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Ozzie

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Microsoft "Rewards" Are Just Insulting

Before you read this I want to make 2 things very clear:

1. Never written a blog before I just wanted to write down these thoughts, so bare with me (assuming anyone even reads this thing which I doubt)

2. I am not trying to start a console war, I'm just writing as a very aggravated customer of Xbox.

I've been a fan of Xbox ever since I first played Halo but once I got Xbox Live, and started playing online, it was a whole new experience for me that I never looked back from. That was about 8 years ago, since then we've seen a lot of changes and yes it does annoy me to have to go three or four damn pages just go get to the game section of Live but in the end of the day I still liked playing a game on the Xbox. However, with Steam being the craze that it is I was starting to wonder if I being ripped off by console gaming? It seemed like PC gamers had more options for price and could get really great deals, while I didn't. And yes I do play PC games on my computer but I don't really have that great of a gaming computer. So I just overlooked it and said well it's not like any other consoles are offering crazy deals. In walks Sony.

First it started with their free games which was already making me jealous of people who had Playstation Plus but I shrugged it off because even though it would be awesome to get free stuff it was nothing I was falling off of my chair over. Then it was PS+ members getting $6 off of a game they reserve off of PSN (not all but it's def a step in the right direction) which is pretty good so I started to get really annoyed why am I paying MS all this money to just play games online, what do they give me? I don't use any apps, most Gold Member only games come to PC any or even PSN, and the discounts they have are terrible. What so I get to use Bing and Youtube? Who cares.

So even with all my anger I was said "Whatever MS will probably come up with something soon right?" Well they did so far, and this is why I'm writing. For those who don't know you get money back on games you buy over the Marketplace now, if you sign up online. How much you ask? Well it depends on your Gamer Score which is already kind of odd but it's not ridicules only 25k for the max reward. Which is 2% back every month on every game you buy online and a gift on your birthday month... Now let me put some context behind this in case this doesn't insult you. PS+ member get $6 back for reserving new games that cost $60, you would have to spend $500.00 dollars to get $10.00 dollars from this deal, with the highest reward pack! So I got it to see what the deal was for the birthday since my birthday is the 18th of October and I got my reward. 20 Microsoft Points ... 80 MS is a dollar, 20 is a quarter. I've been a member for 8 years, bought tons of games and been a pretty loyal customer and they give me 25 cents. With this "deal", the amount I spend on the Market Place, and the 200 points I get for buying another year of Live I will maybe get $5 dollars a year if that from Microsoft, while reserving 1 game with Sony saves me $6.

This pissed me off more than anything else, I would rather get nothing and wait for them to actually come up with a good deal rather than try to give me a damn quarter. Who knows maybe a week from now they'll come up with something amazing and I'll be completely on board again, or maybe not.

Between Sony and Steam, if Microsoft doesn't step it up they'll lose customers by the time this new generation of Consoles come out and I will be one of them, and just like when I first started playing Live, I'll never look back.

EDIT: Thanks for everyone who read this I never expected over 1000 people to read this blog (at the same time didn't know I could post it on forums so obviously that helped lol). Everyone has their own opinion and they are entitled to that and I always respect it, even if I disagree with you. Thanks for the taking the time to read my thoughts.

- Ozzie Gonzalez

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Vegetable_Side_Dish

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XBL has been a bad joke for a while now, PS+ is just embarrassing them further, soon even Nintendo's online might be doing that too

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Tylea002

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Edited By Tylea002

The rewards program is poorly conceived. A clear example that something is not always better than nothing.

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Rafaelfc

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Edited By Rafaelfc

People really love getting free stuff, for a few free games people are calling an overall inferior service as something that puts microsoft's service to shame.

In my experience PSN is very unreliable, slow and disconnects for no reason a lot. If you pay for Plus you get no improvements in that whatsoever, but hey, here are some free games that will take you forever to download. If they get their shit together and provide a service that is comparable to Live i'd gladly never pay Microsoft again, but it just isn't happening yet (at least for me, user mileage may vary)

I am not happy paying for online, but as far as console online gaming goes, Live still is the best for me, despite the lack of good discounts and rewards.

What I think Sony is making a killing at is putting new releases (and good desireable releases at that) day one for you to purchase online. It's full price, but the idea of clicking a bunch of buttons and getting a game released that day on your console is totally awesome.

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Wong_Fei_Hung

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Edited By Wong_Fei_Hung

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

XBL has been a bad joke for a while now, PS+ is just embarrassing them further, soon even Nintendo's online might be doing that too

Nintendo Networks lack of annual fees and consistently abusive individuals will make it very attractive to me. I'm happy that any abusers of the system will be rooted out fast and efficiently, that's a positive incentive for me. When I saw Nintendo TVii's features and ease of use, I honestly instantly thought it was better than what LIVE, were charging me for. When you consider Wii U Chat and use Miiverse are entirely free also, I wonder what on earth Microsoft will now offer to justify what they charge currently, because it's increasingly looking like rip off.

