An Open Letter to XBox LIVE Support (Updated)

Case number: xxxxxxxxxx
Gamertag: Zhane1138
Phone number: xxx xxx xxxx

I am writing to express my concern and disappointment with my latest experience with Xbox LIVE and customer support. On Saturday, October 1st, in the middle of the afternoon, I was seated at my desk and recieved two Microsoft Point purchase confirmations via email, totalling 10,000 MS Points. This immediately alarmed me, as my XBox 360 was sitting in the other room, not powered on, and I had not made any recent purchases.

First, I powered on my 360. I suppose I was lucky that I seemed to catch the hackers in the act, responding immediately once I recieved the confirmation emails. I did not have to recover my gamertag, but I did have 10,000 more points than I should have. I immediately deleted the only current credit card information associated with the account.

My next step was to log in to XBox Live via my computer and change the password. I was forced to reset the password via email to do this, and I cannot honestly say whether this was due to the password being changed without my knowledge, or my own faulty memory. Either way, the password was quickly changed, by me.

Finally, I contacted XBox Live support. The first representive I spoke with was very helpful. I explained the situation, and also expressed my concern that, being a freelance games journalist, this was very unfortunate timing as several major releases were happening very soon, specifically Forza Motorsport 4. Extended downtime of my account would hinder my ability to do my job during the biggest gaming season of recent memory.

The representive understood my situation and explained to me that he would do his best to expedite things on my behalf. He spoke to his manager and confirmed to me that an exception could be made and that the situation should be resolved within 72 hours.

The following Monday I recieved a call from Microsoft support in regards to my account. Great, I thought, it's all done. I was dismayed to learn that the representative I spoke to had no knowledge of the 72 hour exception, and that it would take up to 25 business days to unlock my account and refund the charges. I again explained my position as a freelancer trying to make my way and pay my bills, but was told there was nothing he could do for me.

When competitors such as Steam, Apple, and Blizzard can take care of these issues within 24 hours, I’m disappointed to see that Microsoft’s timeline is 25 days or more. During this time I cannot access my saved games, the large amount of DLC and games that I have purchased, or access Netflix. I am also locked out of Windows Live, meaning that I cannot use Hotmail or any other online service that uses Windows Live ID, including the ability to log in to XBox Live Support and check the status of my case.

I called again on 10/10/11, to see if there was any chance my account would be unlocked in time for Forza Motorsport 4. I received no status update and no estimate of when my account would be returned to my control.

I’ve been a strong supporter of Microsoft and the Xbox 360 despite having a total of six repair issues including two DOA consoles right out of the box. This experience has been unfortunate, and while I’m appreciative of the offer of one month of Xbox LIVE Gold service, I struggle to believe that a company like Microsoft is comfortable leaving their customers in this position at any time, let alone during the fall release season.

At this point I would rather deal with the charges through my bank, if it would mean my account could be unlocked, but I am told that once the inquiry has begun it cannot be resolved any other way except to wait patiently while all the games I have preordered sit on my shelf, unplayed and unreviewed.

This has been a frustrating experience, especially right at the release of the fourth entry into one of the biggest exclusive franchises for the console. I’d hope that there’s a way in which customers can be better informed of the progress being made with their account issues and that customer support would be empowered to help consumers, as opposed to helplessly saying there’s nothing they can do, and that there’s no way for a consumer to contact the investigation team.

I would like my account unlocked immediately and I will be removing my credit card information from the account. Unfortunately, given the lack of information from customer support and the seemingly commonplace nature of these incidents, I feel I can no longer trust Microsoft to safeguard my credit card information, and so I will buy MS Point cards and subscription cards at retail, if I choose to remain a customer of Microsoft going forward.

Regards,
Heath B. Dasher

UPDATE

The morning after I sent this letter, I was contacted by Andrew at Microsoft, and my situation was resolved. I am grateful for their attention, but this does nothing for the others waiting a month or more during these situations.

Post-BC Housekeeping

The last several posts contain work that I want to make sure I keep hold of, my best work from my short time at Bad Cartridge. I don't know what might or might not become of these articles now that I no longer have access to the site, and wanted to make sure they remain untouched somewhere on the web.

Game Review: Alice: Madness Returns

[Originally published on Bad Cartridge.]

Alice: Madness Returns is the sequel to American McGee’s Alice, which was released in the year 2000. Eleven years is an awfully long wait for a sequel… was it worth it?

Eleven years ago I was a mere 19 years old. Perhaps I was less cynical then – though I don’t generally consider myself to be cynical now – but the dark, macabre take on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale really struck a chord with me. Madness Returns continues to capture my imagination, but this time the journey feels just a bit more forced.

