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| The New Xbox LIVE MyRewards Program has arrived 8 years later... |
This new addition to the Xbox LIVE
Online Community caught me totally by surprise - in fact if I were a
grunt in one of my favorite war games out on patrol I would have been
shot in the butt by a sniper from five miles away in a windstorm,
because the overall stun-effect was so great that I just sort of sat
there like a rock as I tried to absorb this.
What am I talking about? Well to fully
explain my reaction and the events I am about to relate to you we
have to jump into the Wayback Machine and zip back to late 2005, and
an event that Microsoft decided to call the “Xbox 360 Zero-Hour
Launch Event.”
You have to understand that the launch
of the Xbox 360, which was a seventh generation gaming console and
only the second games console to be created by Microsoft was a major
deal. Major.
Not only was Microsoft about to launch
their new console, they were doing it at an invitation-only party in
the middle of the Mojave Desert, and far from being a press-only
event, the tiny company from Redmond, Washington was inviting gamers
as well as the media to the event, which was really Microsoft's
version of a Rave, minus the Rave Drugs and sleazy guys named Guido
and Jerry who can get you in for a price...
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| Access Control - if you were caught without one they buried you in the desert... |
For gamers, access to the event was by
prize only - that is to say that Microsoft made the vast majority of
the non-VIP, non-Media, regular tickets available via a number of
contests that were hosted by a very broad selection of games-related
and video-game-focused websites (some of which no longer exist) that
included the following:
1UP.com (http://www.1up.com/)
G4 (http://www.g4tv.com/)
Game Informer
(http://www.gameinformer.com/)
GamePro* (RiP: November 30, 2011 --
site no longer exists even for an obit page)
GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/)
GameSpy* (RiP: Feb 21, 2013 -- Obit
page still up at http://www.gamespy.com/)
IGN.com (http://www.ign.com/)
MSN Games** (now at
http://zone.msn.com)
TeamXbox.com* (RiP: August 17, 2012 --
survives as a fan-driven set of chat forums)
UGO* (RiP: Feb 21, 2013 -- obit page
still up at http://www.ugo.com/)
Xbox.com (The official website for
Microsoft's Xbox Gaming Division)
* This website and its company no
longer exists.
** As a result of the ever-changing
landscape that is the games industry and the news media beats that
cover it, this website has changed considerably since that time in
2005 when the gaming world collectively held its breath and prayed to
win a ticket to the Zero-Hour Par-TAY!
Have Site, Contest Varies
While the official announcement said “a
total of 3,000 lucky gamers will join VIPs from the U.S. 'Hex 168'
and European 'Origen' campaigns to be the first gamers in the world
to fully experience all that Xbox 360 has to offer,” among other
things, depending upon the website you chose as your every hopeful
access source, that either meant filling in an online entry form for
a random drawing (curse you luck!) or the reward of tickets based
upon your activity in the sites forums...
If your significant other was a gamer
and you won a ticket to the event there were to chances that they
could go as well, the first chance came from the announcement that
the first 360 eligible entries whose name and contact information was
registered would automatically receive an invitation for two to
attend the awesomely special Microsoft "Xbox 360: Zero Hour"
Rave event that was to be held at some super-secret location in
Southern California, and the second chance came in the form of a
random drawing for the winners of the 3000 tickets that were to be
given away on the above websites, with precisely 1140 very lucky
winners to be selected from among all eligible entries that Microsoft
received to ALSO win an invitation for two to attend the event, and
you were so getting laid if you won.
If you do the math, in addition to the
estimated 350 Media Passes that were distributed to the Fourth
Estate, and the estimated 500 or so VIP passes that were distributed
by Microsoft to the peeps they wanted to show the love for, that
worked out to a potential party containing:
0350 Reporters and Journalists...
0500 Microsoft Love Children...
0360 Lucky Spouses / Boyfriends /
Girlfriends / Significant Others / BFF's from Drawing I...
1140 Lucky Spouses / Boyfriends /
Girlfriends / Significant Others / BFF's from Drawing II...
3000 Winners of the Primary Ticket
Giveaway via the above websites...
???? Passes given to Major Nelson and
his friends from Xbox da Team...
So if you add all of that up with
tricky guestimation, the number of attendees for this Dance in the
Desert was something north of 5,350 warm dancing thirsty human bodies
whose only desire was to fondle, prod, poke, and otherwise get busy
with a cadre of Xbox 360's to be featured at said Zero-Hour Event!
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| How you knew for sure that you were very close to arriving... |
The Event Was...
Pretty freaking awesome.
Bear in mind that in addition to the
huge number of gaming stations where attendees could experience the
Xbox 360 for the first time in groups of four, the live entertainment
that did not include the crowd as entertainers but should have, and
the around-the-clock gaming, it was a sort of Woodstock for Gamers...
