I was hoping they were adding a usb slot item where you could feed $20s directly into the Xbox.

Do you still have to buy microsoft points in ridiculous and arbitrary increments? If not, I'm actually interested in this...

will i be able to dispute a charge if the games suck and freeze Microsoft's Account?

Isn't Microsofts blatant attempt to trick customers into disassociating their purchases with real dollar amounts turning people off the 360? I don't play video games but I'm sure there are other consoles out there that work just as well, like the Playstation or whatever Nintendo has.

@lpranal: News points to no. This article doesn't mention it, but there were a number of screens shown earlier with actual $ price points.

@henrygates: Meh, my friends who own an ZBox 360 haven't been bothered by it. They said it's very easy to figure out how many points to a dollar (it's 80 or 160, I can't remember which...), and anyone with high school math can do that calculation. The trick itself calls for some eye-rolling, but it doesn't cause most people to spend money without knowing how much they're paying.

@henrygates: It's not a blatant attempt to trick anyone. It's their model of business. They use a points system instead of real cash and they have been for almost 4 years now. You're implying that Microsoft is attempt to deceive it's customers with a confusing point system that is really very easy to use and they are open about.

And I actually prefer the points system to real cash. If the points cards go on sale at Target, well that 20 dollar 1600 point card is now 15 dollars meaning I just got more for my money.

On the "what about the other consoles side?" The Wii and PS3 have a much smaller library of media, not just game content, to choose from on their online stores. The Wii's biggest advantage is the virtual console which is all old Nintendo system games, like Super Mario RPG, something MS doesn't have access too. The PS3's advantage is um...well the PS3 doesn't really have one. Microsoft has a bigger library in movies and game content than the PS3 does.

I think I saw the "Microsoft Points" funny money system featured on an episode of The Simpsons:

Woman: Would you like to buy some Itchy and Scratchy Money?
Homer: What's that?
Woman: Well it's money that's made just for the park. It works just like regular money, but it's, er..."fun".
Bart: Do it, Dad.
Homer: Well, OK, if it's fun...let's see, uh...I'll take $1100 worth.
[he walks in, sees all the signs: "No I&S Money", "We Don't Take Itchy and Scratchy Money", etc.]
Aw!

@JustinSane07: Best Buy was running a sale a couple weeks ago where all the 360 cards were half off. We bought two 4000 point cards for $50.

Also, they didn't do it to trick people. They have a lot of little items that are in the range of a dollar or so. The points system mitigates losses due to credit card fees.

Unless you live in the US, this is probably a bad idea. I bought Microsoft Points with my credit card online, and got double-dinged for the exchange (once with M$, once with the CC). I'm sticking with the prepaid cards you buy in the store. Yeah, the 25 digit code is a pain in the ass when zeroes look like "O's" and "B's" look like "8's" to my feeble old eyes, but it's better than paying a 30%+ premium.

@lpranal:

"Ridiculous and arbitrary increments" like the same ones we use for our paper money?

you could always just hook up your C.C. through your pay-pal rather than your bank account... might be a safer method of transaction anyway.

@henrygates:

Maybe it's a blatant attempt to simplify the process of dealing with many different currencies...

@Shadowfire: Damn it, really? I bought a 1600 point card the other day for retail. I would have gladly bought a 4k for 25.

@Cant_stop_the_rock: Yeah, but with our paper money, if you by something for $19.50, you still have $.50 left to buy a Coke or something.

With MS points, you buy 5000 points to buy a 4800 point product. Now you have 200 points that are worthless unless you buy even more points. You can't purchase the product for the exact number of points that it costs most of the time.

I was looking for more ways for my 360 to run me into debt!

@JustinSane07: To be honest, I think the biggest advantage to the Wii is that you don't have to pay to get online with it.. There's no monthly subscription fee to play online. That was a huge tipping point between the Xbox and Wii for us.

The PS3 makes it so easy to add money (actual money, not points) and spend money, it's actually fun to buy stuff.

I can't figure out why both Microsoft and Nintendo make it so unnecessarily convoluted and difficult.

@winshape: Or you can save those points for later for another awesome game. This summer has MvC2, Spolsion Man, and Shadow Complex all worth the money (at least the last one looks like it will be).

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Friend codes and other such nonsense are a tipping point the other way. I don't mind paying 50 bucks a year to not have to deal with that nonsense.

@winshape: With points bought online, I wholeheartedly agree. However, the in-store cards tend to be of the useful denominations (1600, 4000). I'm not sure why they made the difference.

@lpranal: NO, in fact you DO NOT have to purchase Microsoft points to buy any Xbox 360 Games on Demand, they have actual monetary price points for which you can purchase the game.
Outside of the Games on Demand you do have to use MSpoints.

@JollyJumjuck: You can log into your Xbox liive account on your computer and type it in like that. I find it much easier than using the cursor to type in the 25 digit code. There's no delay between you typing in the activation code and the time it appears on your Xbox.

@GMFish: Because spending $20 on a few new maps is more painful than spending 1600 points on said maps.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!:

Being free is about the only advantage the Wii's online service has over Xbox Live. Microsoft had a big head start on both Nintendo and Sony in terms of online gaming from last generation, and it shows. Sony is starting to catch up, and I think Nintendo is just content to do their own thing.

@GMFish:
Because it's simpler for them than dealing with all of the different worldwide currencies.

@Fanboy1217: I'm not gonna lie... this is probably the best reply ever.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Party Chat alone is worth the price of admission. I have all three consoles, I have friends on all three consoles, but I find I spend the most time on Xbox 360 because Live makes it so freaking easy to play games and chat together.

I cannot wait for the update on the 11th. Of all my friends, none who are in the beta with me have Netflix. It sucks because they finally added the ability to watch Netflix with your party.

@Cant_stop_the_rock: Except that there's US points and JP points and...

In other words, they're dealing with all of the different worldwide point systems, making it not much simpler at all.

@bastion72: Good advice, thanks! I buy my point codes at Amazon; don't like giving MS my credit card to keep on file (try to get yours taken off, it's hilarious). Esp since I'm already at my computer, that'll save me a few min, even with the 360s keypad.

@henneko:

Not quite. While US points, Canada points, and UK points, for example, all cost separate amounts - the items you purchase always cost the same. A 400 point game costs 400 points no matter where you buy it, even if you had to spend 5$ US or 6$ Canadian to get the 400 points.

@Cant_stop_the_rock: exactly. You make one real purchase and deal with the taxes and currency conversion then. MS doesn't want to have to try and calculate all that stuff on the fly across the globe.

@Keavy_Rain: I'm hoping that they will add Netflix to the Wii. I figure they will add it as soon as I break down and get a Roku player.