eat. sleep. game.

I saw this earlier on IGN, but I wanted to wait until I could get home and confirm it, and confirm it I have: Hilary Goldstein reports that due to concerns of piracy and, basically, anyone getting to play anything for free that Microsoft wants to charge for, Microsoft has instituted a policy for Premium Downloadable Content (which the Shivering Isles is) that prevents it from being used when not signed in to Xbox Live. While many may argue that this a moot point, given the constant network connection most people use with their 360s, they would be wrong; there are obviously situations where having a 360 connected to the internet is not feasible, or beyond their control. Examples of this would include network troubles, ISP downtime, or, you know, Xbox Live being taken down for maintenance. Just hours after downloading the Shivering Isles, I find myself unable to play content I paid a premium price for, because of Microsoft’s draconian Live policies. If the timing of the scheduled Live downtime had been different, it might have been some time before this came to light, but here we are. If Microsoft’s goal is to piss off customers who have spent approximately 4000 Microsoft points in the last 7 days, then I think they’re doing a bang up job. I’m waiting for an explanation from Microsoft PR before I really flip out, but if I had bought this from a retail location rather than online I would already be at the store demanding to talk to someone about a refund and beating the crap out of the person that sold it to me. I should not have to be signed into Live, a luxury that is not always possible, to play paid, downloaded content. This is another example of Microsoft Legal and Financial getting in the way of functionality and usefulness of product; we can add it to the list along with “inability to playback “.avi” files or “use third party hard drives”, among many others. This isn’t selling anyone on the idea of a paid online service Microsoft.

-Aegies