XBox Rewards... Un-Rewarding

FlyACL · 12-02-2007, 08:39 PM

So if you have not noticed the sign up for the XBox Rewards Old Spice Challenge has been open for a few hours now. But, I will save you the trouble of trying to sign up. The site will not load. There are over 100 posts from people complaining about it on Major Nelsons blog.

All and all I am pretty disappointed with the whole thing. It is not like we are talking about some small independent site, this is Xbox. This is Micro$oft. If anyone could have had the resources in place it should have been them.

So looks like this is the only achievement I will be getting. Good luck~

.

xxrpggamemanxx · 13-02-2007, 06:38 AM

but you know eventually they will fix it! but the good stuff will be gone fast! especially because I guarentee you multiple will go out and just rent like 2 sports games and get 1500 points easily! So uh people.... what sports games are the easiest to get points in....?

Sharky · 13-02-2007, 08:22 AM

Try this link:

https://reg.msgamestudios.com/defaul...s&locale=en-US

xxrpggamemanxx · 13-02-2007, 08:39 AM

wow! nice find! it works too! thanks!

Rodderz · 13-02-2007, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharky

Try this link:

https://reg.msgamestudios.com/defaul...s&locale=en-US

Thanks a lot! Its been driving me crazy not being able to sign up. I was thinking it was just my computer, guess not.

hoodz101 · 13-02-2007, 10:57 AM

not that i can complain about free stuff, i really don't think the prizes that M$ is offering are all that exciting, plus, i don't have that much time to play games just to earn small little prizes, think about how much time people have to put into to earn these achievements

dont get wrong, it is cool, but i think this just a great job done by M$ marketing department

xxrpggamemanxx · 13-02-2007, 11:02 AM

You know what! it's free stuff! You don't like free stuff? then don't sign up!

Don_Rico · 13-02-2007, 11:11 AM

US only... What a surprise...

hoodz101 · 13-02-2007, 11:14 AM

thats why i am not going to sign up, the time commitment is too lengthy, if actually read what i said, i wasn't bashing the stuff being free except that time is money and getting those free things take a lot of time

so in other words, more time invested, more games sold, great job done by the microsoft marketing department

PS. i play games for fun when i have time, not for the achievements, although they are rewarding to get

xxrpggamemanxx · 13-02-2007, 11:34 AM

you have 2 months to get 1500 points! that's not hard at all! hell I'm playing Gears of War online now to get a few of the achievements I don't have! I only need 1430 points left and it's been an hour! and I'm having fun!

Don_Rico · 13-02-2007, 11:42 AM

*****

Glock 19 · 13-02-2007, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxrpggamemanxx

you have 2 months to get 1500 points! that's not hard at all! hell I'm playing Gears of War online now to get a few of the achievements I don't have! I only need 1430 points left and it's been an hour! and I'm having fun!

Alot of us are older we have work and or school. Plus wait till you have a mortgage and car payment to make plus utilities. So what if it is free stuff alot, of people on here have other priorities not just getting achivement points.

FlyACL · 13-02-2007, 12:11 PM

Just to be clear so no one get messed up. There are two separate sign up type deals. One signs you up for XBox Rewards in general, the next step is to sign up or join the current challenge (Old Spice). Just don't want to see anyone spend a bunch of time getting points only to find out they were not signed up all the way.

Not sure, but between the connection problems and the crazy two step - not so clear process - I almost think they are trying to drive people crazy.

Good luck to all that choose to participate.

xxrpggamemanxx · 13-02-2007, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyACL

Just to be clear so no one get messed up. There are two separate sign up type deals. One signs you up for XBox Rewards in general, the next step is to sign up or join the current challenge (Old Spice). Just don't want to see anyone spend a bunch of time getting points only to find out they were not signed up all the way.

Not sure, but between the connection problems and the crazy two step - not so clear process - I almost think they are trying to drive people crazy.

Good luck to all that choose to participate.

Thanks! and the first thing I did was made sure i was signed up!

