XBL Marketplace - NEW RESTRICTIONS!
- Thread starter DieH@rd
- Start date
True enough. Yet the legal validity of those (E)ULA's is highly questionable, so the law isn't clear either way. Certainly it's out of order to sell content and then revoke that content, on principle regardless of legalities, and so the accountability might be anywhere. I'd say the resolution exists firmly in MS's court for the sake of good PR, although how can they furnish people with bought content without violating agreements with content providers? Basically it's one of those hideously messy situations that should have been avoided, as getting out of it is nothing but problems in any direction. Better planning was needed. Maybe they thought they could get away with just a ULA to satisfy legal requirements to the content providers that regions weren't being crossed, and now they've learnt that wasn't good enough?
yep as the Digital distribution has expanded and as they are apparently trying to get poised to offer the TV and Movie content WW, they seem to have suddenly found a reason to revise this system and close the loophole.
Just as anything though, there is (and I assume will be) a solution to the folks who legitimately need to change their country in the settings (like Dave) As for those that lied and didn't set up a separate silver account to do so
, then they are screwed but they knew they were circumventing the (honor) system that was in place.
Just as anything though, there is (and I assume will be) a solution to the folks who legitimately need to change their country in the settings (like Dave) As for those that lied and didn't set up a separate silver account to do so
, then they are screwed but they knew they were circumventing the (honor) system that was in place.They werent suppose to be buying it in the first place though. Its like someone stuck something in your face, said not to take it, but its right there and so easy, so you do. And like pretty much ALL media sold today, when you buy it you agree to an unwritten contract that you're essentially renting it and that right can be revoked at any time. This is just one of the rare occurrences where that actually happens. It sucks yes, but this is the bullshit world we live in. The rich want to get richer.
I tell ya, this wont help the war against piracy one bit. A lot of bitter people are going to go find the media they feel they own other ways and get it again.
If they dont refund or at least give accounts store credit though this is simply just a PR nightmare.
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Blazkowicz
Legend
what about using a proxy? (I remember how you had to do this to read the WMV version of Terminator 2 on a PC, using a US/Canada based proxy to allow playing).
what about suing MS and other for violating such and such free trade agreement. it would be nice to use international law to protect consumers for once.
what about suing MS and other for violating such and such free trade agreement. it would be nice to use international law to protect consumers for once.
scooby_dooby
Legend
Doesn't matter. It's the responsiblity of the online store to make sure they're marketplace is mature enough so this sort of thing can not happen.
Consumers will do whatever is possible within your marketplace, if it's not designed properly that's not their fault. You shouldn't screw them over because your system was immature when it launched.
In the end, nothing will happen, just another small blackeye for digital distribution.
Regardless of whose fault it is ultimately (Microsoft, or some other third-party rights holder) I get very cynical when I see this sort of thing crop up. Setting up and maintaining these barriers takes effort and costs money (costs which will ultimately be borne by the consumer).
Would these companies be making those efforts and spending that money if they didn't see a bottom-line benefit in the end?
Keeping the market fragmented allows them to tweak their marketing strategies (and prices) to suit each local market. The silly Brits will quite happily pay twice as much as the savvy Yanks for the same product, so why the hell not make sure that they pay the extra $$$'s?
Would these companies be making those efforts and spending that money if they didn't see a bottom-line benefit in the end?
Keeping the market fragmented allows them to tweak their marketing strategies (and prices) to suit each local market. The silly Brits will quite happily pay twice as much as the savvy Yanks for the same product, so why the hell not make sure that they pay the extra $$$'s?
Hello.
After reading all the info in this thread I got a little bit worried.
I live in Romania, and I own a 360. The console is legally bought, the Gold subscription is legally payed for with a romania credit card, and everything is fine, with the exception of the country of residence (and the adress), which are all set in the UK, because my country isn't supported by Microsoft.
So, I'm a bit unclear about the nature of the restrictions imposed by MS, even after reading this thread. Do they apply ONLY for content such as movies and/or TV shows, or maybe videoclips and such, or for the ENTIRE Xbox Live Marketplace system ? By that, I'm asking if I will be able to download game demos, and trailers for these games after the spring update.
This is the only thing that interests me, as I find extremely restrictive to buy and download movies on my measly 20Gb drive, on the Xbox, and not be able to transfer it to my PC for storage. I only want the game demos, the trailers, and the ocasional downloadable content for various games which interest me.
Which way is it ?
Thanks in advance for the replies.
After reading all the info in this thread I got a little bit worried.
I live in Romania, and I own a 360. The console is legally bought, the Gold subscription is legally payed for with a romania credit card, and everything is fine, with the exception of the country of residence (and the adress), which are all set in the UK, because my country isn't supported by Microsoft.
So, I'm a bit unclear about the nature of the restrictions imposed by MS, even after reading this thread. Do they apply ONLY for content such as movies and/or TV shows, or maybe videoclips and such, or for the ENTIRE Xbox Live Marketplace system ? By that, I'm asking if I will be able to download game demos, and trailers for these games after the spring update.