Not only that but Microsoft arranged
for Big Box retailer Best Buy to set up a temporary store so that
attendees would not miss-out on the chance to buy the new console
with accessories because they were attending the event -- remember
that the rest of the world was patiently waiting in line at, well,
pretty much everywhere, for the clock to strike Midnight and the new
console to go on sale!
So yeah, it was pretty cool.
There were vendors and merch booths,
and even a plethora of food kiosks where attendees could purchase
fuel for their tummies (the Fourth Estate did not have to pay for its
food, just saying), and there were a bunch of give-aways at the top
of each hour featuring, among other things, special controllers and
the much-desired Zero Hour Event Commemorative Xbox 360 console
faceplates to help remind attendees that they were actually present
at the event in case the Woodstock syndrome kicked in and they
forgot...
The point behind all of this is that
the launch of the Xbox 360 was a big deal, but that is not the story
that I told you all of the above to lead into, that is a completely
different story entirely! And here it is!
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| T-Shirt? We don't no noting about no T-Shirt! |
The Big Story
So at the Zero-Hour Event among the
noise and the clutter and the gamer girls who kept inssited that this
was Zero Hour and not Mardi Gras, and hence there would be no shirt
lifting even IF we happened to have a box of Mardi Gras beats to give
away - some people are just killjoys it seems (see obligatory Mardi
Gras shirt-free illustration below) - there was a relatively quiet
area set aside for the press that was ostensibly referred to as the
Media Lounge and it was there that the conversation that is at the
heart of this story took place.
The Zero-Hour event was held on the
grounds of what we were told was originally a Cold War testing
facility built (or maybe it was rebuilt) for Lockheed at which they
tested all sorts of secret spy stuff secret airplanes that were
invisible secrets and secret stuff like that...
The madness that was the event was only
a few hundred feet away but it may as well have been in another
universe because we were burned out and sharing the large hamper of
sandwiches and Gatorade that one of the games journo's wives had
packed under the assumption that there would be a lot of his people
there (fellow games journos) who may need sustenance in addition to,
well, you get the idea.
As far as industry events go it was a
good one - there was plenty of excitement and verve, but the crowds
were manageable, and though it felt like it had the same level of
energy as E3, unlike E3 there did not seem to be any shortage of
games or consoles to play them on and as a result when we were not
talking about the new console, we were playing on it.
So during a much needed break we sat
around eating and chatting on some beanbag chairs provided by
Microsoft, and somehow the subject came up about this new GamerScore
System that Microsoft introduced for Xbox LIVE.
Now you almost certainly know what
GamerScore and Achievements are but back then we did not. If you
somehow are not aware of what that is, in a nutshell GamerScore (G)
is an Achievements system on Xbox LIVE for pretty much all Xbox games
for the Xbox 360 except for Indie titles that measures the number of
Achievement points accumulated by a gamer in the games that they play
on their Xbox 360 while logged into their GamerTag.
The Achievements are awarded for
completing game-specific challenges, accomplishments, and sometimes
levels, collecting X number of an in-game object, visiting X number
of in-game locations, you get the idea. Each Achievement has a set
number of GamerScore attached to it - typically the most common range
is 10G, 25G, 50G and 100G though I assure you there are few enough of
the 100G sort that we often wish for more.
Anyway the important thing for you to
take away from this is that the GamerScore system was all new to us
at the time, since the original Xbox did not have anything remotely
resembling it, so you can probably imagine that in addition to
semi-accurate information floating around at the event, there was
also a lot of inaccurate information and just plain fantasy as well.
While noshing on sandwiches that not
only traveled well from their home in San Diego that were rather
unique in their own right - one of the types I split with another
journo was made from Avocado and Black Olives and there were packets
of salt and salad dressing taped to the baggie with the sandwich with
instructions on how to apply it and how much to apply, and there was
another type that I had half of that I can only describe as a Pizza
sandwich but without all the mess...
So while we are eating these most
excellent sandies and drinking ice cold yellow Gatorade from a well
stocked cooler that weighed a ton and took two journos to hall out
from the parking lot, someone who shall remain nameless in our
sandwich and Gatorade circle suggested that they had heard that
Microsoft was giving away prizes like free games and accessories to
gamers who reached specific GamerScore target levels.
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| These things were like Gold man. Like Gold! |
Well this would have been a great deal
if it were true - but it wasn't - and most of us did not believe him
anyway, but still, would have been freaking great!
Slowly Coming Out of Shock
Tonight as I took a break from a Game
Walkthrough and Guide I am working on I was thumbing through the
menus on my Xbox when something that I saw on the GAMES menu caught
my eye - it was the image of a man wearing a crown with the notation
“Assassin’s Creed 3 Add-Ons” below it.
