xbox 360

Reader Says Microsoft Won't Stop Charging Him For Ex-Roommate's Xbox Live

Reader Says Microsoft Won't Stop Charging Him For Ex-Roommate's Xbox Live

In case you were wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to let your deadbeat roommate use your debit card to sign up for Xbox Live, Jake checks in to reassure you that no, it’s not.

Microsoft Charging For Xbox 360 Game Add-On That's Free On PC

Microsoft Charging For Xbox 360 Game Add-On That's Free On PC

Eurogamer reports that Microsoft is charging $7 for the downloadable Crash Course add-on, due this month, to the zombie-splattering Xbox 360 game Left 4 Dead. Crash Course will be free on the PC version of the game via Steam, but the Destructoid story cites a Eurogamer interview with Chet Faliszek of Valve, the game’s developer. He tells Eurogamer:

GamePro Names Five Best Console Wars

GamePro Names Five Best Console Wars

The history of video game console competitions reads much like that of New York’s crime families — you see powerful leaders making bold, risky moves to snuff out their rivals and fierce, tribal alliances that breed clashes between vocal factions.

Microsoft Lowers High-End 360 Price To Match PS3

Microsoft Lowers High-End 360 Price To Match PS3

Responding to Sony’s announcement that a new, cheaper PS3 — as well as a universal price cut to $300 — is imminent, Microsoft is understandably lowering the price of its Xbox 360 Elite to $300, matching the new PS3.

Xbox 360 Failure Rate is 54.2 Percent, Game Informer Finds

Xbox 360 Failure Rate is 54.2 Percent, Game Informer Finds

The Xbox 360 breaks five times as often as its closest failure-prone competitor, the PlayStation 3, a print edition-only Game Informer survey found.

UPDATED: Microsoft Will Let You Download Games With 360 Currency It Sells You, CSRs Told Me Otherwise

UPDATED: Microsoft Will Let You Download Games With 360 Currency It Sells You, CSRs Told Me Otherwise

Dork that I am, I got giddy when I heard Microsoft would start selling full downloads of retail Xbox 360 games to hard drives under the new Games on Demand banner. I bought $60 worth of Microsoft points in order to download Call of Duty 2 and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

Now You Can Deposit Your Money Directly Into Your Xbox 360

Now You Can Deposit Your Money Directly Into Your Xbox 360

If you were sitting there staring at your Xbox 360 thinking, “Ya know, I really wish there were a way I could start getting you to take money directly out of my checking account,” your dreams are realized. Microsoft is now taking PayPal deposits to buy downloadable content.

Man vs. Eternally Broken Xbox 360: A Novel

Man vs. Eternally Broken Xbox 360: A Novel

Being a jaded Xbox 360 owner who’s watched his console give up the ghost five times, it takes a lot for a tale of Microsoft customer service woe to move me. And yet a reader named Gower accomplished just that by sending a novel-length soliloquy about his maddening run through Xbox 360 hell. What follows is the Cliffs Notes version (grab your hankies):

Stagflation Hitting Downloadable Xbox 360 Games

Stagflation Hitting Downloadable Xbox 360 Games

Microsoft’s greatest triumph with the Xbox 360 is undoubtedly its Xbox Live service, buoyed by robust selection of downloadable games. You can buy digital versions of classic arcade titles, original Xbox games (and starting next month, Xbox 360 games), avant-garde indie gems and even some Nintendo 64 classics. Customers are so in love with the service that they haven’t even noticed that prices for downloadable games have crept up more than 15 percent since the system debuted in 2005.

Microsoft Will 'Enhance' Gamers' Experiences With Dashboard Ads

Microsoft Will 'Enhance' Gamers' Experiences With Dashboard Ads

While the Wii and PlayStation 3 give it up for free, Microsoft gets away with charging gamers $50 a year for its online service, Xbox Live, because it’s so robust and user-friendly. And yet earlier this week Microsoft revealed it was taking a step to water down that latter advantage by using Silverlight to bombard its users with ads.

Microsoft Deep-Sixes Red Ring Of Death Coffins, Makes Customers Supply Their Own Boxes

Microsoft Deep-Sixes Red Ring Of Death Coffins, Makes Customers Supply Their Own Boxes

Although we received an indication in March that Microsoft was phasing out its Xbox 360 return policy of sending customers padded boxes with prepaid return envelopes, gaming blog Joystiq confirmed that Microsoft quietly made it official in late May.

Xbox 360 To Get Facebook And Twitter, Still Breaks

Xbox 360 To Get Facebook And Twitter, Still Breaks

Good news for gamers, bad news for anyone who count the pixel-obsessed among their social media friends: This Fall Microsoft will bring Facebook and Twitter applications to the Xbox 360, allowing gamers to more easily stalk acquaintances from their couches and brag about their gaming accomplishments. Gaming blog Joystiq covered the announcement, which came at Microsoft’s Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference in Los Angeles Monday:

XBOX 360 Warranty Expanded To Cover "E74" Error, Refunds Issued

XBOX 360 Warranty Expanded To Cover "E74" Error, Refunds Issued

According to research by the gaming blog Joystiq, a mysterious new error has been affecting the XBOX 360. The “E74” error, according to some non-scientific data compiled by the blog, has been increasing since the debut of NXE (New XBOX Experience). Now Microsoft is acknowledging the error and extending their 3-year Red Ring Of Death warranty to cover it.

Xbox Live Cancels Year-Long Prepaid Account, Demands Another Year's Subscription To Reactivate

Xbox Live Cancels Year-Long Prepaid Account, Demands Another Year's Subscription To Reactivate

Xbox Live has struck again, this time by screwing up the auto-renewal on a customer’s account and ruining the prepaid annual membership he activated just three months ago.

Sorry, Your XBOX 360 Isn't The Right Kind Of Broken

Sorry, Your XBOX 360 Isn't The Right Kind Of Broken

By now, most people know about the dreaded Red Ring of Death issue on the XBOX 360 — and the accompanying 3 year warranty. What many do not know is that that 3 year warranty only covers the “3 red lights” issue. If you get any other error code, you’re out of luck.

Microsoft Tells Broken Xbox Owners To Find Their Own Shipping Boxes

Microsoft Tells Broken Xbox Owners To Find Their Own Shipping Boxes

Reader Zach’s Xbox 360 just suffered its second Red Ring of Death. He dutifully called up Microsoft customer support to get a shipping box to mail his Xbox in for repairs, and instead was told he’d need to find his own box and ship it himself.

Office Depot Comes Through With Stellar Customer Service, But Then Doesn't Deliver On Promise

Office Depot Comes Through With Stellar Customer Service, But Then Doesn't Deliver On Promise

Jake couldn’t place an order for an Xbox 360 deal on Black Friday—yes, we’re talking about a failed transaction from two and half months ago—but he got surprisingly helpful customer service from Office Depot. Margaret at the Office of the Chairman even gave him her personal number and promised him a raincheck of sorts in the form of a gift card for a future purchase. Her offer sounded almost too good to be true, and maybe it was, because as of February he still hasn’t seen a gift card. And Margaret won’t return his voicemail messages, not even to say the deal is off. Update: Office Depot saw this post, and they contacted Jake.

EECB Over Xbox 360 Keeps Getting Bounced Back As Spam

EECB Over Xbox 360 Keeps Getting Bounced Back As Spam

Those wily Xbox 360 gremlins are at it again, and this time they’re cracking Michael’s game discs in little spokes along the inner ring of each disc. His customer service call went nowhere, naturally, so someone on the Penny Arcade forum where he posted his story suggested an Executive Email Carpet Bomb. The only problem is, it keeps getting sent back as spam.