I'm still not completely sold on this, but that's from my eShop experience. From what I'm hearing this will be more like how Steam handles their currency? I can get behind that.

I also need to download the update and check it out... but that would cut into getting excited for PAX time.

@cybexx: Indeed, that's a relief. Not only were Canadians paying more points per item on the marketplace, but the points themselves were more expensive per dollar even when factoring in the exchange rate.

I used to be anti-points, until a few months ago when Microsoft sold 15 dollar point cards for 5 dollars on sale at their store, and I got 4800 points for the cost of what one 1600 point card would be (20 dollars). No way this real money will do that. People should really understand that the customers are getting screwed by this change. Point cards went on sale regularly, real money will never go on sale.

Considering that the PSN Wallet still makes you spend 5 dollars minimum, I am not so hopeful that Microsoft won't put that arbitrary limit in there, basically making it points without any sort of sales possibility.

Yeah it was clunky, confusing at times, and weird, but as i said, I had about 10000 MS Points and didn't come close to spending what the retail translation cost would have been.

It's a little worth mentioning that points could have protected them from the vagaries of fluctuations in currency, though it doesn't seem like they took advantage of that.

I guess it is better this way. I can't wait to see how much real money I have on the system when I get home, lol.

Oh SHIT! Can we have the Microsoft points back!? I want to call them Balmer bucks, I kinda really liked that.

The money doesnt go on sale but the games do just the same and you have been screwed all the time by M$ please wake up.

Exactly. At least in the US, people who complained about MS Points are ridiculous. The math is taught to second graders. It's basic math.

[Note: $30 up from $20 is a 50% increase.]

Where are you buying your cards? As far as I've ever seen, standard Canadian Microsoft Point cards are 1,400MSP for $20, or 2,800MSP for $40. That's 70MSP/$1CAD (vs. 80MSP/$1USD). A 1,200MSP ($15USD) game goes up to $17.14CAD. That's a 14% premium for Canadians.

For a currency conversion comparison, it's as though the CAD has been worth $0.875 vs. USD. If you check out this chart, it's been higher than that for most of the Xbox 360 cycle.

If you bought points direct from Xbox.com, it was somehow less efficient (I never understood that), being... I wanna say increments of 500MSP for $7.25CAD, which is about 68.97MSP/$1CAD. You might have gotten a slightly better deal for something like 5,000MSP, but it was still under the 70MSP/$1 point card rate.

I believe I was almost always charged tax on point cards. If you use current Ontario HST (13%), that would be 1,400MSP for $22.60CAD, or 61.95MSP/$1CAD. A total of $19.37CAD for a 1,200MSP game.

I didn't like the disparity either—especially since the CAD and USD were at par for much of this generation—so I usually bought point cards on sale. Even 15% off at occasional Best Buy/Future Shop events would bridge the gap, though I often got better deals than that.

I'm not sure where you saw 1,600-point Canadian cards, or why one would pay $30 for it over the $20 cards. Unless you really, really hate leftover points.

Fixed in relation to US Dollars. Also fixed the grammar a little.

It's basic math.

Before now, the points AND the games went on sale. Now only the games go on sale, and that's rarely the case they go on sale. I don't know how I've been screwed. I buy a $20 points card, I pay $20 (or less). Please explain to me how I'm getting screwed.

There's kind of always been a tax though? I mean, they charge you applicable tax on those cards and points purchases too, do they not?

Horrible move.

Nope. If it was a 1600 point card, it would be 19.99 or less.

Reminds me of the time we had a load of 800 point cards to giveaway at work, and I stole like 3 of them every time I went in. Good, rule-breaking times.

Tax laws on these cards depend where you live. Some areas do. Since the U.S. has no federal sales tax, it's up to the states. Canada charges federal tax, but most provinces don't, unless their taxes are harmonised, or possibly Quebec.

For Games on Demand titles, when purchasing with cash they add applicable tax, when purchasing with points they do not, as it is assumed that any applicable tax was covered during the points purchase. This is exactly the issue that you've encountered with your Rock Band track.

This really is a "your mileage may vary" issue. Blanket statements where people aren't sharing their geography is not very useful.

I live in Upstate New York, to give you an idea.

Yup, I was just about buying some new MS points--but better so, at least one can properly judge the price of a game, and there won't be never used leftover points, either...

I never had a problem with the system....80 points equaled a dollar, that was it. It was a needless system, sure, but hardly confusing.

So yeah, I just redeemed a 4200MSP card worth 343 SEK (~$52), and got 583 SEK (~$88) added to my account.

Which means that I've always had roughly 40% off on every purchase on XBL.

How is it better without MSP again?

Microsoft god dammit.