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Shipwreck’s Guide To Half-Priced Xbox Live Arcade Games and Marketplace Content

Okay, we all want cheaper Xbox Live Arcade Games and Marketplace Content. Doom might sound a little expensive at $10, but for $5 you might be tempted to go back and re-kill all those demons you took care of 13 years ago. Maybe you’ve been itching to buy some new content for Oblivion or some snazzy Lego Star Wars GamerPics and in true Cheap Ass Gamer fashion want to find a way around paying the dreaded MSRP. Well CAGs, how does 50% off all Marketplace Content with full online play and Achievements sound?


First of all, let’s get the minimum requirements out of the way.


Minimum Requirements:

1. A friend with an Xbox Live Gamertag Profile (Silver or Gold) that owns an Xbox 360 with a hard drive
2. You must have an Xbox Live Gamertag Profile (Silver or Gold) and own an Xbox 360 with a hard drive
3. You must both have access to Xbox Live with your respective Xbox 360’s
4. You must have Marketplace Points on at least one of the accounts
5. In order to get the 50% off price, both friends agree to pay half of the full price of the content

Recommended:

1. One Xbox 360 Memory Unit (this is a memory “card” for those that are not familiar)
2. Multiple Xbox 360 controllers for each console

Quick Terminology:
To make this easier, let me introduce you to our two friends that will help us through getting our cheap Marketplace content today: CAG A and CAG B. Both of them meet all of the requirements above and CAG A has a memory unit. In the following steps, CAG A and CAG B will be buying an Xbox Live Arcade game that they both want to play, but the same steps would apply to any content on the Marketplace including Game Content, Themes, and GamerPics.

[NOTE: A memory unit was used to test this procedure, but “Account Recovery” would also be an option in transferring Xbox Live Profiles between the Xbox 360’s. Instructions on how to use "Account Recovery" instead of a memory unit can be found here: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...&postcount=98].

How to Get the Cheap Content (AKA The Part You Care About):

Part 1: Getting the Content on CAG B’s Xbox 360

• Step 1: CAG A loads his/her Xbox Live Profile onto CAG A’s Xbox 360 memory unit. (System Blade-->Memory-->Hard Drive-->Gamer Profiles-->CAG A Gamer Profile-->Move-->MU)
  
• Step 2: CAG A inserts CAG A’s memory unit into CAG B’s Xbox 360.
  
• Step 3: If CAG B’s Xbox 360 is not powered on, power on CAG B’s Xbox 360.
  
• Step 4: If CAG B’s Live Profile is signed in, sign CAG B’s Live Profile out. (Xbox Live Blade-->”X” Button-->Yes, sign out)
  
• Step 5: Sign in CAG A’s Live Profile. (Xbox Live Blade-->Sign In-->CAG A Xbox Live MU)
  
• Step 6: Go to the Xbox Live Marketplace and find the Xbox Live Arcade game CAG A and CAG B want to download using the Marketplace Points on CAG A’s Live Profile.
  
• Step 7: Download the Xbox Live Arcade game by selecting “Confirm Download”. If prompted, save the content to “Hard Drive”. Wait for the game to finish downloading.
  
• Step 8: Once the game is on the hard drive, sign CAG A’s Live Profile out. (Xbox Live Blade->”X” button-->Yes, sign out)
  
• Step 9: Sign in CAG B’s Live Profile. (Xbox Live Blade-->Sign In-->CAG B Xbox Live HDD)
  
• Step 10: Play the game that was just downloaded. CAG B now has a fully featured Xbox Live Arcade Game including Achievements and online play. In fact, any profile that signs into CAG B’s Xbox 360 will be able to play the fully featured Xbox Live Arcade Game.

Part 2: Using the Content on CAG A’s Xbox 360

• Step 1: Insert CAG A’s Memory Unit into CAG A’s Xbox 360.
  
• Step 2: If CAG A’s Xbox 360 is not powered on, power on CAG A’s Xbox 360.
  
• Step 3: Sign in CAG A’s Live Profile. (Xbox Live Blade-->Sign In-->CAG A Xbox Live MU) [Note: CAG A’s Live Profile could also be moved back to the Hard Drive and then signed in.]
  
• Step 4: Go to the Xbox Live Marketplace and find the Xbox Live Arcade game CAG A downloaded on CAG B’s Xbox 360.
  
