Welcome to the Xbox 360 blog's Weekend Warrior section, where we tackle the many important things that have happened in the Xbox 360 scene in the past couple of days, as well as discuss the highs and lows behind Microsoft's console in general. Find out all the interesting things that have happened in the past week after the jump!

It used to be impossible to transfer Xbox Live content from one Xbox 360 to another with Microsoft's DRM policies. That's now a thing of the past as the company introduces the License Transfer Tool which loosens up the restrictions and lets you share the hot contents from one hard drive to another. How to do it? Find out in the full article.

A lot of us may be expecting a hefty Spring update for the Xbox 360 - thanks in no small part to that rumored list of new stuff we reported about a couple of weeks back - but it looks like this year's update might be a bit on the smaller and less easy to spot side. Details from Xbox Live manager Marc Whitten at the full article.

Motion-sensing options, increased privacy settings, and game installation. These new features and more are included in a list of rumored additions that will be coming when the Spring update for the Xbox 360 console comes around. Hit the full article for the complete list.

Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving in only a few short days so you better get yourselves prepared. Are you sure you can keep up with Niko Bellic? Here's some brain food from us to you: Everything you need to know about Rockstar's upcoming GTA game. Head over to the full article for the second of our two-part feature on Grand Theft Auto IV, where we talk about the game's combat system, missions, multiplayer modes, and more!

 With Grand Theft Auto 4 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) speeding full throttle into our consoles, the details on it just keep pouring in. This time, we're informed that the game will feature a music download system to enhance the in-game radio experience that the series popularized. Amazon is behind Rockstar on this one, and the alliance seems to herald a lot of good stuff. Know more by reading the full article up next.

Some downloadable media are free, but that just means we don't pay for it. Some of those media - videos in particular - are only free because they come with ads, and if no one watches those ads, the system becomes ineffective.

This reasoning might explain why Microsoft has filed for this patent: a system that "enforces advertisement playback for downloaded media." More in the full article.

When we have problems with our electronics or consoles, we always turn to the product's customer service hotline for help. But what happens if customer service proved to be too...unhelpful? One of the moderators of the Xbox 360 achievement listing site, Achieve360Points, just went through what could be one of the most harrowing experience with customer service.

He's got a long laundry list of problems, but here's the gist: Speaker Ender (the gamertag of said customer) had problems with the DRM on his premium Xbox Live content. To be fair towards MS's customer support staff, the problem was promptly solved the first time he had the DRM issue by having his MS points refunded by Microsoft. However, it was an entirely different story when he got the problem the second time around.

Speaker Ender provided a breakdown of his experiences with Xbox 360's customer support staff:

• Number of calls to 1-800-4MY-XBOX since March: 22 calls
• Number of callbacks promised: 15
• Number of callbacks received: 3
• Most Number of times I was asked my name and phone number during a single call: 11 times
• Number of times I was told "Microsoft will contact you when the investigation is complete": 40+
• Number of times that I ended up on the Spanish language hold line: 8
• Total spent on Xbox 360 related products: $3120.78
• Amount of XBL content not working properly: 25,600 points ($319.87)
• Total time spent on the phone with 1-800-4MY-XBOX: 1 day, 2 hours, 55 minutes
• Total time spent trying various remedies*: 1 day, 9 hours, 55 minutes
• TOTAL TIME TRYING TO RESOLVE ISSUES WITH MY XBOX 360s: 2 days, 2 hours, 50 minutes

Indeed a sad story, and we hope that Speaker Ender manages to get the resolution he clearly deserves.


Check out the entire article in the Read link!

User Jay in Live Spaces posted some strong opinions about content migration issues of the Xbox 360. His opinions stem from his own experiences (and troubles) with the Digital Rights Management (DRM) Microsoft's Xbox 360 has. Not only has he contacted Microsoft (numerous times) about the issue, but he also submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.

The complaint Jay submitted was to ask the BBB to address the issue of content migration between his Xbox Pro and his new Xbox Elite. He was able to migrate all of his data to the newer model, all except for the Xbox Live Marketplace content which had to be downloaded again. However, he found out that he didn't have full access to the XBLA games once he is offline.

He called Microsoft to resolve the issue and was told to download them again, which didn't work. He called them once more and was told that he would have to create a new profile and download everything all over again. This brings us to the core of Jay's complaint: every gamer must have access (online or offline) to everything he has purchased if, for one reason or another, he finds himself having to migrate his data.

Jay then gives suggestions on how to resolve the matter, like a complete refund of all his lost points and better security. Microsoft has yet to answer Jay's most recent complaint (unless Jay hasn't posted the response if he's received any yet). Jay finishes his post saying that if companies further continue to restrict access to their games rather than improve anti-piracy content, we as gamers will "eventually lose every right we have to use that content."

When Microsoft confirmed a Video service for the European Xbox Live Marketplace coming later this year, the next logical question that came to mind was whether a Music service will also be offered soon.

After all, Microsoft has an on-going battle with Apple when it comes to the music industry. However, speaking to gaming cite CVG, XBL General Manager JJ Richards commented that the company currently has no plans for such a service as of yet.

If you are curious about the reasoning behind this, Richards explained,

Right now, we feel like we already have music on the console. Unlike hi-def video, no one has a problem accessing music and it's totally simple to play it through the Xbox 360, with the screensaver or over your games. What I would expect to happen is we're going to think about different factors and different ways to get that content to the console.

Richards commented further that this also has something to do with DRM and what you can do and where you can do it. While Microsoft is quite capable of coming up with such service, Richards said that in the end, it's a matter of whether they can provide a better and easier service utilizing what consumers already have.