they just announced they made something like a billion dollars from Live last year.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Yeah, it's bad PR to raise your prices without pointing to new features or improved service as the justification. $10 per year is not a big deal, but at least try and make me feel like I'm getting something extra for that additional money.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Basically the price increase is paying for Kinect bullshit.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Well, la de da, Mr. CRM.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

MS will let you renew for $40 if you already have a Gold subscription:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/pricelock/default.htm

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I'm with pinata on this one, this smacks of covering the cost of ESPN's fees.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Enjoy your ESPN fuckers. Since they don't talk hockey, I doubt I'll be using it.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

ESPN isn't even available everywhere. Thanks for nothing.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

What is this the 6th or 7th price increase since the launch of the service on the 360?

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

:hscratch: Hasn't it been $50 a year since it launched 8 years ago?