These online modes on Wii U will be perfect because they're designed by the developers themselves - there's very little to fear.

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alistercat

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Edited By alistercat

I've gotten almost 2000 free points from Xbox Live Rewards, so it hasn't been bad but 20 points isn't anything to promote or get excited about. Why did they bother?

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AlexW00d

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Edited By AlexW00d

Giving 20 points for a 'special birthday present' is pretty goddamn insulting yeah. Dear me.

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TheHBK

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Edited By TheHBK

Yeah, compared to the deals you get on Steam and PSN+, this seems bad... but from what I read, seems like you were happy with Xbox Live and the games until they started giving you little deals and a FREE set of 20 points for your birthday? What am I missing here? Xbox Live is where my friends are, where cross game chat is that is not on PSN, faster game updates and downloads which mean I will never buy anything over the PSN unless it is free. Yeah, we need to focus our priorities here.

I wonder what happened to us that when someone gives us something, we can say no thanks, but instead say, what the fuck man!!! Give me more!!!

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Ozzie

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Edited By Ozzie

@AlexW00d said:

Giving 20 points for a 'special birthday present' is pretty goddamn insulting yeah. Dear me.

That's really the biggest point I was getting across, seems like others feel like I should be grateful for anything they give me I feel otherwise but if they don't care than that's ok.

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Ozzie

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Edited By Ozzie

@Humanity said:

@Ozzie: Just wanted to say my Birthday is also October 18th so high five dood.

Haha high five bro

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JasonR86

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Edited By JasonR86

@Ozzie said:

@AlexW00d said:

Giving 20 points for a 'special birthday present' is pretty goddamn insulting yeah. Dear me.

That's really the biggest point I was getting across, seems like others feel like I should be grateful for anything they give me I feel otherwise but if they don't care than that's ok.

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic dude. Hence the 'dear me' bit.

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nightriff

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Edited By nightriff

@GenocidalKitten said:

I used to love Xbox live, in 7 years that's changed dramatically, next generation I'm not getting an Xbox I can tell you that for sure.

I feel like next generation Microsoft is going to turn into Sony last generation, over confident, and out of touch.

Feel the same way, hopefully other people aren't afraid to jumpship

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YoungFrey

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Edited By YoungFrey

@TheHBK said:

Yeah, compared to the deals you get on Steam and PSN+, this seems bad... but from what I read, seems like you were happy with Xbox Live and the games until they started giving you little deals and a FREE set of 20 points for your birthday? What am I missing here? Xbox Live is where my friends are, where cross game chat is that is not on PSN, faster game updates and downloads which mean I will never buy anything over the PSN unless it is free. Yeah, we need to focus our priorities here.

I wonder what happened to us that when someone gives us something, we can say no thanks, but instead say, what the fuck man!!! Give me more!!!

I don't think anybody is particularly mad that Live isn't giving out big birthday presents. It about Microsoft raising expectations, then delivering crud. If a person told you they'd got you a present and brought over a box that contained a quarter, you'd probably be angry and feel jerked around. You can still use a quarter, but it's a terrible present. You'd wish they had done nothing.

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TheSouthernDandy

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Edited By TheSouthernDandy

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

XBL has been a bad joke for a while now, PS+ is just embarrassing them further, soon even Nintendo's online might be doing that too

Nintendo Networks lack of annual fees and consistently abusive individuals will make it very attractive to me. I'm happy that any abusers of the system will be rooted out fast and efficiently, that's a positive incentive for me. When I saw Nintendo TVii's features and ease of use, I honestly instantly thought it was better than what LIVE, were charging me for. When you consider Wii U Chat and use Miiverse are entirely free also, I wonder what on earth Microsoft will now offer to justify what they charge currently, because it's increasingly looking like rip off.

These online modes on Wii U will be perfect because they're designed by the developers themselves - there's very little to fear.

I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the Nintendo ship as leaders of online services. You're not wrong about Live looking more like a ripoff lately but Nintendo's online offerings up to this point have been...less then stellar. In the same way that a punch in the face is a less then stellar way to spend an evening.

Nintendo could totally knock it out of the park, I think they're FINALLY realizing they need to change how they're approaching online stuff but until they prove it, I wouldn't say they're the best choice by a long shot.

