It’s no secret that Digital Rights Management (DRM) has presented a few issues to Xbox 360 gamers.  I posted a Truth Serum article recently about it and had a very interesting show last Saturday about it.  It was a shocker to hear some of the cases and how long some of them have gone on.  However, I did find out some things invovlving the issue that I wanted to share.  This may not be the case for many of you but hopefully for a few, it will help.

During the repair process, a technician or representative or whomever is supposed to update your console’s serial number with that of the new one.  This would prevent any licensing issues with content and would stop you from having to authenticate via Xbox Live.  I’ve verified that this is supposed to happen but unfortunately it sometimes doesn’t.  It’s also unfortunate that no notification of this is given.  You could be free of any potential DRM issues but you’d never know it because there’s no notification currently being sent. 

This tip will help those of you who don’t know that you’ve been updated.  For those still in a DRM punked status, I’ll keep investigating to see if something more can be done.  Now let’s get on to the tip shall we. 

DRM Tip (for those trying to access Arcade titles offline and can’t)

-Log on to Xbox Live with the same Gamertag you initially downloaded the content to
- Go to your Systems Blade > Memory > Games
- Locate the Arcade games you can not access offline and delete them including saves
- Go to your Marketplace Blade > Account Management > Download History
- Search for the same content in your history and download it again

This may not work for those who a) have not had your console serial # properly updated or b) if the content is no longer in your Download History.  I know a few users who tried this after last weekend’s show (including myself) and it took care of the problem.  So give it a shot.

To help me with further investigating and hopefully finding a solution to being punked by DRM, I’m encouraging those who have been punked to email me your situation.  I’ll get a list together and try to present it to the proper people.