How Canadians Can Use Cheaper US Xbox Live Points

During my visit to FRYS Electronics, while shopping down south last week, I discovered how much cheaper Xbox Live subscription and points cards were. For example, the Xbox Live 12+1 month subscription was $49.99 US vs $59.99 CAD. The 1600 point card I bought doesn’t exist in Canada, but to put it into perspective, the 1600 point card only cost me $19.99 US while the Canadian 1000 point card cost $14.99 while the 2000 point card costs $29.99 here. So in other words, we really get shafted North of the border. If you go down further to Oregon, you pay no tax at all for these cards, further lowering the price.

Eager to take advantage of my score, I promptly ripped open the finger ripping blister packaging and attempted to load them up. Unfortunately, I ran into some snags. Although the Xbox Live 12+1 month Subscription card activated and credited itself properly to my account, the results with the 1600 point card weren’t so easy peasy. When I went to activate the card on my Xbox 360, it would keep giving me an error, saying that the code could not be redeemed and to try again. Now I know the cards are case sensitive so I checked and double checked and it still wouldn’t activate. I even tried logging on to Xbox Live from a regular PC and doing it online. Without much success, I placed a call to the Xbox Help Line to figure things out.

I Expected To Be Connected to India

I’ve never called the Xbox Live Hotline before so I totally expected to be connected to someone in a certain Asian Country that is not Hong Kong or Taipei. Well, my fears were alleviated when I got connected to someone that seemed to speak perfect English, although with a bit of a…can’t put my finger on it…accent. Nonetheless, our two way communication was one hundred percent flawless and we proceeded to talk about the situation with my points card. Unfortunately, I got disconnected and had to call back.

On the second call, I got through to a really nice lady that told me that although the Xbox Live Subscription cards worked fine for Canadian Xbox Live accounts (like I had discovered), the points cards are not coded to work on Canadian accounts as they are regionalized. I guess this is how they try to discourage folks from picking up cheaper cards across the border. However, it’s kind of weird that the subscription cards work, being that it’s all Xbox Live to begin with. I had never heard of this regionalization before (I mean, points are points right?), since I really don’t buy the points cards often. I totally thought I was going to be out of luck till I got a hot tip that would make this all work out.

After making friends with the rep on the other end, she told me about a way to use my US points cards, even though I’m in Canada. There were actually two ways to get my points to work, but this method would prove to be much easier to administer since the alternative was to fax a copy of the receipt (who keeps receipts coming across the border anyway?) along with both sides of the card to them so they could do a manual activation. She told me the fax method was a pain in the ass and that the secondary method was easier for both them and me. It would also take less time as a manual activation (if you’ve got the receipt) takes about 5 – 10 business days.

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The Microsoft Zune Party Train Takes a Spill in Vancouver

Yesterday, the Dot Com Pho Crew went out to toast the launch of the Microsoft Zune in Canada. The head of the launch took place in Vancouver and will travel across the country to five other locations including Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Halifax. Unfortunately, the Zune train derailed in Vancouver…

Microsoft tried to be “Edgy” and “Extreme” with their Zune launch by renting out a local indoor skatepark known as “The Sweatshop“. At first, I thought it’d be cool to have a live band and some skateboarding demos and that was what I was expecting. Turns out the place had a flood and the whole skatepark is now in ruins. Desperate for cash, Microsoft saved them by renting out the whole place. However, there seemed to be something peculiar about the whole arrangement as the venue didn’t seem too thankful throughout the night.

The invitations said to be there at 9PM, but while it sounded like people were already having a good time inside, we were left outside wondering if we’d ended up at the wrong place. This made Michael Kwan (above) very upset. He may look thin and FOB like, but he’ll whip you like a branch! We got in around 9:30PM only to find that no one was inside. WTF?

The first sign of trouble was when we went to grab our free drinks. The girls behind the counter started demanding tips from all the guests. Wait a sec? Why would you demand tips when you are getting paid? Turns out no one paid them and they kept harassing the guests for tips before they would hand over the booze. Classy. So where did Microsoft’s money go? Obviously not to Yahoo.

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The ZUNE Goes From Coming to Arriving in Canada

Microsoft has finally taken the wraps off the launch details for the Microsoft ZUNE Music Players. MegaTechNews reports that the Zune will be hitting most major Canadian retail outlets on June 13th, 2008. Futurelooks did a review of the ZUNE 80 GB player and had some positive things to say, but it’s still no iPod Killer. Microsoft agrees and says that they are really running a marathon here and taking their time.

As part of their Canadian launch efforts, Microsoft is touring the country with a 6 Band, 6 City and 6 Party tour. Starting with Vancouver this evening. Local media and VIP’s (yes, they invited me) will be able to witness some of the cool things the ZUNE can do, coming this June to the Great White North. Though ZUNE has been available to the US market for quite some time now, an official launch should help boost sales and help Microsoft gain badly needed market share in the media player market.

If you’re coming to the event, hope to see you there.  Rumour has it, there will be free drinks, and hopefully, FREE Zunes for everyone! I’ll be in full attendance with the Dot Com Pho Crew which means that John Chow, Ed Lau, Michael Kwan and Leo Chiang will be there. It’s like a Dot Com Whistler Tour…minus the spooning…hopefully…

I’m sure that we’ll have pictures and more after the show so stay tuned