This is the only thing that interests me, as I find extremely restrictive to buy and download movies on my measly 20Gb drive, on the Xbox, and not be able to transfer it to my PC for storage. I only want the game demos, the trailers, and the ocasional downloadable content for various games which interest me.
Which way is it ?
Thanks in advance for the replies.
scooby_dooby
Legend
At the very least they should be offering a refund, in cash, to anyone who is having their content revoked.
To simply leave the loophole open for 6 months, cash everyone's cheque, and then say "Oops sorry bout that!' and take their content away is just wrong on a matter of principle. At the very least, refund the cash.
In short, MS should accept some measure of responsibility here, rather than shifting it 100% to the end user. It's their fault they left this very obvious, and very easy loophole open, to not expect people to take advantage of it is idiotic. To screw em over after the fact is just wrong.
p.s. No, I haven't been affected by this personally.
There could be all sorts of potential issues that make it difficult to distribute in Greece (or elsewhere). Local ratings boards, censorship laws, and/or taxes, just to name a few. They also need to be able to support customers there, and they may not be able to do that at present.
Perhaps, but they certainly aren't rated *by* the UK.
This is exactly it, and it is a headache for game publishers and developers to always special-case Germany. If they felt the sales wouldn't justify the expense in producing a German-only version then it makes sense simply not to publish it there. More likely in the case of Dead Rising, it was simply impossible to create a version of the game which fully complied with German censorship laws -- in this case, a no-blood patch is probably not good enough.
Well I didnt imply they are rated *by* the UK. But if Greece has no specific retsrictions and uses a common rating perhaps they can share the same store as the UK for games
MS doesn't have the responsiblity to provide worldwide access to content for users who bought their content legimately. It did so, to create a more user friendly services. But other consumers who wanted to illegimately gain access to those services, used their user friendliness to easily circumvent MS's restrictions. Now, to appease the content providers or gov't of the countries that they do business in, they have to restrict their services.
There is a small subset of users who moved abroad, who are negatively affected by these service restrictions and who have an honest gripe. But MS's DLC services was never promoted or marketed to explicitely provide such function (unless I am mistaken), so they really have no recourse.
But under the circumstance you gained access to a service in an intently illegimate manner, you shouldn't expect MS to continue to provide you with those services.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
I think you should have some compassion, as it's not a good feeling to be left out of interesting content that either is free or something that we would be willing to pay for. I know all in all this is very complex matter for the TV and Movie industry, but this is one of those things where I rather stand with the small people than with the mega corporations, seeing that we aren't really harming anyone, but I quess they feel it's better for us to use bittorrent and other means to get our hands on the new Tv content etc.
It's the exact same thing with importing consoles and games from other regions. It's peanuts in the grand scheme of things and interupting and making measures against that just shows, what sort of A-holes are running these things. At the point where companies are spending money and resources on stopping you to BUY their products, things are going straight to hell at the speed of warp 10.
If you were underage and went to an Adult only bar and buffet and got caught in the middle of your second serving and shot of tequila then would you expect buffet owner to refund your payment? It wouldn't matter if the buffet owner required a driver license or a library card written in crayon, consumer rights don't increase with the increase ease of circumvention.
Just because MS extended free downloads to legitimate buyers, doesn't mean MS should feel obligated to those who downloaded illegitimately. The content on MS is not owned by the consumer. If somehow you bought content but never downloaded it, you might have a case.
scooby_dooby
Legend
The analogy fails on many different levels.
1) A bar owner is not knowingly allowing minors into the bar, as MS knowingly sold goods to other countries. If he knowingly allowed me in, only to turn around after I've ordered and paid and kick me out? Then yes, I would definately expect a refund.
2) The money paid was for lifetime access to the IP, nit a single viewing. So, it can't be compared to a single serving item. (Referring to TV downloads here)
And really, you can defend MS all day long, and say that they have every legal right to do this, and I'll agree, they do. But that's not my point.
My point is the problems with digital media, which oprevent widespread adoption. This is just one small example of how easy it is for customers to get screwed out of their money/time. The fact that this behaviour is NOT illegal, is part of the problem, and part of the reason the whole damn thing is so unappealing to alot of people.
MS, or any othe provider, can do anything they want, and you have next to no recourse, you are but one small consumer with no direct support at all. It's not a system that will work!
If these companies want digital distribution to succeed any time soon, they have to ensure that these problems do not happen. At all costs, they need to err on the side of the consumer not getting scammed. These are not thieves or criminals we're talking about, these are people who purchased the content and paid their own hard-earned money. A system that allows these sorts of people to get ripped off, will never succeed, imo.
My view is that, in a system where the consumer is not getting a physical copy of the IP they are paying for, the companies selling the product are obligated to have higher level of responsibility with ensuring that the consumer is protected. Otherwise, it will always be a niche market, since B&M stores will offer superior customer service, reliability, and consumer satisfaction.
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