OK, so Microsoft's support seems to have dropped the ball on this one. I know, I know, we're all shocked that that could happen.

On the screen where you can see your credit card info, there's a prompt at the bottom where you can press "Y" to spend your funny money instead. It's certainly not obvious, but the option is there.

Who didn't see this coming?

I ran into this as well - I went and purchased points to buy Mass Effect, specifically so I could try out the direct download.

I did go back to the internet and look up the pre-view, and every article I found DID say "real money" prices. I just foolishly assumed that my MS Points would be good too.

Joke's on Microsoft in the end - I went out and bought the game on disc, so now when I'm done with it, I can let a friend borrow it, or sell it back for a few bucks - options I wouldn't have had if I'd been able to use my "Microsoft Money" to buy it over their new service.

The fact that I wasn't able to successfully use a service I had, up until then, been VERY excited about (excited enough to go to Best Buy to get points so I could be CERTAIN I'd be able to try it out day one, right?), makes it highly unlikely I'll use the new service - ever.

Toonces, look out.

That cat frightens me.

didn't you guys look at the games in the system before you bought the points? They're clearly marked with dollars, and not points, and its been discussed in many blogs/reports that the games were going to be real dollars, because everyone hates points.

I get that you assumed it would be the same, but why not look first?

This would never happen with Apple's game console ;> And I do think you would have to watch out for that cat. In that position he could simultaneously give you the stink eye, spray you with stinky cat stuff AND pwn you in Mass Effect.

@OminousG:

To continue this thought. This is the first step towards Microsoft's attempt to grow past the point system. So it can one day void all points and claim all those odd number point balances for itself.

I give it two years.

@DefineStatutory: Agreed. There had been a fair amount of marketing that these games would not in fact use MS points and if you thought otherwise it is your own fault and you have no one else to blame.

Hopefully they dump XBL points altogehter, and this is just the first step.

The new "service" is vastly overpriced, and given how proprietary it is, not worth it at all.

This reminds me of that Simpsons episode when they go to Itchy & Scratchy Land and Homer forks over all him money into I&S money and when they enter the park all the signs say they don't accept the funny money. Oh Simpsons... you continue to teach us all (through Seasons 1-9, nothing after that, that's garbage)

So it's like Itchy & Scratchy money. Does no one from Microsoft watch The Simpsons?

So when should be expecting my 8-bit NES system to start being able to connect online and download games? I have been trying to find a copy of BurgerTime and Excite Bike for years now.

@GitEmSteveDave's$10SamsungTV:

Lol awesome. As for the OP: really weird MS won't take their own money...maybe it is coming down the road.

@GitEmSteveDave's$10SamsungTV: Haha, apparently rorschachex does!

@arstal: ^ This. The MS points system was at zero advantage to the consumer to begin with.

@Super Moose:

Um...I did look first. Then I went back and looked again *after*. Still, the point remains that for years Microsoft has trained us that ALL PURCHASES made over Live! MUST be in points.

Incidentally, those reports never said "you WILL NOT be able to use points!", they just said "you'll be able to pay cash prices!"

Can either of you can find a single announcement (pre-launch) that states "Points will NOT be accepted!"? If not, then why would you assume that, when MS has made points MANDATORY for years, they'd now disallow them completely?

I agreed with most of your article. It is stupid for MS to make the switch to real money entirely (for Games on Demand only) and not support both "currencies" concurrently. And there's no way in hell I'd give them my credit card number after what I've read about the difficulty of getting them to remove the number from the account.

But then I read this:
"I suspect it's not so much "real money" Microsoft is after with its Games on Demand, but "new money," since the cash for my Microsoft points is already in hand."

That's just stupid. I blame incompetence or laziness. I think the odds are very low that this is some diabolical scheme to get people to load up on Microsoft Points that they can't spend on anything, because you can spend those Microsoft Points on hundreds of other games and thousands of other items.

@arstal:

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out why anyone would even consider buying the games online and filling their relatively small hard drive with downloaded games for about the same price or more than they'd pay for a physical disc in a store.

@DefineStatutory: It's not unreasonable to believe that points would be accepted when they've been accepted for everything else MS has ever sold on Xbox Live, except Xbox Live subscriptions.

@apd09: I have them on an xBox mod disk...

@DefineStatutory: @Super Moose:

Ooooo sweet!!! Blame the OP, Blame the Author and "Why s ths n Cnsmrst" All in the same post! Sweet!

You guys make my Bingo Cards happy.

What are points for then?

@pecan 3.14159265: Points are for themes, gamer pictures, music, movies, game add-ons, etc.

Just not for games themsleves.

This sounds like a job for Captain Chargeback!

[www.xbox.com]

Purchase - Purchase full games using Microsoft points or a credit card. Games are downloaded directly to your console (hard drive required), and your purchase history is stored by Xbox LIVE, meaning you can delete games and re-download them again if you run out of space.

While I do not quite understand Microsoft's reason for making the games a cash purchase, and not a points purchase, it's your fault for not reading every single bit of news that came out about this. This wasn't secret, MS wasn't trying to dupe you, they made it very obvious and stated in plain english that Games on Demand would cost cash and not points. And they did this with frequency. It was everywhere you look concerning GoD.

You have no one to blame but yourself.

So what are these points even good for?

@GitEmSteveDave's$10SamsungTV: Gah! I was going to post this! It's too hard to compete against SteveDave

Yeah, this was known for a few months or so. Try reading Joystiq or some other site that actually previews these things before they go live.

@sonneillon: Until now, they were the only way you could make Xbox Live purchases, such as Arcade games, system themes, and videos.

