Microsoft Points blues

March 27, 2008 3:45 PM

Xbox 360 PAL + MS Points for US + UK Live account + non-UK location? How can I work this out?

So I have a PAL Xbox 360 (Elite version), and live somewhere that's considered as part of the PAL regions, that is neither Europe nor Australia. I set up my Live account to go with my hotmail account whose location I've changed to UK because for some reason Live is still not officially released in my country (and Microsoft, which I hate with passion, hasn't publicized any plans to when/if it is going to do so).

I want to download some Live titles so bad, but sadly, no official PAL MS points cards are sold here. And for some mysterious reason, US MS points cards are everywhere. I ended up buying one of those (4000 MS points card), and surprise surprise, it didn't work.

So what should I do? is it feasible to change my hotmail location to US? will I lose anything by doing so (gamer score, save data, ..etc)?
I am really trying to avoid using the visa card option cause that too will require some verification with Zip addresses and stuff.

Thanks in advance.

posted by howiamdifferent to sports, hobbies, & recreation (5 comments total)

Make a Silver Live account with the location: US on your 360. Activate the points on the Silver account, and buy what you want. You can then play the stuff you've downloaded with any account on your 360, whatever its region and whatever region you bought the stuff as - ie if it's on there you can play it.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:18 PM on March 27, 2008

Oh, having said that I may be thinking of how you buy stuff that's only available on US Live if you're in (for example) the UK, so my answer might not work. Sorry.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:19 PM on March 27, 2008

I don't think your hotmail location is going to matter at all - it isn't checked by Microsoft when doing point transactions on Xbox Live. You should be able to use live.xbox.com to buy microsoft points no matter where you are in the world, given you already have a live account.
posted by fredoliveira at 4:20 PM on March 27, 2008

I've downloaded Live games and demos from the US store and then booted those up in my UK registered account, and vica versa. You shouldn't have a problem.

If you want UK gamerpoints, there are a few online places that'll just send you the relevant code.
posted by Magnakai at 4:04 AM on March 28, 2008

Thank you, EndsOfInvention and Magnakai, creating a new US account to download stuff actually worked!
posted by howiamdifferent at 10:08 AM on March 28, 2008