The Alice of my youth was the Walt Disney version, where not even the tale of the walrus and the carpenter and those poor oysters was taken as more than an opportunity for a catchy musical number. The world of Madness Returns reflects a less innocent age of storytelling. Alice herself is cynical and gothy, the Cheshire Cat is emaciated and tattooed, and Wonderland is twisted into an even darker version of itself. Madness Returns takes Wonderland to places that even Tim Burton feared to tread – the last few chapters in particular take the player through some nasty twists and turns, going from what was whimsically violent and strange to downright disturbing

Aesthetically, Alice is a cut above. The world is colorful and imaginative, the character designs are inventive, and the music is outstanding. I can honestly find little to complain about in the visual or sound design of the game. The way the game plays, however, is another story.

This is as straightforward as action-platformer games come. The combat is simple and repetitive, while feeling solid and responsive. The level design is linear to a fault, with invisible walls blocking your way if you do manage to find a path the game forgot about. What little branching the levels do offer consists primarily of taking the series of floating platforms to the left, or the ones to the right, both of which will get you to the same place. They’ve also tossed in a number of minigames that are triggered at various points, and these range from an absolutely abysmal rythm game to ye olde sliding block puzzles to a papercraft-style 2D sidescrolling section which is, in fact, extremely well done. They could expand on the 2D Alice and release it as a worthwhile downloadable game.

Most of the levels follow a similar structure through the entire game. There will be platforming sections, in which you must navigate from one side of the area to the other via a number of floating ledges, air jets, bouncy mushrooms and invisible platforms. Then there will be arena combat sections, where you must defeat X number of enemies to open the gate to the next area. Then, occasionally, there will be one of the minigames – some of which can be too difficult for what they are, but the majority of them allow you the option of skipping them if you become too frustrated.

The game repeats this formula from beginning to end. Not to say that it does any of this badly; it really doesn’t. There’s just not much more to it. It is a well-crafted, linear action-platform game that, at many times, doesn’t feel nearly as imaginative as it looks.

Perhaps the best summation of Madness Returns was actually written about the original game, in Gamespot’s 73% review: “While you’ll undoubtedly enjoy the imaginative artwork, you might end up disappointed with just how straightforward the underlying game really is.” This statement holds true for the sequel, and while there’s nothing wrong with a linear action-platform game, I can’t help feeling that more could have been done this time around. Alice: Madness Returns feels like a nostalgic throwback to an earlier era of gaming, perhaps from about… eleven years ago.

Internet Hate Machine

[Originally published on Bad Cartridge]

Over the years, I have seen more than a few game industry writers suffer the wrath of an audience who feels somehow wronged. The internet has the strange ability to transform disagreements over opinion into firestorms of seething rage, or a simple misunderstanding into a verbal war over ethics, morals, politics, religion, or worse – console preference. The people who write and inform us about the things we are so passionate about are human beings, and as such, are flawed. As I prepared to take on my new role here at Bad Cartridge, it occurred to me that I, too, might have a few flaws.

Rather than allow these questionable character traits to seep out slowly, when the all-but-guaranteed backlash would assuredly strike at a surprising and inconvenient time, I have decided to use this first edition of Alt-Tabbed to get it all out in the open. It’s this sort of honesty that gets me so many second dates. Here we go!

1. I play Minecraft… on Peaceful.

My friends ridicule me for this at every opportunity. Not for playing the game, but for doing so with monsters turned off. For me, Minecraft is an astoundingly flexible and addicting set of virtual Legos, and the notion of some menacing little Creeper sneaking up on me in the night and damaging the things I have worked so hard to create is both terrifying and incredibly frustrating. Also, those spiders are scary. Which brings me to…

2. I play most of my games on Normal, or Easy.

Overly difficult die-and-try-again games frustrate me. I want my challenge to come from problem solving, or investigation, or difficult choices presented to me by the story… not a dexterity test. I simply don’t approach most games looking for an extreme challenge to overcome; I want to experience something, not defeat it. I’m there for the narrative, or the exploration, or any number of other things that don’t involve rubbing blisters on my thumbs while attempting to master the exact sequence of button presses that will get me past a checkpoint on the 137th attempt. Or maybe I just need to learn to suck less.

3. I am a World of Warcraft player.

In a perfect world, this wouldn’t need to be on the list. In this hypothetical intellectual utopia, people would not come under fire for how they choose to spend their leisure time. They would not be judged by what entertains them. But this is not a perfect world, and worse than that, it’s the internet. I’ve seen more WoW hate in recent times than ever before, and I’m not sure why – it’s not as though anyone is being forced to play it. It seems that by merely mentioning World of Warcraft on a message board, you are guaranteed – within the first five posts – to be met by someone who feels the need to inform you that you have made a poor choice in your gaming habits and that if you were to play a Real Game he would own you. In the face. And steal your wallet.

