Jun 04
Hatin’ and Lovin’ XBox Live
So you may have remembered my earlier post chronicling the problems I had with my XBox Live account in trying to just play Halo 2 online. Well, while I was responding to a comment made by apex on that post, I figured I should just write a new one instead of going on for a page or so there.
In conclusion, I really wish that M$ took better care of it’s Xbox Live accounts and didn’t make it so damnded hard to do the simplest thing. That aside however, I think it’s a pretty widely held opinion that Xbox Live is definitely the best option for online console gaming. I said it way before the PS3 came out that (imho) Sony had one shot to get it right with online gaming. It completely dropped the ball with the PS2, and if it didn’t have it together for the PS3, they’d be in DIRE straights. And obviously, they’re now in DIRE straights. Personally I just don’t get it. For an entity like Sony, you’d think it wouldn’t be brain surgery to AT THE VERY LEAST copy the functionality of XBox Live as it was presented on the OG Xbox and then kick it up a notch in sexy Sony black and red for the PS3. But yeah…*sigh* Maybe they’ll get their act together ON RELEASE day for the PS4. (If they make it that far)
June 4th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
I am very glad you got your problem resolved. I just checked microsoft billing today and my credit card was still listed. That irritates me.
June 5th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Maybe you should call them up and see what’s up. *shrugs* It surprisingly worked for me!
June 17th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I love Halo! I downloaded Halo 3 Beta a few weeks ago. The code was included with Crackdown, unfortunately, I did not get around to playing it. I’ve been that busy.
I had to call M$ a few hours ago. I arrived home yesterday to find that I had purchased 5,000 points from Xbox live, yesterday, for $61. The thing is I never purchased it, and I haven’t been on there in weeks. My daughter and I were gone the entire day. No one was at home.
I take that back there was “several someone’s†home. My pets. Maybe my dogs or ferrets racked up those charges? I haven’t been on Xbox live in about three weeks and that was only to download Halo Beta that I never got to play! I don’t play against anyone yet, and I never participated in chats.
I was polite with my M$ rep but trying to get him to see how this could possibly happen got me nowhere. The supervisor gave me the same song and dance. I read word for word the statement issued from Microsoft in March that they were investigating this very problem.
I got off the phone and called my bank. The rep was a lot nicer and after I told her that there was an authorized charge she instantly asked me “Is it the Xbox live charge?†It seems that they, Bank of America, have been having a lot of customers who’ve run into this very issue with M$.
I agree M$ should make Xbox Live a lot easier. Trying to do the simplest things is a nightmare I was wondering as I unwillingly played the needle in the haystack game, “Why in the world isn’t this simpler? I went on xbox live, after I canceled my check card, and changed my password information.
Whoops sorry for ranting, lol.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Ranting is always welcome, especially from new visitors to the site! But geez, it’s funny that BOA reacted like the XBox Live thing is commonplace. Until someone challenges XBox Live, I guess they don’t have any reason to make changes huh? (Even if it’s a little thing like being more customer friendly).
June 18th, 2007 at 6:56 am
I’m not finished with Xbox Live yet. I’ll be following up with someone higher up later this week. That means I need to do some research.
I definitely wasn’t pleased. I blocked the card since I didn’t know how the info was acquired. It really bothered me that I was getting nowhere with Xbox Live.
I have read customers (Xbox Live) complain about this happening before. It happened to one of my friends also. She had a similar issue came home to a email stating that she had purchase points and like myself except her young child she is the only one living in her house.
I really hope they get that part of their customer service straightened out. I’m hoping that was an isolated incident. It was obvious the two that helped me were reading directly from script now that was funny.
That was almost as bad as “Verizon Tech support” telling me that there was no way I could have Dual 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet ports on my PowerMac G5 my computer because they didn’t make computers like that, lol.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Hilarious bit about the Verizon tech support. And hey, I should’ve asked this earlier Opal, do you play on XBox Live yourself? And if so, what are you playing?
June 18th, 2007 at 10:11 am
I only go on live to download new content for my games such as The Elder Scrolls, or more recently, Crackdown. I haven’t competed online *yet* but I will when I’m better. If I played any online games, right now, I would be dead very quickly!
I used to be a hardcore gamer then my daughter came along, lol. Its pretty frustrating trying to get back where I used to be.
I’ve worked out a “plan†where I can play games at least a few times per week let’s see if “my plan†actually works. LOL I love Gears of War! I cannot wait for Mass Effect to come out.
June 18th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
That’s awesome, I love to hear about women getting more into gaming! Yeah, I’m finding that it can be a chore to sneak in those hours too, but it’s important right? (#):D
June 19th, 2007 at 4:01 am
I got into gaming in my twenties. I played quite a few games on the commodore 64 when I was a kid but I wasn’t serious about it but I did well.
I actually was able to get some gaming time in last night. I played House of The Dead III (one of my original Xbox games) I took out all the bosses until I reached the end. I couldn’t figure out his weak spot. I’ll take him out today. I don’t think there is a save on that game so if you are killed, happened to me once yesterday, you have to start all over again. That’s a fast game I reached the last boss in about twenty or thirty minutes.
June 19th, 2007 at 4:46 am
Opal – You suffered like G did.