Microsoft Launches Xbox Live Rewards Program

of course they decide to roll this out the month AFTER I renewed my 12month subscription.

Cool prizes?!? NO WAY!!!

200 points what is that like half a game?

its about time but don't think that they are being generous now because they are giving you rewards, they will soon raise the priceses as they announced earlier. PC FTW!!!!!!

And they couldn't have simply done this with our Gamerscore? It took them this long to figure out this would be a good idea? No wonder Microsoft is loosing to Apple and Google!

Wow... They have to bribe them now? Raping them for 'internet access' to things the rest of us get for free wasn't enough... Now they're bribing them to use it... And they wounder why I canceled my Xbox account over two years ago and never looked back. (They even sent me a 12+1 month card trying to entice me... it's sitting somewhere in my cabinet with my dust-covered console...) The only thing I even used it for was Netflix, and my Wii/Multiple HTPCs/etc. can all do them without a $60+ yearly fee... But that's just my opinion...

Apple+Google+Everyone else=25% total market share at most (and that's being generous)...Microsoft = The Rest....yeah they are really losing. I'm no MS funboy but that's just a rediculous statement.

I doubt you'll be streaming Netfix much longer after Comcast gets done with Level 3.

last week I had 50 bucks to spend, I figured id renew xbox live, then I looked at steam, and they only had borderlands $10, L4D2 7.50, CS:S $5, batman $10, and indie packs for $5 each... you can guess where all of it went...

I'd +1 you again if I could bustapr

Are the cool prizes more points?

I hope that cool prize is a PS3.

did it for you rhino13,

but now i need one...damn

Hope they're going to award points for those of us that have already had XBL accounts for years. Oh wait, of course they won't. Oh well. Doesn't really impact me one way or another - not like point systems like that make it easy to actually *get* anything.

Lol yea I keep buying steam games, so it's cheap. I only use netflix for my kids for xbox360...

I didn't realize that Apple and Google had gaming consoles… what are they called?

This isn’t about OS market penetration so both of you are off (granted Aaron was even farther from the truth).

Has Tom's, along with so many other "news" sites, just decided to stop posting their source links in stories? Instead of forcing the reader to find it, a link to the source of this story needs to be posted. Now.

Looks that way. Too bad it doesn't go by achievements that occurred before they introduced rewards.

And too bad it's only in the US and UK. No love for Canada as always.

Nice to see though they're finally offering rewards for using their services. It's like air miles but for playing games and using other xbox live services.

Oh and by the waySony/PSN is currently in the beta testing for their version dubbed playstation rewards. Being part of the sony playstation gamer advisory panel I was eligible to participate but unfortunately I missed the registration cut-off date. But that will probably be US/UK first before Canada as well. Which seems to be the trend with almost any free or rewards system concerning Canada.

Free is always a good thing. Guess I'll have to wait.

Seems like a storm in a glass of water to me. Most of the "free" points are rewarded one time only according to the list and one of them once each year (or multiple times adding up to the same amount). The only repeatable way to collect points is taking part in surveys and it would take you about 40 surveys to actually be able to get something for the collected points. Seems to me that this is just another way to introduce more advertising in to our living rooms in and on hardware and software we bought and payed for already.

I would love to say that i am in the clear because i have a PS3 but there is already a lot of advertising going on on PSN. Am i the only one that would prefer not to have a comic book app on his PSP or several useless apps on his PS3 ?

for those who don't know

80 points=$1

so you get $2.50 back for spending $50 on a year of gold!!XBOX USERS, REJOICE!!!

good marketing but wish we have it too here.

wasted efforts for both developers and buyers of the XBL franchise

ACT NOW AND GET YOUR OWN MICROSOFT CREDIT CARD! Don't tell mom you got it! Just use it to get all the games you want!

How about Free XBL gaming instead of rewards?

I'll take that card off your hands. It'd be put to good use.