According to the FAQ ([www.xbox.com]) you can use MS points or your credit card. Why you would want to pay double the price for these old titles instead of simply buying the game from Amazon or Gamestop is another question.

Phil, call them and tell them you found this (on xbox.com):

Purchase - Purchase full games using Microsoft points or a credit card. Games are downloaded directly to your console (hard drive required), and your purchase history is stored by Xbox LIVE, meaning you can delete games and re-download them again if you run out of space.

[www.xbox.com]

You can buy the games with points, just read the screen. At the bottom of the screen where you buy the game, there's the option to press Y on your controller to show the cost in points. Press Y, then use your points.

@Cant_stop_the_rock: no disc swapping less hassle. you can retrieve your game on any xbox your logged in on as long as it has broadband. No taxing your optical drive which also equals less drive noise.

@Papa Midnight: he paid for points which MS provided and will gladly take for anything else in the store. He spent the money on a secondary currency with no guarantee of receiving the product he though he was going to purchase with said money. There's still hundreds of entertaining things to spend the points on.

@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich: it could be argued that you can purchase full games with points: original xbox games, XBLA games and what was previously called "Community Games"... just not the full 360 games.

MS caved to customer requests and in turn irked a few people. it's happened before. I won't slight the OP since I did in fact think points would work on games on demand but since I buy points through my console I would've noticed right away that the cost listed in the store is a price not a points total, just like subscriptions.
Even still there is no lack fo quality pay for content on xbox live so he should be able to get some enjoyment out of those points.

@Daniel Beahn: Wow my first ever consumerist post and it's going to be a blame the OP.
.
Oh well... here goes...
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You may have looked, but you didn't look very hard.
.

1) Find the game you want to purchase, and select it with the A button and choose "BUY".
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2) The guide pops up and confirms your purchase and shows you the game's price in currency.
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3) Look at the bottom of the screen where the button lables are. It says "PRESS Y TO BUY WITH MICROSOFT POINTS", so you press Y and the price changes to points.
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4) You buy your game using points, and then consumerist has to post an update saying "yeah we posted this story too soon, apparently it's totally untrue, etc".
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Unfortunately in the time it took me to compose this, someone's already posted the same advice in a less verbose manner... oh well I'm going to submit anyway.

Isn't this illegal?

Isn't it illegal to essentially establish your own currency, outside of using it for advertising purposes (as Disney would claim).?

I personally don't like the different playing fields they have set up now. It's not OK to inconvenience customers with two separate transactions for one type of game, but it is perfectly fine to make other customers jump through points hoops and sell most of them in increments that vary from the pricing tiers unless you know the Zune trick or buy the cards in store (thus defeating the whole point of digital sales).

For further clarification, I own the XBOX and XBOX360 among many other current and past consoles, have had Live subscriptions on both, and own countless XBLA Arcade titles.

I'm just another one of those customers that still sticks with Microsoft for the games, even though they've constantly let me down in the customer service department (billing issues, DRM issues, 3RRoD issues, the list goes on). I wish they'd get some good consultants and tighten up their ship. They aren't a horrible company, but some of their practices where it counts are driven by their own interests and not those of their customers. I don't expect a selfless company, just one that cares a bit more than just the bottom line.

@JustinSane07: Well, you can buy Arcade games with them.

You were seriously planning on paying $30 for Call of Duty 2 when you can buy it brand new for $15 from most places?

The article is completely wrong, save for the whole "Indian outsourced call centers suck" part.
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As I noted in a reply and as Keen314 has said - you press "Y" at the purchase screen and it switched from currency to points. It's clearly labeled that way, too.

@zoompooky:
Consumerist video game articles usually miss the mark. There was an article last week about using Paypal with your 360 that was highly misleading - and now this. I find the Consumerist to be a great resource and read daily, but the video game articles are highly suspect.

@JGKojak: No. Its more common than you'd think:
[en.wikipedia.org]

I would like to ask where you live, because here in Canada I am able to go to the purchase page under the Games On Demand section and once the credit card page pops up I can press Y to Buy the game with Microsoft Points. There is an option to do so at the bottom of the screen.

Hopefully you just missed this part on the screen or possibly your country does not offer this option. You should go back in and press buy on the Call of Duty game and when the next screen pops up where you choose to confirm purchase, press Y or at least look at the bottom and see if it says Press Y to Buy with Microsoft Points.

Good luck!

@highpitch_83: Or press "Y" at the purchase screen and magically buy full 360 games with points as well. :)

@Keen314: Hooray for RTFM! :D

@highpitch_83: Not if you read the whole page it comes from, where it says:

Games on Demand
Enjoy the convenience of finding and buying new games right from the comfort of your own living room. Download a wide selection of full Xbox 360 games over Xbox LIVE. Games on Demand is now available for purchase on Xbox LIVE and through the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web.

* Shop- Games on Demand are found in the Game Marketplace and include a large library of favorite titles right from the start. More titles are added every Tuesday, so check back whenever you're in the mood for a great new game.
* Purchase - Purchase full games using Microsoft points or a credit card. Games are downloaded directly to your console (hard drive required), and your purchase history is stored by Xbox LIVE, meaning you can delete games and re-download them again if you run out of space.
* Playing and Sharing - As with other LIVE content, your game license is linked to your Xbox LIVE account. Download your purchased games to any console you are logged into with your Gamertag, and anyone else can play on the console that your game was originally downloaded to. No physical disc is required to play these games!
* Find Manuals - Game manuals can be viewed, downloaded, or printed from Xbox.com. Just locate your game in Web Marketplace and select "See Game Manual".