Ask Joystiq Xbox: I Am Alive is alive edition

Ask Joystiq Xbox returns this week with another (mostly) knowledge-filled installment. This week, we take a look at profile corruption issues, the hazards of gamertag linking and the intricacies of managing all your SpongeBob episodes. We also discuss some theories regarding the next round of LEGO games and shed some light on the fate of I Am Alive. Find it all after the break.


Got a question for Ask Joystiq Xbox? Maybe you have a story or some information you'd like to share? Send it all to ask [att] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.

Dear Joystix@Xbox,

HELP! I've recently got my console back after an RROD (YES! somepeople still have them). Happily looking forward starting the war at Harvest, i set up the system, go through all the first-time NXE menus, until it comes to a message "No profile detected on storage device". So i thought, 'wait that isn't right'. Glancing over to the side of my console, check, my harddrive is still there. Still not panicking then, i flicked over to the Memory section and selected Game profiles. It was then the COLD reality of the situation struck me. EVERY single one of 13 profiles are listed as 'corrupted profile'. THE HORROR!

I've since recovered my Xbox Live profile, but that did not recover the rest of the offline profiles. I've tried deleting just the profile and not the save games to see if creating a new profile with the same Gamertag would link the save games to the new Gamertag, no joy. I've even called Microsoft Tech Support, and they didn't know squart. I'm hoping you've got some magic recovery tool hidden aware amidst all your hardware and accessories. Help! The lives of 12 virtual rock band members and their virtually own money and 193,967 fans are at stake. And last but definitely not least, the fate of my girlfriend's fable II savegame as well!(seriously. This is very important).

Hoping for the best,
Shane

P.S. I live in Singapore, if it makes a difference.

P.P.S. Nope, its not in China, if you were wondering.

Hoo boy, that really sucks. Sadly, we have no idea how to help you. We hereby turn your problem over to the Joystiq community. Here's hoping someone out there knows how to help you.

Hey hardworking bloggers at Joystiq Xbox! I have a question about e-mail address for gamertags. It might get a little complicated, so I'll be as detailed as possible.

I made my gamertag (sjs2626) with my ISP email address, email address number 1 if you will. But then I made a Gmail account, email address number 2. I made a second gamertag, using email address number 2. I have moved on to Gmail now, and I have abandoned using my second gamertag. I went to www.live.com and logged on to my primary Windows Live ID, and switched my email address to my Gmail. It works fine, but what happens when there are two gamertags with the same email? And if I lose email address number 1, will I lose my gamertag with it? Because after getting 18500 gamerscore, it would be a bitch to get it all back!

Thanks guys, and keep up the good work!,
sjs2626

Our first question is why do you have two Gamertags in the first place? We're always mystified by multiple gamertags. You should be able to solve your problem, but it will take some doing. First of all, your two gamertags aren't actually linked to the same email. Both of them should still be linked to whatever Live ID they were originally linked to. If you want to associate your old gamertag with your new email address, you'll probably have to associate your second gamertag with a different Live ID.

You can link your gamertags to different Live IDs from the Xbox 360 dashboard. The option to do so is under Account Management. From there, you should be able to link your new gamertag with a different Live ID (you might have to create a new Live ID to do this). Once that's done, link your old Gamertag to your Gmail Live ID. That should get you fixed up.

Hey guys!

I love the site and podcast, anyway I was feeling a little retro and was in the mood for some good 'ol Johnny Cash, the problem is my xbox didn't read the CD. This CD (Part of the -Cash: The Legend box set-) is black like the old PSOne games, is there any particular reason for the xbox not reading these particular discs? And don't tell me that's because my Xbox thinks is a PSOne disc and won't read competition material.

Thanks for your help, much love from Colombia!

Juan Manuel B
GT: BurritoDePerro

We'd like to know if the disc is even spinning up. If it is and the Xbox still isn't reading it, that's pretty strange. It is possible that the black surface of the disc has something to do with it, though we have no idea what that would be. The only other thing we can think of is that the CD might have some data on it other than music. Still, it should be designed to work in a regular CD player, so it should work in your Xbox. If you have the equipment for it, you could always burn a copy of the disc onto a CD-R and play that. Failing that, you could transfer the tracks to an MP3 player and stream them. That's a lot of work, but hey, it's Johnny Cash.

Two questions. One PSA.

1) I really enjoy the LEGO games. What will the next franchise be built on (horrible pun intended) and when will it come out? I have seen rumors of LEGO Harry Potter and LEGO Hobbit and even a new LEGO Indiana Jones. Any truth to these rumors? I would really like to see LEGO James Bond and LEGO X-MEN. LEGO LOTR would also be pretty sweet.

2) What is the deal with "I Am Alive"? It was delayed...until when?

[Unrelated "PSA" deleted - Ed.]

El Fin.

Brandon Schut

1) It looks like there probably will be both a LEGO Harry Potter game and another LEGO Indiana Jones (probably based on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Both games were confirmed by a Traveller's Tales animator earlier this month, though they haven't been officially announced. With the next Harry Potter film slated for release this year, we might see the LEGO version relatively soon. Then again, Traveller's Tales may take a similar approach to the LEGO Star Wars games and base the Harry Potter version on several volumes of the series. It's probably not exactly what you had in mind, but there's also an MMO titled LEGO Universe in the works.

Rest assured, there will likely be plenty more LEGO games. We doubt Warner Bros. has plans to stop any time soon.

2) I Am Alive is still coming. It was delayed, but Ubisoft recently revealed that the game (along with Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction) is scheduled to release in its current fiscal year, which ends in March 2010. So, expect to see I Am Alive -- or hear that it's been delayed again -- before this time next year. We should also point out that the game recently changed developers, moving from Darkworks to Ubisoft Shanghai, so we'd expect it later rather than sooner.

Hello,

Nice work on the site. I have a question about license transfers between consoles.

I've read through all the FAQ's on the xbox.com site on how to do it and it sounds easy enough. The question I have is: Am I able to pick and choose which content I want to transfer to the other console? You see, over the years I have purchased numerous Spongebob and Phineas & Ferb TV episodes for my kids and they are taking up precious space on my 120GB hard drive. I recently purchased an Xbox for my son on his birthday and now would like to transfer those shows over to his console. But the tricky part is I also have South Park and Family Guy episodes on my console. I don't want to transfer those over. What do I do? Can I pick and choose during the license transfer process? Will using a memory unit numerous times back and forth work? Help, please.

Thank you,

Jerimy- Lynden, WA
(Sam Rocket)

To answer your first question: No, you can't decide which content you want to transfer when you use the license transfer tool. It's all of your content or nothing. You can definitely use a Memory Unit to transfer the shows to a different Xbox, but we're fairly certain that said Xbox will have to be signed into your Xbox Live account in order to play the TV shows. TV content should work the same way that any downloadable content (add-ons, XBLA games) work, so you're kids probably won't be able to watch SpongeBob unless you sign into your Live account on their Xbox.

Unfortunately, we can't test this out ourselves and give you a definitive answer (even Major Nelson wasn't 100% positive when we asked). Chances are we're right, though. We're pretty sure that media companies wouldn't allow users to play content to another Xbox for free.


That's it for this week, folks. Keep sending your questions to: ask [att] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.