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The End to Microsoft SpaceBucks?

Posted by Bob Mackey



We can all agree that digital download marketplaces have been one of the best advancements of this console generation; sure, we sometimes get gauged on horse armor and whatever Namco-Bandai's got up their sleeve, but a lot of this gen's best games would be MIA if they couldn't be bought for a small, download friendly fee. The only problem with this--on XBLA and the Wii's Shopping Channel, anyway--has been the necessity of "points," the fake console currency purchased using real money. In theory, this is a nice way for console manufacturers to enforce one consistent form of exchange throughout many territories, but the fact that both Nintendo and Microsoft make you purchase points in prescribed amounts means that nearly every purchase nets you a tiny remainder of useless change.

Nintendo may be unapologetic in their use of funny money--the launch of the DSi introduced a new form of currency separate from the points you purchase with your Wii--but Microsoft seems to be taking baby steps with the new XBox Live Arcade store on Amazon.com.

Credit goes to Cheap Ass Gamer for the news, which I haven't seen reported much elsewhere (unless I'm not paying attention). It's certainly not world-changing, but it'll be nice not to have to drop a few extra bones whenever I want to buy anything from XBLA. I'd be really interested in seeing DLC (as opposed to stand-alone games) show up on Amazon, but until that happens, this is at least a step in the right direction.

Related Links:


The Problem With XBLA Pricing
For Indie Games, These are the Salad Days
The Best News In Sixteen Thousand Years: Cave Story Coming to WiiWare


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Russ said:

Sales for arcade games are pretty nice to; the little games that are being eaten alive may have some hope once Amazon runs a sale.

April 13, 2009 1:50 PM

Roto13 said:

"Nintendo may be unapologetic in their use of funny money--the launch of the DSi introduced a new form of currency separate from the points you purchase with your Wii"

Not really. They just changed the name of Wii Points to "Nintendo Points" and made them work on the DSi as well as the Wii. They're still referred to as Wii and DSi points on the Wii and DSi respectively, for some reason, but they're the same thing.

The PlayStation Network only allows you to add money to your account in $5 increments, and since sales tax is calculated from the PSN store itself instead of when you add the funds to your "wallet", it's pretty much impossible not to have something leftover.

April 13, 2009 2:48 PM

Bob Mackey said:

Roto - Thanks for the catch. Apparently, these universal Nintendo points must be converted into either Wii or DSi points before you can use them, which adds another annoying step to the process. I heard nothing but complaints about the Wii/DSi point thing, so it's odd that news of this "solution" didn't reach me.

And as far as I know, the US PlayStation Store gives you the option of adding the exact amount you need to your "wallet" if you want to buy a game but don't have enough funds.

April 13, 2009 3:07 PM

Roto13 said:

Nintendo points are automatically "converted" (renamed) into DSi points or Wii points as soon as you put them on a DSi or Wii, so it's not really an extra step or anything. :P The problem is that they're tied to each device instead of to an account, so they're stuck on the machine you load them onto. If you have 1000 points on your DSi and you want to buy Super Mario 64 on your Wii, those 1000 points aren't going to help you. Nintendo needs to come up with an account system like Microsoft and Sony use. Sadly, I don't think they're going to do it any time this generation.

I've only ever added funds to my PSN wallet once and it let me select from a list of increments of $5, but I guess it's possible that there are other ways of doing things. I never really checked. I had a $50 prepaid credit card so I just dumped the whole thing in my PSN wallet. :P

April 13, 2009 5:08 PM

Bob Mackey said:

I guess the fact that we need so much discussion to pin down how these things actually work indicates that there might be a problem with the convoluted nature of these marketplaces (and the sentence I just wrote).

April 13, 2009 6:14 PM

Derrick Sanskrit said:

I've only ever paid exact values on PSN, never had any leftover change in the virtual wallet.

April 13, 2009 6:20 PM

LBD "Nytetrayn" said:

Billy Bucks would be less irritating if they at least had a better correlation to real-world values.

That, and if a card purchased in the US would work in Canada. :P

April 14, 2009 12:51 AM

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About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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