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[nextgeneration]

So, I decide to bring my 360 to my friend's house today and when I try playing the Live Arcade games that I have on my hard drive, they show up as the trial versions and not the full versions. I wasn't able to connect onto Live from my friend's house, and this was the only explanation I could think of that was causing this to happen. So, when I get home, the first thing I did was log onto Live, and once I did, all my Live Arcade games that I have on my hard drive now showed up as the full games.

I don't remember it being like this in the past. Was this a recent change or is there some kind of setting that I should set?

 

[LakeEarth]

At a friends house, you have to sign-in on your profile for it to be the full version. The 'purchase' is tracked by your profile and system, not the harddrive.

 

[StoOgE]

did you have to replace your Xbox? Im on system 3, and all the games I purchased on my first two systems can only be played while connected to Xbox Live. Which is great, except for the 8 hours my cable went out a mont back

Ive called MS 3 times on this issue, and they said there is nothing they can do.. which is BS... but what are ya going to do?

 

[nextgeneration]

did you have to replace your Xbox? Im on system 3, and all the games I purchased on my first two systems can only be played while connected to Xbox Live.

Yup, got my 360 replaced. My 360 from December kept freezing up on me, so I recently just got it replaced by Microsoft. On my old 360, I never had to log onto Live in order to play the full versions of my Live Arcade games. Now, with this "replacement unit," I always have to log onto Live in order to play the full versions of my Live Arcade games. What's up with that?

 

[soul creator]

heh, this comes up a lot it seems.

Basically, when you first purchase an Xbox Live Arcade game, it's tied to your gamertag and the system you downloaded it to. So you, and any other person who has a profile on that 360 will be able to play the full version of the game.

If you put your hard drive (or memory card if you happened to do that) on another system (friend's house/replacement system/etc.), The only way to play the full version of the previously downloaded game is to sign in to Xbox Live with the original gamertag that purchased it. Other profiles on this new system won't be able to play the full version.

Calling Microsoft to fix this seems to be hit or miss unfortunately.

 

[The Faceless Master]

another benefit of microtransactions

 

[nextgeneration]

Ah, ok, this makes sense, then. Suppose I delete the game and re-download it? If I did that, would the game then show up as the full game without having to log onto Live?

 

[Joeroll]

This also happens with my oblivion download content. It doesn't work unless I am on live. It's so bogus.

 

[Tunesmith]

If you have had to replace your console, you can call Microsoft and complain that you are no longer able to access your purchased Marketplace content when offline. Microsoft will refund you all the points (they'll give you redemption codes for the value of the points) you used to purchase the original content.

Points which you can then use to either re-download your stuff with a profile on your new console, thereby making the content offline-available or you could just spend the points on new stuff and keep your "online-only" content aswell if being online is not an issue to you.

Apparently MS isn't openly advertising this re-imbursement policy but are well aware of the flaw in the DLC licencing and will re-imburse the people who call in and complains, I got the tip from the PA forums and it indeed does work.

 

[aku:jiki]

Apparently MS isn't openly advertising this re-imbursement policy but are well aware of the flaw in the DLC licencing and will re-imburse the people who call in and complains, I got the tip from the PA forums and it indeed does work.

That sounds awesome. I'm (already, after two weeks!) on my second 360 and could exploit that to get a new half-dozen games...

But it sounds weird to me. Wouldn't they have to reset your XBLA purchases too? Games you've already paid for only show up with that checkmark thing, you know?

Edit: Does it work in Europe?

 

[aku:jiki]

Bump for chigiri's awesome tip! I just did it and it works. I'll be getting about 5000 free MS points automatically assigned to my new silver account in a few days time.

 

[scarybore]

Bump for chigiri's awesome tip! I just did it and it works. I'll be getting about 5000 free MS points automatically assigned to my new silver account in a few days time.

Hmm maybe I should try this, but that means ringing up MS again :/

If you put your hard drive (or memory card if you happened to do that) on another system (friend's house/replacement system/etc.), The only way to play the full version of the previously downloaded game is to sign in to Xbox Live with the original gamertag that purchased it. Other profiles on this new system won't be able to play the full version.

That's not actually true from my experience, providing the original Gamertag that bought the game is signed in, anyone else can play the full version of the game. This is how my brother plays Geometry Wars I bought since I have had my 360 replaced three times now. This lets your friends play the full game on their 360 as well.

 

[soul creator]

Hmm maybe I should try this, but that means ringing up MS again :/



That's not actually true from my experience, providing the original Gamertag that bought the game is signed in, anyone else can play the full version of the game. This is how my brother plays Geometry Wars I bought since I have had my 360 replaced three times now. This lets your friends play the full game on their 360 as well.

do you mean like "player 1 signs in with profile that bought the game, but player 2 under a different profile actually plays"? I guess that kinda makes sense too, lol

 

[aku:jiki]

Hmm maybe I should try this, but that means ringing up MS again :/

Tell me about it. I was in line on the phone for about 30 minutes (if you wait long enough, just a few minutes, you get a message saying they'll call you back instead so I had to keep redialing)...twice! The first time, I didn't realize I needed a silver gamertag to receive the points.

If you're gonna do it, you need that new silver tag and your serial number ready. If you've had the 360 repaired, you also need a repair number of sorts. I didn't (I just exchanged it over the counter at the store), but they didn't give me any hassle about it.

 

[scarybore]

do you mean like "player 1 signs in with profile that bought the game, but player 2 under a different profile actually plays"? I guess that kinda makes sense too, lol

Yup, works fine in Street Fighter 2 as well so I presume it works for all titles.

Tell me about it. I was in line on the phone for about 30 minutes (if you wait long enough, just a few minutes, you get a message saying they'll call you back instead so I had to keep redialing)...twice! The first time, I didn't realize I needed a silver gamertag to receive the points.

If you're gonna do it, you need that new silver tag and your serial number ready. If you've had the 360 repaired, you also need a repair number of sorts. I didn't (I just exchanged it over the counter at the store), but they didn't give me any hassle about it.

Meh sounds like too much hassle, and MS has said many times to me before they would ring me back only to never do so. Add to that I don't really want to make a silver Gamertag when I already have a gold one. Not too bothered about it for the moment.