Xbox 360 getting full retail games delivered on demand

Microsoft's E3 keynote was so jam-packed the company decided to wait until afterwards to announce what might be the biggest new feature of them all: on-demand access to full retail games. The service will launch in August with 30 titles to start, and new games will be added weekly, with pricing to match retail. The best part? Purchases can be made directly with a credit card, no pesky Xbox points required. More pics of the system after the break.

Update: Don't get your hopes up, MS tells us that the point system isn't going anywhere, it's just being supplemented with credit card purchases. Also, game rentals aren't happening yet, but they said it "sounds great for the future."

[Anthony the great @ Jun 1st 2009 3:50PM]

thats thuper!

[TheSuburbanWhiteBoy @ Jun 1st 2009 3:49PM]

SO is this a rental system or a way to purchase games forever?

[Toneglaso @ Jun 1st 2009 3:54PM]

Both.

[AndrewNoNumbers @ Jun 1st 2009 5:18PM]

I hope this doesn't become a trend. Having a single game download portal means there's no competition at all. By experience, "on sale" games at 3rd-party retailers usually beat a direct download, and you get the physical thing plus the manual.

[Choco_Taco @ Jun 1st 2009 6:48PM]

If Comcast and other carriers keep making more adjustments to their bandwidth limits this won't be around for long.

[WixosTrix @ Jun 1st 2009 8:43PM]

I actually like the points system. Typically I am broke and when I just have points left over they really help when something unexpected happens. There have been several times when I've gotten up in the morning and there be brand new albums for 80 points. So for me it's convenient and I don't really care, it's really not "that" big a deal for me.

[ZipperSeven @ Jun 2nd 2009 2:20PM]

@choco_taco:

More likely this would prompt Comcast and other major ISPs to work out some kind of a peering deal with Microsoft (or to be more accurate, their hosting cos) that would exempt purchases from the overall monthly cap.

At least, that's how you'd like it to work out...

[Tid @ Jun 1st 2009 3:49PM]

Hoorah for the coming death of MS Points

(Wishful thinking)

[Ghen @ Jun 1st 2009 4:12PM]

yeah, if only.

The other option would be to make 1 point = 1 penny, but even that is too freaking hard.

[Roofus @ Jun 1st 2009 4:19PM]

Points aren't going anywhere, the whole idea behind them is that they require a larger intial purchase to avoid situations where a merchants fee for the credit card would exceed the purchase. This is very possible with DLC and small purchases. Until MS can work out a deal with CC companies to avoid per purchase merchant fees, points will be staying.

[danimaldan @ Jun 1st 2009 4:22PM]

I kinda like MS points. It means I do not have to give microsoft my credit card number. I Just buy the points at a store and then load them up on the xbox. I just dont like giving my credit card number out all the time.

[magazines @ Jun 1st 2009 4:23PM]

Why would you want to eliminate MS points. You can save so much by using the points instead of a credit card. . i get 1600 point cards for between $10 and $14 by getting them when they are on sale. So it saves me up to 50%. Why would I want to use a credit card when I can save so much by purchasing the point cards instead?

[Del_Usion @ Jun 1st 2009 4:23PM]

While Live points are a bit annoying, understand that the point of them is not to drive people crazy but to have an international form of currency across all regions Microsoft services. It also has the nice side effect for Microsoft of making people less aware of what they are spending on things. I really doubt, long term that points are going anywhere.

[deyanimay @ Jun 1st 2009 4:41PM]

the idea isn't bad but the implementation is horrible. 1 point = 1 cent is how it should be

[d889 @ Jun 1st 2009 5:00PM]

you can put 250 gig drives in an xbox but it will only recognize 120, making the entire thing futile.

your best bet is to buy a 120 bevs drive and use that and hope you dont get banned.

and of course ms is going to announce bigger drives, they are just waiting to milk as much money as they can, luckily my 20 gig still has like 10 gigs free on it.

[Kelmon @ Jun 1st 2009 5:15PM]

@danimaldan

I wouldn't worry about giving your credit card number to Microsoft - I'm sure they'll be PCI-DSS certified (or the company that they use to process the transactions will be). Besides, you should only need to provide your card details once.

Personally, I hate the idea of Points or vouchers, which is effectively what Points are. I want to see things priced in real money and I want to only spend what I need to in order to obtain what it is that I want. However, I imagine that vouchers are good for children (no offense to the youngsters on this site) who do not have access to a credit card. In this respect I see the use of them but still I would want to see the vouchers themselves and the things that they buy priced in local currency, just like every other shop (virtual or otherwise).