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FluxWaveZ

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Edited By FluxWaveZ

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

XBL has been a bad joke for a while now, PS+ is just embarrassing them further, soon even Nintendo's online might be doing that too

Nintendo Networks lack of annual fees and consistently abusive individuals will make it very attractive to me. I'm happy that any abusers of the system will be rooted out fast and efficiently, that's a positive incentive for me. When I saw Nintendo TVii's features and ease of use, I honestly instantly thought it was better than what LIVE, were charging me for. When you consider Wii U Chat and use Miiverse are entirely free also, I wonder what on earth Microsoft will now offer to justify what they charge currently, because it's increasingly looking like rip off.

These online modes on Wii U will be perfect because they're designed by the developers themselves - there's very little to fear.

Why are you praising Nintendo for an online system you haven't tried yet, especially given their extremely poor history with online?

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Slag

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Edited By Slag

Nice rant OP, well said.

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Wong_Fei_Hung

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Edited By Wong_Fei_Hung

@TheSouthernDandy: @FluxWaveZ:

FluxWave, I have actually tried out some of it's features in a closed media briefing at EG Expo. Like I say earlier, how is there anything substantial to fear when it's third parties themselves that will be creating online infrastructures, which will no doubt be perfectly tailored to suit individual game franchises?. There can be no complaints there, certainly not complaints that can be directed at Nintendo. The ball is not in Nintendo's park, it's in third parties.

Everything aside from the online modes within games, the stuff Nintendo is responsible for, appears to be truly brilliant and free.

As far as the other services offered by others...I for once think Jim is right. Can you honestly say you think it will pan out differently?

http://www.giantbomb.com/wii-u/60-139/jim-sterling-on-wii-u/35-561683/#79

I don't know about you but I find the prospect mind numbingly dull, I don't want my videogame consoles to be turned into these media hubs, I really just want it to be about videogames, and communicating with my friends about games primarily. I certainly don't need Facebook on it or a long list of Sony's films available for free.

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TheSouthernDandy

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Edited By TheSouthernDandy

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

@TheSouthernDandy: @FluxWaveZ:

FluxWave, I have actually tried out some of it's features in a closed media briefing at EG Expo. Like I say earlier, how is there anything substantial to fear when it's third parties themselves that will be creating online infrastructures, which will no doubt be perfectly tailored to suit individual game franchises?. There can be no complaints there, certainly not complaints that can be directed at Nintendo. The ball is not in Nintendo's park, it's in third parties.

Everything aside from the online modes within games, the stuff Nintendo is responsible for, appears to be truly brilliant and free.

As far as the other services offered by others...I for once think Jim is right. Can you honestly say you think it will pan out differently?

http://www.giantbomb.com/wii-u/60-139/jim-sterling-on-wii-u/35-561683/#79

I don't know about you but I find the prospect mind numbingly dull, I don't want my videogame consoles to be turned into these media hubs, I really just want it to be about videogames, and communicating with my friends about games primarily. I certainly don't need Facebook on it or a long list of Sony's films available for free.

I totally agree, I could care less about Facebook on my console, I care about what the online multiplayer experience is like and what the service offers that's game related (dlc, digital downloaded games, discounts, etc.) The whole issue is that Nintendo has been completely clueless on how to handle those things, if they even attempted any of them. Their online efforts have been a joke to this point. And depending on third parties to prop up the infrastructure isn't a solution, Nintendo has to spearhead those efforts and make sure there are performance standards and users are getting a good experience.

Again, I'm not saying it's impossible for them to make the WiiU a great online console, I'm saying they've done a terrible job in pretty much every aspect of online up to this point and I'm gonna wait till I see the consoles in the wild getting used online before I would say they're the answer to this whole problem.

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FluxWaveZ

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Edited By FluxWaveZ

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

I don't know about you but I find the prospect mind numbingly dull, I don't want my videogame consoles to be turned into these media hubs, I really just want it to be about videogames, and communicating with my friends about games primarily. I certainly don't need Facebook on it or a long list of Sony's films available for free.

I also agree. The only things I need online for are for video games, not the other crap. But Nintendo, to put it simply, sucks when it comes to online and I'll take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to what they do with the Wii U.

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Wong_Fei_Hung

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Edited By Wong_Fei_Hung

@TheSouthernDandy:

I have faith it will happen, what I've seen so far is impressive at Nintendo's end, the video services, the ability to stream your household content, easily, Nintendo TVii and what it offers to your viewing experience, Miiverse integration into software, the ability to video & text chat with consummate ease, and the simple but very important options available, the kind of options that Nintendo have shirked in the past. The ability to chat outside of Miiverse alone suggests to me Nintendo know some adults want that degree of separation, and that gives me a lot of confidence for the other features that will come down the line.

I also have faith, because I know it's not Nintendo that have designed this all :) It's a subsidiary of Asus which Nintendo worked with on 3DS. I know Asus design things with a kind of simplicity that hits the spot (my PC Mobo is designed by them).