Xbox LIVE Arcade - a Digital Rights Management Disaster

Xbox LIVE Arcade's fairly extreme digital rights management (DRM) measures are in place to prevent all kinds of unauthorised content sharing, but when you're selling hardware as unreliable as the Xbox 360, the process to set yourself up on a new machine, and have the same access to your previously-purchased content has to be simple, quick and fair. At the moment, none of these can be said of XBLA.

[snoop_dizzle]

oh this will be fun

[bung tickler]

well i do favor the 360, if you look at my past posts its easy to see that, but this is a legitimate problem. i HATE this as well. currently i HAVE to be connected to live in order to play any arcade games, use any downloaded content for games like oblivion, or use any of my themes or gamerpics... it's really quite retarded. i did call them once after my 1st 360 crapped out on me and they refunded me my points so i could rebuy all my crap with a new account on the new box thus letting me use the stuff offline... however shortly after that... the new 360 died... and now i'm back where i started. i didn't call again cuz it's a big pain in the ass. why you ask, well i'll tell you, when they refunded me my points, and it was a lot mind you, they gave me lots of 100MP codes, each code being a 25 digit code which they said they could NOT simply email to me, so some tech guy who i could hardly understand (english was not his first language) had to read off the codes over the phone to me. honestly it took over an hour... and then i had to go enter in the codes one by one... also a long and painful ordeal.. so yeah it sucks, yes it's a problem, yes it needs to get fixed. all they need to do is lock the crap to the gamertag... no need to lock it to the hardware AND gamertag AND have to be online, thats just dumb.

[DJ]

My experience with PSN is that once your account pays for something, you have the right to re-download that game/game content 5 times without being charged. I thought Microsoft had the same system in place since it's a carbon copy of iTunes in that respect (which is a good thing). I can't help but wonder why Microsoft, a company that usually works hard for ease-of-use, didn't apply that philosophy to XBLA.

[bung tickler]

@DJ well i can redownload the stuff as much as i want i just HAVE to be connected to live to use it.

[Greysturm]

Another flamewar is about to begin.

[ngg12345]

:).

[Super Famicom]

Why would objectively pointing out a legitimate problem cause a flamewar? Oh yeah, this is The Internet!

[Geewhizz]

That is interesting. Anything you download? So, say you downloaded a machine gun mod for oblivion (stupid I know but it would be fun!), can you only use it when connected? Why?

[bung tickler]

yes i could only use it when connected or the game wont see it, its that way cuz that how ms says it has to be i dont know why though. i can be singed into my account but not online and no horse armor for me, if im online hurray for horse armor. same thing with themes. if im signed into my account but not online i get the default background, if im connected my gears of wars emergence day theme comes up. stupid i know but thats how it is if you are not on the original 360 that the content was downloaded on.

[The Snake]

You could use it all you want while not connected, but only as long as you play on the same console that originally paid for it. If your system breaks and you get a new one, you must be connected to XBLK any time you want to use it. This is only the case with paid content. Free content is playable on any console, whether connected or not.

Funny. I answer a question that was asked 7 hours ago and my reply gets beaten by 1 minute. Well, I suppose you were the one the question was directed to.

[rbanke]

I am a ps3 and Wii owner, I would like to say that I am sick of the tone of most of the so called 'news' posted on this site. How does 'but when you're selling hardware as unreliable as the Xbox 360' add anything to a story? It's the same with nearly everything on this site, the stories are usually full of poor spelling, biased tone, and/or completely void of real news. So I ask, is their any sites out there that don't fall into this trap? I'm sure there has to be a game news site out their for those of us who aren't so concerned with hoping a console fails and another succeeds. In the world of gaming, all game machines available are a good thing, it means we have more variety.

[crck]

because if the machines weren't breaking down on everyone this DRM issue would never come up. Its only a problem when your system breaks down and you get a new one from a store warranty or you got screwed during MS's 6 month window of denial (time period of launch system warranties expiring and when MS finally extended the RROD warranty to 3 years).

[jaOSYH261nsw29m]

Incoming flame war and/or 'this story is an example of how N4G is bad' debate

[Super Famicom]

The Xbox 360's well-documented reliability issues have everything to do with the story, in that if/when yours breaks, you'll be unable to get reasonable access to your old content. That's fair enough, surely?

I'm on my third and most of my friends are on 2nd, 3rd and even 4th machines.

[Boink]

if you are having a problem re-downloading it after you get a replacement console, you call 18004myxbox and they will let you DL it again free.

I've done it personally, as well as 2 of my friends, no hassle at all.

unless these people were idiots and called in yelling, then of course they would get nowhere.

[bung tickler]

try using it when you are not online... thats where the problem is. what if my internet goes down that means i cant play on any expansion packs i downloaded on my original 360, i cant play marble blast or geometry wars, that means i cant use any themes i downloaded on my original 360... its dumb.

[crck]

My system red ringed out of warranty during MS's denial phase so sold it busted on ebay but kept the harddrive. Finally got a real good deal on a elite and bought it. Now I can't play any of the games I bought offline at a friend's house.

[Super Famicom]

Everyone knows you can re-download the content as many times as you like (without having to call anyone).

The whole point is that you have to be online to use it if you have had to change consoles. And Xbox Support no longer give Microsoft Point refunds, no matter how polite you are.

Did you read the whole article?

[Saint Sony]

It is totally related to your live account and not to your console.

[CNIVEK]

XBOX LIVE ARCADE....."LIVE". HOW IS THIS CONFUSING FOR PEOPLE?

If you read the "terms and conditions" prior to making a purchase...as any smart/responsible should/would...THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE. In fact, if my internet is not working, I really have no desire to play on my 360, because 90% of the time I'm either playing MP with a buddy or doing something else while waiting for them to join me. Yes, it's an inconvenience, but it's one you should be well aware of BEFORE you buy from Marketplace. DRM issues aren't something MS invented...it's an industry-wide problem that most companies would rather not have to deal with. We're already seeing DRM being dropped from some music sites, but with a price.
I don't want to pay $10-$20 for XBLA games, so I have to accept the DRM system as a means to protect the devs trying to make a profit off of a $5-$8 retail point.

[bung tickler]

umm when when it USED to work when i wasn't online, (i mean really do i need to be online to play geometry wars or use the DLC for oblivion?) and then my 360 sh1t on me and NOW it doesnt work if my internet is down or im just not connected... well thats a problem dont you think? say i paid $30 for the shivering isles expansion for oblivion... why should i not be able to use it if im not online, its a single player game with ZERO online co-op of any sort.... hmm. i guess i should just be happy.

[Jdoki]

This is a massive pain in the neck (to put it mildly).

This may not be a huge issue to some people, but there are occasions when internet access is not available. The point is I've bought something and can not use it as I want because of the poor reliability of the console (which is hardly my fault).

I have heard that people have called up MS Customer Support and managed to get their points refunded to re-buy the games on their replacement console.