• Step 5: Re-Download the Xbox Live Arcade game. This will not cost any Marketplace Points since CAG A has already bought this game. (Game Download Screen-->Full Game-->Download Again)
  
• Step 6: Play the game that was just downloaded. CAG A now has a fully featured Xbox Live Arcade Game including Achievements and online play. The game is also still fully functioning on CAG B’s Xbox 360. CAG A and CAG B can even play online multiplayer with each other for games that support that feature.

Part 3: Using the Content of CAG A’s Xbox 360 with Other Profiles

(This section can also be used to take your profile to another person’s house and allow them to play the full versions of Xbox Live Arcade Games under their Profile and earn Achievements on their Xbox 360.)

Minimum Requirements:

1. More than 1 Xbox 360 controller
2. More than 1 Xbox 360 profile (it does not matter if it is an actual Live profile or whether it is just a local profile, but all features associated with the level of that profile still apply). For these instructions, we will just use CAG C as the other profile.

The Actual Steps:

• Step 1: If CAG A is signed in, sign CAG A out. (This is not actually necessary, but it’s generally easier to do this so that CAG C can use controller #1.) (Xbox Live Blade-->”X” button-->Yes, sign out)
  
• Step 2: Using controller #1, sign in CAG C’s Profile. (Xbox Live Blade-->Sign In-->CAG B HDD)
  
• Step 3: Using controller #2, sign in CAG A’s Xbox Live Profile (Xbox Guide Button-->Sign In-->CAG A Xbox Live)
  
• Step 4: Using controller #1, play the Xbox Live Arcade Game. CAG C is now playing the fully functioning game including Achievements. If CAG A signs out, the game will return to Demo form.

The Means that Make all of this Possible:

Each time you download content on Xbox Live Marketplace, there is something called “Usage Restrictions” which I’m sure most people have never bothered to read. So, here it is:

Originally Posted by Usage Restrictions The item you are trying to download is subject to usage restrictions. You can use this item on the first Xbox 360 console that you used to download it. Access to this item will also be granted to all users on this first console. If you transfer the item using a memory unit or other storage device, you will also be able to use it on other Xbox 360 consoles, but you’ll need to sign in to Xbox Live with your Xbox Live account on that console before accessing the item.

Disclaimers:

1. If CAG B’s Xbox 360 breaks, the games on his console are lost. This is true even if CAG B just replaces the “Core Xbox 360 unit” and is still able to use the Hard Drive from the original Xbox 360. The content is tied to the console itself and not just the hard drive.
   This is a potential downfall in the way Marketplace Content is protected and not an issue that arises strictly from the procedures outlined above. Just ask anyone who has had to have their Xbox 360 repaired and then comes to find out that when they re-download their games that none of the other profiles can use the content anymore! (See “Using Content on CAG A’s Xbox 360 with Other Profiles” above for the workaround.)
2. The Xbox Live profile that purchased the content will not be able to play it on his/her Xbox 360 without being signed into Xbox Live. This is closely related to Disclaimer #1.
   
3. Anything else that may go wrong or change in the future. Cheap Ass Gamer does not take any responsibility for any problems that arise from following this tutorial.
4. There are slightly different ways to get the same results as described in this tutorial, but to try to make this as concise as possible, only one method was described. If you have questions, please post them here and I’ll try to answer them the best I can.

Shipwreck,

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It answered a lot of questions I have and it's pretty cool.

One point of confusion for me though: in part 1, I am assuming CAG A would need to have live marketplace points AND he isn't just "downloading" the game, but buying it on CAG B's 360, correct?

Good work though!

Originally Posted by thrustbucket Shipwreck, Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It answered a lot of questions I have and it's pretty cool. One point of confusion for me though: in part 1, I am assuming CAG A would need to have live marketplace points AND he isn't just "downloading" the game, but buying it on CAG B's 360, correct? Good work though!

Yep, that's why I was mentioning the Marketplace Points on CAG A's account on Part 1, Step 6. You've got the idea though. CAG A must buy the content on CAG B's Xbox 360.

Holly shit. Nice job. Too bad I don't personally know anyone with a X360

Originally Posted by LinkinPrime Holly shit. Nice job. Too bad I don't personally know anyone with a X360

Well, you could technically do it through account recovery with someone you trusted enough, but I'm not going to advocate that as it could possibly lead to a lot of account and identity theft due to people not realizing what they are actually doing.