[Jagster @ Jun 1st 2009 9:06PM]

@ deyanimay

And how many Euros, Pounds, or Yen should 1 point be? Should 1 Euro = 1 Point too? And 1 Yen = 1 Point? Points are really just Microsoft currency that can be used in a multinational way. A game that is 400 points will be 400 points whether its in America or Poland or Japan. If you could convert points back into dollars, you could even use it as a system for currency trading.

[tekd @ Jun 2nd 2009 2:59PM]

Points is also useful because it lets you make really small purchases. Credit card companies charge flat fees in addition to a percent of the transaction, so the smaller the purchase the bigger their cut becomes percentage wise, until it makes no sense to sell something over the internet, and at the very least it adds a ton of overhead.

So instead of Microsoft having to pay Visa 20 cents of a 50 cent sale they can just sell you a bunch of points at once then let you spend it little by little without having to repeatedly pay the credit card companies.

[Ignatius @ Jun 5th 2009 6:19PM]

Taking away the points would take away the prizes of 1 vs 100 when it goes live. Last Saturday, a guy named mutant dog 123 would have walked away with 10,000 MS points if it hadn't been in beta.

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 1st 2009 3:50PM]

Did you guys hear that? That was the sound of Gamestop moaning in despair...

[Massmass @ Jun 1st 2009 3:57PM]

Not really.

Too many ISPs are capping bandwidth around the country and I'm not wasting it on a service like this, even though I'd like to.

[Steve @ Jun 1st 2009 4:03PM]

First of all, bandwidth caps aren't the problem here. The problem the 360's gonna face is storage. The hard drives are still too expensive. If Microsoft is serious about this, they should make serious price cuts to the 120 GB HDD and bump the sizes.

Second of all, bandwidth caps aren't as serious a concern right now as you think. In the tech industry its a looming concern, but it's not quite there yet. Silicon Valley ain't going down without a serious court battle, and I don't think the telecoms are going to win this one.

[Brian @ Jun 1st 2009 4:17PM]

@Steve

I have a 250GB HDD on my X360 from my old laptop.

Look up how to upgrade them.

[hfm @ Jun 1st 2009 4:21PM]

@Steve

I'd be surprised if they lowered the HD price, it's probably a high profit margin, and this is only going to add a great way for them to capitalize on it.

[steve.s.won @ Jun 1st 2009 5:14PM]

Upgrading the 360 hard drive by yourself isn't supported by Microsoft. They've stated in the past they don't "allow" that because of DRM built into the HDD to stop you from accessing Live and whatnot if you use your own Laptop drive.

[Vidikron @ Jun 1st 2009 4:28PM]

@Brian

Is the 250GB actually useable by the 360? I haven't looked into it in a long time, but I remember when people first started swapping the drives the system would only use the space equivalent to the biggest official drive. But beyond that, people shouldn't have to hack their system to use bigger drives.

[Massmass @ Jun 1st 2009 4:35PM]

What the hell do you mean, "as I think"? Do your words somehow magically lift the caps THAT I AND MILLIONS EXPERIENCE RIGHT NOW? If so, let me bottle you up because you're just precious!

Even though it isn't in the majority yet, it will be. America's networks are too vast and outdated to meet the exponentially increasing demand for these services, let alone anything "HD". 10-20 years from now, sure but not now.

Also, your hard drive argument is feeble. In so much that if Microsoft was serious about pushing digital distribution they'd obviously increase the size of hard drives available and decrease the premium on them. It's not hard to do that, especially since a TB drive still costs less than a 120GB 360 drive...

[Vidikron @ Jun 1st 2009 4:45PM]

@Massmass

"Also, your hard drive argument is feeble. "

Dude, WTF?

How is his hard drive point feeble when he simply stated exactly what they needed to do? All you replied with was to say they could do it. Of course they could do it... they could have also lowered the price of their drives long ago but haven't lowered them to reasonable levels yet. Saying they could is one thing, actually doing it is something different. I'm not sure what you're all worked up about here. He just stated that he thought the hard drive issue would be a bigger concern for most people than the transfer caps.

[yakapo @ Jun 1st 2009 4:51PM]

would you mind posting a link for the 250 gig hdd upgrade?

I looked on xbox scene and all I saw was the 120 gig.

thanks.

[Tommy Hunsaker @ Jun 1st 2009 4:51PM]

@steve Wondering if the larger Hard Drive announcements are coming...or possibly a way to use external drives as storage...or letting you upgrade the drive a la playstation 3. They could totally sell an enclosure that has the necessary software and then let you add your own drive, I'd buy into that.

[mirakutea @ Jun 1st 2009 5:14PM]

hopefully the next consoles will have 500gb+

[Massmass @ Jun 1st 2009 7:08PM]

He was saying that the hard drive is the BIGGER issue. It is in no way the bigger issue. When it is such an easy fix.

Making ISPs behave is NOT easy to fix and IS THE MAJOR impediment to digital distribution. It's also going to get worse or more expensive before it gets better.


