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So, I'm super annoyed with how the downloadable content point system works for Nintendo and Xbox. I haven't really looked much at Sony but here are my complaints that I just feel like ranting about....

So, tonight I try the free trial of Might and Magic: Cash of Heroes. Awesome game, crazy addicting, so I think ok! I'll buy it! So I go and look and it's 1200 credits. Well that's not too bad right? reasonably 100 credits should equal 1.00. Nope. Not only cannot I not choose to spend only 1200 credits, I have to buy 1600 if I want the game. So, in essence, I will have 400 credits left over to spend on what? Probably nothing which means I'll have to buy more credits just to make it worth it. On top of which 1.00 to 100 points exchange rate? Nope! It costs $20 for 1600 credits. Gahhh....

I have a similar beef with Nintendo. I have to buy points in packs of 2000. With oddly priced items at 800 and 600 and 500 eventually I end up with an uneven amount of points you can't even purchase anything with. I've had 400 points in my account for 2 years and can I just buy 100 points so I can make a purchase? Nope. I have to buy 1000 or 2000.

It's just rather infuriating.....

Thank you and good night!

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Chewbekah ^_^

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, Attack of the Firday Monsters, Animal Crossing: A New Leaf, Lego City Undercover, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix

Recently Finished: Fire Emblem: Awakening

Favorite Game: Suikoden III

Sony does the same but in actual credit. I Think there's a minimum of funds you have to add to your online wallet; I've found myself with left over pennies on there.

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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

I don't understand the universal credit system either. It would be easy to allow top-ups of 100 points and if they're reluctant to do it because too many transactions slow down the system (or other reasons) they could just limit it to five 100 top-ups per month or something like that. I understand your problem exactly, I would buy more games on Xbox Live if I didn't feel like I had to invest now in games I wasn't going to play until next year. Everything that's on Xbox Live apart from Limbo I've just downloaded from Steam or other sources. As little as I usually like playing games on my laptop rather than the console it's a lot easier to smash-and-grab rather than invest a big chunk for the future. And I've heard this from a lot of people so it's probably a common problem.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

While I do understand the annoyance with the currency conversion not being one to one, whether that's one cent, one dollar, one pence, one pound, I honestly don't have a problem with having "leftover" points. Note that this reasoning is based solely on my Microsoft Points, as I don't use any other sort of virtual currency.

The reasons I don't mind, for what they're worth, are these:

1. I tend to buy my points 4000 at a time, so I tend to never have fewer than 500 or so in my account.
2. I use them fairly infrequently - those 4000 points will probably last me a year or more.
3. Microsoft has a pretty wide variety of things available either for my avatar or the games I play, so sometimes I'll spend just eighty points for a shirt or something, or 160 for a Rock Band song, or even 800 for a game - there's always something that I'd be willing to use points on if I really want.
4. I wouldn't expect them to offer small numbers of points, and it doesn't bother me that they don't (because I know that they're paying a flat fee plus a percentage for every credit card transaction, which means they lose a bigger percentage of their income for small transactions).
5. I know I'll be using these points for some time to come. There's no reason to think that the system for which I use them will go away any time soon, and even if it does, I'm sure its successor will use them too.

For me, it works out okay in the long run. I can totally understand that it doesn't for everyone, but I thought I could offer a counterpoint to illustrate why it probably won't change.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I pretty much agree with R51, though I'm on the Sony side of the fence.

IIRC, the minimum fund transaction is £5.00 whenever you want to top up your 'wallet' as they call it.

However, if you have your card registered, any purchase you want to make over that £5.00 threshold can be made exactly, with no need for leftovers.

To give an example, say I have £2.50 already in my 'wallet'

I want to purchase something which costs £7.99 (a standard price on the Playstation Store).

The transaction would prompt me to enable the extra funds by using my registered card. It is possible to purchase a token sum, or if the required amount is >£5.00 it is possible to simply enable it to purchase the required amount.

So in my example I need an extra £5.49. The Store would take this exact sum from my card in the transaction, leaving me with no leftover.

This is pretty handy really. Except for when Sony go and lose all your card details

If I'm buying things that cost less than a fiver, then sure, I end up with leftovers. But in those circumstances, as I said earlier, I agree with R51's reasoning.

This post has been edited by Stiltzkin on 23rd May 2011 17:19

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