Originally Posted by shipwreck Yep, that's why I was mentioning the Marketplace Points on CAG A's account on Part 1, Step 6. You've got the idea though. CAG A must buy the content on CAG B's Xbox 360.

Oh, silly me, I somehow overlooked the mention of Marketplace Points in part 1.

Carry on, nothing to see here folks.....

nomination for a sticky, as this is pretty much as cheap ass as it gets.

nice thread.

I have a feeling that some other sites are going to steal this and It will somehow get to MS and this option will end up getting killing this in the future. Hope I'm wrong, but this site is quite popular.

Originally Posted by LinkinPrime I have a feeling that some other sites are going to steal this and It will somehow get to MS and this option will end up getting killing this in the future. Hope I'm wrong, but this site is quite popular.

Same, I really hope that doesn't happen though.

Originally Posted by LinkinPrime I have a feeling that some other sites are going to steal this and It will somehow get to MS and this option will end up getting killing this in the future. Hope I'm wrong, but this site is quite popular.

I don't know, it's kind of nichy. I mean, in order to do it, one person is going to have to be the sole player on his 360, or anyone else that wants to play those games will have to log in as him first. I actually think Microsoft designed it that way on purpose and doesn't really care if people attempt to 'abuse' it.

Originally Posted by LinkinPrime I have a feeling that some other sites are going to steal this and It will somehow get to MS and this option will end up getting killing this in the future. Hope I'm wrong, but this site is quite popular.

Hopefully not, it's built into the "Usage Agreement" right now, so they'd have to change their agreement and deal with that. I don't think this information really hurts Microsoft as it could actually cause more content to get purchased.

Were my friend or I going to buy Dig Dug for $5, no. Did we decide for $2.50 that we were both interested, yes. So Microsoft gains $5 from us that we normally wouldn't have spent.

Besides, I don't think Microsoft has to worry about the majority of Xbox 360 owners even being knowledgable enough to even attempt this.

Originally Posted by shipwreck Hopefully not, it's built into the "Usage Agreement" right now, so they'd have to change their agreement and deal with that. I don't think this information really hurts Microsoft as it could actually cause more content to get purchased. Were my friend or I going to buy Dig Dug for $5, no. Did we decide for $2.50 that we were both interested, yes. So Microsoft gains $5 from us that we normally wouldn't have spent. Besides, I don't think Microsoft has to worry about the majority of Xbox 360 owners even being knowledgable enough to even attempt this.

You did your reseach.

Wow very thorough. Thanks shipwreck!

Nice job Shipwreck.

I inspired this.

Good job, laying it out for those that didn't know about sharing Arcade games.

As usual Shipwreck rocks the party! Awesome post, much appreciated as I think many of these arcade games are over priced but would gladly split the cost with a buddy.

Thanks op for the info.

Isn't this just as bad as burning a game? Granted you aren't modding anything but it just seems like stealing to me. Not only that but it would seem to be so much easier to buy points with a gamer gift card or getting the points with a good trade-in deal in your favor....like getting a $20 card for $10 or whatever. I guess via Microsoft's terminology its a loophole as of right now but it still seems pretty shady to me.

Originally Posted by jkam Isn't this just as bad as burning a game? Granted you aren't modding anything but it just seems like stealing to me. Not only that but it would seem to be so much easier to buy points with a gamer gift card or getting the points with a good trade-in deal in your favor....like getting a $20 card for $10 or whatever. I guess via Microsoft's terminology its a loophole as of right now but it still seems pretty shady to me.

I see your point. But I have a rebuttal:

1- The value of XBLA games are lower, thus the amount that could be considered "Lost" by doing this, is negligible compared to a retail game being pirated.

2- The process to do this effectively is archaic and hard to understand. Your average gamer won't be doing this any time soon.

3- You can't trade in XBLA games. Doing this could be viewed as an acceptable trade off for the fact that XBLA games can't be user sold, traded, or even lent out (all of which ARE factors for many people in buying retail games).

All this adds up to, what I think, is why Microsoft doesn't really give a shit.

However, if 90% of all 360 owners started doing this rapantly, they probably would start to give a shit.

Originally Posted by thrustbucket However, if 90% of all 360 owners started doing this rapantly, they probably would start to give a shit.

Which is why this doesn't leave CAG