Also, it's the internet, where else can you get your panties in a bunch over nothing? ;)

[Brian @ Jun 1st 2009 8:19PM]

I apologize, it was only a 120. For some reason, i thought it was 250.

[Tarnation @ Jun 2nd 2009 9:41AM]

Gamestop won't be going anywhere they will still rely on trade ins and used games like always. Unless Walmart does it better.

I totally agree on the hard drive point I have a 20GB still with room for maybe 1 or 2 full games one if the game took up an entire Dual Layer. We should have much larger hard drives available at way cheaper prices considering all MS is selling is a shell which we already have if you have the old 20GB, some damn DRM BS, and a transfer cable. I payed less for two 640GB desktop hard drives than the 120GB upgrade. Now if they really wanted to be cool guys through some support for downloading those to an External drive an just encrypt the mess out of them.

[nwapsnomed @ Jun 5th 2009 3:13PM]

Not really.

The only game I will consider downloading is Crackdown, and that's because it is one of the few games that will not install and play off the HDD already. I don't want the DVD drive spinning, both making the xbox loud and cooking my GPU with the added heat that the motor and friction between the air and disc generates. I hope to never get RROD.

That being said, I would only pay 800 points at most for Crackdown, considering how old it is and what it goes for these days...good luck on that, these games will be priced at full MSRP, I'm sure.

Obviously this system will probably work exactly like the current system...Any gamertag will be able to play on the original 360 system the game is purchased on, and the gamertag used to purchase will be able to play from any system, as long as you are logged in to LIVE.

Because of this, I predict only older titles will be available, to prevent game sharing of newer titles (you buy the game through your friend's xbox, then you download again on your own xbox...you play together online, 2 for the price of 1).

The games will be tracked in your purchase history, and can be deleted and re-downloaded at anytime (as long as they remain available on the marketplace, that is). The only reason I see MS changing this is to limit bandwidth usage

[Mizzike @ Jun 1st 2009 3:50PM]

wow, thanks!
Im not leaving my xbox for another 3 years!

[KarlW @ Jun 1st 2009 4:14PM]

You know, I'm really thinking about buying one. Looks to be pretty good value for money.

[Kirbster @ Jun 1st 2009 3:50PM]

I think I'm getting one now.........

[Justin @ Jun 1st 2009 3:50PM]

I'm just wondering if this is somehow saved to your account, so if your HDD/360 hits the skids, you haven't just lost said game.

Other then that, sounds fantastic. I'm already copying games to the HDD to save time and noise, as well as some wear on the optical drive, maybe.

[dan saint @ Jun 1st 2009 3:54PM]

anything u buy so far is linked to you by both your gamercard and box serial number

[Justin @ Jun 1st 2009 3:55PM]

Sweet.

[Flit @ Jun 1st 2009 4:53PM]

To clarify: whatever stuff you buy on your XBL account is available to use on any Xbox while you are logged into that XBL account.

Whatever Xbox you make the original purchase on allows Anybody (even people with different XBL accounts) to use that content too. If your box dies, MS should (and usually does) transfers the licenses over during the repair process. Also, there is a license transfer tool you can use 1x per year to transfer those licenses over to a new box (say, if you decide to upgrade, or sell your old box for some reason).

Back to the main story, I would be much more excited about this if Savegames were linked to an XBL gamercard somehow, kinda like Steam. I would love to travel across country and stay in a hotel that allowed me to download a game i'm playing with the savegames I had at home without having to tote about a Memory card.

Also, they should be cheaper ($3-5), (as should all digital media), due to no need to distribute/stock these games in a physical location, also, for taking the penalty of not being able to resell the game.

[CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 1st 2009 3:50PM]

I can has bigger hard drive?

[Templarian @ Jun 1st 2009 4:02PM]

Watch them come out with some insane 1gb drive, or better yet a SSD for fast load times.

[Samboini @ Jun 1st 2009 4:02PM]

I envisage large drives at even larger prices.

:(

[DIMMbulb @ Jun 1st 2009 4:12PM]

@Templarian: 1GB drive? Sounds suicidally stupid to me

[Cody @ Jun 1st 2009 4:09PM]

An insane 1gb drive? Okay.....
You mean 1tb?

[Templarian @ Jun 1st 2009 4:13PM]

@Cody, no I meant gb it would be pretty insane, tb would be "awesome" and sane. :P

[Sean @ Jun 1st 2009 4:22PM]

I'm not sure if it was my sarcasm or face palm meter that just broke.

[kal326 @ Jun 1st 2009 4:26PM]

500GB looks to be the tops for now give the current size of 2.5 drives, granted knowing MS they would probably go with a 250GB or 320GB just to have something larger to dangle over our heads later.