DRM Follow-Up Tip
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.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
it’s go time Danger…do it…try it. it worked for me. i had my doubts but i tried it and it worked.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
the only thing thati’m woried about is my extra content for crackdown, i didn’t do the arcade enough to get high scores anyways
February 8th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I think the reason they are not including documentation with 360 replacements regarding this is because they aren’t completing all the license transfers for all replacements and they would also be advertising their DRM “shortcomings”
Keep up the good work, DeaconBlade!
February 8th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
^^^^^ Hmmmm Interesting point
February 8th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
mmm nice article deac, i luckily haven’t been effected by this yet. Well it could be that i’m always signed on to xbox live
February 9th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Just tried it again for the third time in 4 weeks with this repair and still a no-go. Everything is still F’ed. Like people and myself have said in the past, it only works if they’ve actually re-assigned the serial. If they haven’t done their job, you’re supposed to tell them to do it or nothing will happen for months, if ever.
February 9th, 2008 at 8:27 am
yeah i made a note of situations that it may not work in. email me dude. i’m getting a list together of people that it’s taken a weird amount of time to get done.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
My serial wasn’t updated and I called support and got jerked around with promises of “escalation” and call backs just like everyone else…written multiple articles on blogs(both personally owned and for a gaming site that will remain unnamed), contacted the BBB, yelled at the wall(which was probably the better choice, considering it didn’t hang up on me or lie) about it and nothing….nothing was happened.
Fortunately someone listens….Thanks Deacon…at least your trying but I’m afraid when it comes to DRM this complaint will fall on deaf ears. There is a new article about this up at theconsumerist.com today as well.
In short, I have 50 arcade games and roughly 40 of them can only be played when I’m connected to live. Oh well, maybe something will be done in the future.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
make sure to email that story to me Drexl. it sucks and hopefully i can help get some attention to a few of you guys with extreme wait times etc.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
If you can find an answer for those that had their machines exchanged in the stores, You’ll have saved everyone.