FlyACL · 13-02-2007, 01:40 PM

Just an FYI update, as of right now the large promotional ad for this has been removed from the front page at xbox.com and the Xbox.com/rewards page has been striped except for a message that reads ~

Quote:

"Error Sorry we are very busy at the moment, please try again later."

Major Nelson also added some info to his blog that reads ~

Quote:

"Edit: As you may have noticed, the site is experiencing some issues right now. The marketing team is working on fixing them. In the mean time, if you are able to register…you then have to join the challenge. So really it’s a two step process…assuming you can actually get into the site. Once I get an update, I’ll report back."

All and all this whole thing looks like a bust. Reason I wanted to post this is I am starting to get the feeling that may just scrap it and start over at another date. So for anyone with some "grand plan" to get your 1500 points might want to save it until we know what is really going to happen.

Take care~

FlyACL · 13-02-2007, 07:49 PM

Another update from Major Nelsons Blog

Quote:

This statement just in from the Marketing team:

Thank you for the incredible response to Xbox Rewards. The gaming community's interest has temporarily overloaded our servers and caused delays for those trying to register.

To help ensure everyone who wants to participate has the opportunity, the Old Spice Experience Challenge will be extended by three days. Now you have until April 15th 2007 to increase your Gamerscore by 1,500.

As a bonus, we are adding more rewards for this challenge, which means more gamers who successfully complete the challenge will get rewarded.

Our development team is hard at work to fix the problem. We expect the web site will be ready in 48 hours, please be patient and check back periodically.

Sharky · 14-02-2007, 09:33 AM

Thanks for the updates FlyACL.
It'll be nice once they get this Rewards site fine-tuned... especially for future challenges!

FlyACL · 14-02-2007, 10:21 AM

Yeah, I hope they learned something from this. Apparently there are more then a few people interested in gaining points for silly little prizes. (Myself included to be honest)

About the only thing I don't like about it (besides this sign up mess) is it almost seems to encourage people to "cheat". Not that is does not happen already. But I can totally see people who would normally not rack up points just for the sake of points, doing it now. Take myself as an example. I like achievements and achievement points and I feel good about the points I have. (as little as they are) I earned them "the right way" by playing games. But, if I even want to have a chance with this thing I either need to quit my job and play all day long or "cheat". At a minimum it is going to force me and people like me to game differently then normal. I would not normally fire up Madden and play for hours on end, but this contest makes me feel like I need to.

Anyway, I guess in the end it makes your gamerscore mean just a little less now because if I see someone with a big score I will automatically assume they racked up a bunch of points for contests and stuff. But is that really a big deal anyway? Who knows...

See ya~

Sharky · 14-02-2007, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyACL

About the only thing I don't like about it (besides this sign up mess) is it almost seems to encourage people to "cheat". Not that is does not happen already. But I can totally see people who would normally not rack up points just for the sake of points, doing it now. Take myself as an example. I like achievements and achievement points and I feel good about the points I have. (as little as they are) I earned them "the right way" by playing games. But, if I even want to have a chance with this thing I either need to quit my job and play all day long or "cheat". At a minimum it is going to force me and people like me to game differently then normal. I would not normally fire up Madden and play for hours on end, but this contest makes me feel like I need to.

I know what you mean. I feel good about the achievement points I've earned... mainly because I play the games for the games (not the points)!

Of course, some games (like CoD3) encourage you to replay missions to earn achievements that likely wouldn't be earned on a "normal" play (i.e. using only melee attacks or bolt-action rifles for an entire mission). These types of achievements just add more fun to the game.

That being said - while I truly love to play the 360 when I have time... this contest will require me to be more dedicated if I want to get any rewards. Luckily I just received NBA Live 07 & Tiger Woods 07 from GameFly - so hopefully I can rack up a few more points that way. Otherwise it'll be tough to get much more out of the games I already own. At the very least I'll play some of my older games that have been collecting dust for awhile.