Michael Corvin

Might be inflation with GTA around the corner but it looks like Bully is fetching a premium right now. It's $60 on Amazon and $25 used at GS. However, it's not like $4 would be out of line with what they've offered thus far. Here's some prices for the Free Games for Gold games:

Rainbow 6: Vegas: $3 (GS, used)
Crackdown: $3 (GS, used)
Fable III: $2.60 (Amazon, used)
Defense Grid: $10
Magic 2013: $10(?)
Dead Rising 2: $14 (Amazon, new)
Assassin's Creed 2: $4 (Amazon, used)

After looking those up, Dead Rising 2 has held it's value amazingly well for a 3 year old game that already has one sequel/spin-off.

Hell yeah. If they're gonna go old games that have little to no value, toss out those first year titles that most probably missed out on. Condemned & Kameo would be great.

Jcheckel

Bully GoD is on sale for $3.75 on Xbox Live.

chuckd21

I'm hoping everyone bitching about the free games does understand that it's not what we can purchase a game for, but how much Microsoft can negotiate to subsidize the giveaway of titles from the rights holders. It's not like MS is just buying a bunch of $2 games at GameStop and handing them out.

Michael Corvin

Right. Apparently Sony has better negotiating skills.

discostu1337

Sony is not giving them away, you "rent" them for the cost of the PS+ membership. The 360 games are free forever, even after your Xbox Live expires. Still, some of their choices have sucked. Honestly both services offer old games depending on how you look at it. If you are a core gamer, you've played everything PS+/Games with Gold offers long before it was "free".

Decker

That's true, and an important distinction that's often forgotten about.
That's not true, at least not recently. In the past few months we've received games like XCOM Enemy Unknown, Hitman Absolution, Spec Ops The Line, Deus Ex and LBP Karting which were all 2012 retail titles as well as Saints Row 3 and Battlefield 3 which were big titles in Holiday 2011. Hardly the same thing as Rainbow Six Vegas, is it? In addition, they gave away a few downloadable games like Stacking and Zombie Tycoon 2 on the day of release, so nobody had played them yet (and others like Trine 2, Shank 2, Rock of Ages and The Cave so soon after release that nobody had yet had a chance to buy them at any sort of a discount before they were given away). I think that's an important distinction as well.

chuckd21

Are Sony's free games more plentiful and of overall better review scores than Microsoft's offerings? Yes. Are Microsoft's games still free? Yep. Therefore, comparing/complaining and the quality of free is silly. No one signed up for Xbox Gold expecting free games. We all bought 12 annual cards off EBay 5 years ago.

xmiyux

Honestly, I would be far more excited if MSoft starting doing it like Sony is with the free games. I don't care about owning them forever because I plan to always be a Gold member. So renting is fine for me.

More and newer games would be even better.

That being said, I am enjoying MtG 2013 since I bought it on the iPad before.

And it is way better than 2014.

Decker

I bought the original MtG game right away for some reason that I've since forgotten, but I couldn't figure out how to play it at all. Does this one (2013) do a better or clearer job explaining itself on how to play?

xmiyux

Yeah, for the most part they have improved each year. 2014 is, on the surface better, but I don't like the decks they give you in it as much. Not a huge amount of variety in the new game.

discostu1337

To my point, it is still true. All of those games you listed are "old" to me, as I played them all within a few weeks of their release. Granted, a lot of people do not play a ton of games every year, so they may be new to them. Either way, they both give out old games for free, and MS generally gives shittier ones

Music

ftfy


But this is something in addition to what paying for Live has always meant; so stop bitching about it, jeez.


PS+ has always been about free and discounted games.

MoviePage

I think that's the difference that a lot of people can't seem to wrap their heads around. For Gold members, the free games are a bonus in addition to what's always been there. For PS+ members, they are essentially the one and only reason for paying for the service.

chuckd21

New Xbox Live Rewards detailed: http://rewards.xbox.com/

Although it's still vague. What the hell are credits worth?

chuckd21

Deep within the FAQ:

What is the monetary value of Rewards Credits?
A. 5,000 Rewards Credits are equal to $5 USD.

pinata242

— What are Rewards Credits and how can I use them?
A. Rewards Credits are a way of keeping track of the cash you earn through Xbox Live Rewards. Once you accumulate 5,000 Credits or more, we will automatically convert them into to your local currency and deposit your cash into your Microsoft account. Then, you can head over to the Xbox Stores to purchase your favorite games, Movies, Avatar props and much more!

— What is the monetary value of Rewards Credits?
A. 5,000 Rewards Credits are equal to $5 USD.

pinata242

So, just starting 5 games gives you $5? That's not bad and you can really bump that up if you don't care about things unfinished games bloating up your history and impacting your "completion percentage" (which may not be a thing going forward anyway).

pinata242

Oh, because I'm a "Master" (75,000+ GS), I get 300 credits for every $10 I spend!

300/5000 * $5 = $0.30 / $10 = 3% rebate!

chuckd21

I thought that was the case too, but nope, someone decided we needed rules.

Grab a New Game: If a member plays a newly released Xbox 360 game on disc within thirty (30) days of the release date in their local market and plays for at least ten (10) hours, they will receive one thousand (1,000) Rewards Credits. Gameplay must occur after enrollment into the Program. Limit: Each Enrollee may receive one thousand (1,000) Rewards Credits for each new disc-based game released in their local market during the Program Period. Full games on demand, arcade games, indie games, mobile games and other online games will not qualify.

pinata242

Oh, wait, read the fine print:

chuckd21

So, it seems like there's a bunch of ways to earn credits that I won't actively pay much attention to. Every so often an extra $5 will show up in my account, which I'll use. Sounds like the Best Buy Reward Zone at this point. I don't actively pursue points, but when I get a reward certificate I'm happy and I promptly use it.

chuckd21

Redbox, rent game, leave running for 10 hours. Free money. Also, dead Xbox.

pinata242

Granted, something is better than nothing, but everything here is barely more than nothing.

pinata242

And how much money would it cost to rent 5 games and leave them running for a combined 50 hours for a $5 reward?

fumanstan

I'm just a Champion