Before I could click on that link,
which I assure you I was going to, I noticed this odd very crimson
red Xbox controller that looked, well, odd. At first glance I
thought it maybe was the new Xbox's controller, and Microsoft was
offering a partial reveal for the console that they will be unveiling
at this year's E3 in June, but the note below it was a rather cryptic
“You Achieved Now Receive” so that probably was not it...
But I clicked on it anyway.
And revealed a colorful divided
presentation screen whose title declared “Xbox LIVE Rewards -
Unlock MyAchievements” and my brain froze. It was really clear
that what I was looking at was exactly what I thought I was looking
at.
On the left side of the screen was a
block that declared:
“Get your free Rewards Membership
now. Then check your email for a welcome message within the next 3
days.
“Please visit
https://rewards.xbox.com for additional details.
“Register Now”
Waaahhhhhhhaaaatttttt?!
There were three columns filling the
middle-to-right side that showed the graduated unlocks that were part
of the program:
Unlock at G3000 - 9999 CONTENDER: At
this level unlock a special gift during your birthday month.
Unlock at G10000 - 24999 CHAMPION: At
this level receive a special gift during your birthday month and a 1%
rebate on your Xbox LIVE Marketplace purchases every month.
Unlock at G25000 - LEGEND: At this
level receive a special gift during your birthday month and a 2%
rebate on your Xbox LIVE Marketplace purchases every month.
Okay well, yeah, that is pretty cool I
said to myself. And it is recognition of (G) which is also very
cool, but what is this special gifts they speak of? I wondered.
So I visited the URL
And discovered that there was a lot
more to this whole Xbox LIVE Rewards MyAchievement thing than the
announcement presentation page thingy suggests!
First there is a link to a video on the
left that explains it in more detail, then on the right there is a
link that details this month's special feature offer - which includes
special virtual “punchcards” you complete by playing games and
unlocking Achievements, for which you get some excellent rewards like
Microsoft Points you can use to buy games from the Marketplace!
This was almost exactly what had been
speculated about in 2005, except that it is 2013, so OK, it took them
8 years to get there but still, how freaking cool is that?!
VIP Exclusives
It seems that completing the Virtual
Punchcards each month unlocks something called VIP Exclusives, which
if I am reading this correctly, range from exclusive items for your
Avatar, extra months added to your Gold Subscription, and free
Microsoft Points...
The details for the April 2013
Punchcards are:
Punchcard 1: Eat. Sleep. Game
Game on! Play any combination of Xbox
LIVE Arcade games for a total of five hours to get a punch. Complete
all four punches to receive the Reward!
Reward = Exclusive Avatar Item.
Punchcard 2: Collect Games, Get Gold
Now's the time to add to your Arcade
game collection! Purchase any Arcade game* from the Xbox LIVE
Marketplace to earn a punch. Get all four punches to nab the Reward!
Reward = 1-Month Xbox LIVE Gold
Membership.
*Xbox LIVE Arcade game purchases must
be 400 Microsoft Points or more.
Punchcard 3: Spend More, Get More
Our biggest Arcade fans get the biggest
Reward! For every 800 Microsoft Points you spend on Arcade games,
you'll get a punch. Earn all four punches to get the Reward!
Reward = 800 Microsoft Points.
Okay that's still pretty cool...
It's not exactly free-free but you know
that at a minimum most gamers will be trying to get that Avatar Item
just for the bragging rights.
The new or perhaps expanded (not sure
about that) stats page is interesting, but seeing what the VIP
exclusives will be each month is probably going to be the most
frequent use for the MyAchievements pages...
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| You needed food? They got that. Games? They got that! Clothes? They got hoodies... |
So There I Was
After selecting the Program
Registration Gamer Pic a brief notice popped up informing me that
there can be up to a 96-hour delay between the submission of my
registration request and my actual registration for the program...
Then the screen changed, and now shows
a big white pop-up notice that popped up following the download of
the Gamer Picture that automagically registers the gamer who
downloads it via LIVE that reads:
Your active and pending downloads
appear here.
Recently completed downloads will
appear in My Games and in the System Music Player and System Video
Player apps.
To download new content, check the Xbox
stores and media apps available in the Xbox Dashboard.
The reason that the page is still on
the screen after five minutes is due to the shock I am still feeling
and a feeling of horror that is deep and paralyzing that is prompted
by the irrational fear that I will wake up and learn that it was only
a fever-induced dream or hallucination caused by the antihistamines I
am taking due to the nasty chest cold I am presently experiencing.
That cannot happen, right? Right?!
So it looks like I have to wait three
days or so before I can get a better picture of how this will work,
since the details pages and tracking pages are not accessible until
then... Sigh.