To certain members of the gaming population, being a WoW player has become the virtual equivalent of having a southern accent – certain assumptions are sure to be made by those quick to judge. (And before you good old boys start with the emails, I’m allowed – I’m originally from Georgia. Maybe that should be number 3.5 on the list.) Having certainly offended both my fellow WoW players and fellow Southerners, let’s move from what I do play to what I don’t play…

4. I do not play Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty…

Or any other console shooter. Listen, I’m not about to sit here and tell you that aiming with a thumbstick is inherently worse than aiming with a mouse… wait, yes I am. No, I’m kidding. Maybe. At any rate, I’m a PC guy first, I learned to play games with a mouse and keyboard, and aiming at your head just doesn’t work for me with a controller in my hands. (I know; suck less.)

I won’t hesitate to plug in my wired 360 controller for racing or platforming, but playing Battlefield from the couch is something I’m willing to sacrifice for the benefit of actually being able to hit anything.

5. I still want to be a Nintendo guy… but I’m not.

For the first time since I received my NES for Christmas in 1985, I do not currently own a Nintendo home console. I bought a Wii at launch, but sold it a year or so later after realizing how much dust it was gathering. Growing up, I was a Nintendo kid… I had every console, almost every single iteration of the handheld systems, and dozens of games for each. I have just as many great memories of Mario and Zelda as anybody (and more fondness for Earthbound than most folks) but at some point I realized, much to my dismay, that I’d outgrown Nintendo’s products. They’re still doing what they’ve always done, and it’s clearly working for them, but they’re making games for an audience that I’m no longer a part of. The Wii U announcement gives me no reason to believe that’s changing.

So, there it is. The list. Plenty of reasons for vast segments of the internet to hate me. If it wasn’t clear enough, I don’t actually believe any of these things are flaws – but that’s because I’m a rational human being who understands that people have different opinions, and everyone has their own preferences. When someone disagrees with you, it does not mean they are personally attacking you. If they like a game and you don’t – or vice versa – it’s not a call to arms.

As representatives of “gamer culture” – if there is such a thing – a lot of us just need to relax, take a deep breath, and remember why we’re all here in the first place: because we love games. And that should be enough.

Book Review: Ready Player One

[Originally published on Bad Cartridge]

What follows is a book review.

“What!?” I can hear you saying. “What’s a book review doing on a gaming site… that’s about as appropriate as a hurricane journal.” But if you will humor me for a moment, dear reader, you’ll see why this particular book is worth a few moments of your time. You need to know about this.

Ready Player One is the first novel by Ernest Cline, creator of Fanboys - a film about obsessive Star Wars geeks. It’s no surprise, then, that this is a story of geekery on a massive scale. Also, either my automatic spellcheck isn’t working, or geekery is a word. Good to know, either way.

It’s a bit tricky to give an elevator pitch for this book, because at first glance it’s simply absurd. For instance:

“Ready Player One is the story of an 80′s obsessed treasure hunter who lives in a virtual world filled with game-themed planets and is surrounded by TIE Fighters, anime mechs, and disc jockey wizards.”

Or…

“Ever imagine Malcolm Reynolds in a lightsaber duel with Marty McFly, inside a text adventure game? Then Ready Player One is the book for you!”

All right – that one didn’t actually happen. But it easily could have in the vivid world created by Mr. Cline.

I tried to think of a simple way to explain the basic premise of the book, and what I came up with was “Second Life meets Willy Wonka.” But that really doesn’t do it justice… for one, the fictional game world in the book, called OASIS, is far more ambitious than anything Second Life ever imagined itself to be. But it’s the idea of living a second, virtual life on the internet that Ready Player One centers around. A life where the actions of your online avatar are as important – or potentially more important – than your real life.

The story centers around a grand treasure hunt, a game planned by the OASIS’s creator and implemented upon his death. When the entire world logs into your product every day, you quickly become the wealthiest man on the planet, and James Halliday – the man in question – has put his vast fortune at stake as the final prize in an epic quest to solve the riddles he left behind, scattered in the world he created.

But Halliday was, of course, a huge nerd. He filled the OASIS with more pop culture references than you can shake a tricorder at. From D&D to Star Wars, WarGames to arcade games, the world of OASIS is a nerd’s dream come true. And because much of the population is obsessed with completing Halliday’s game, and thus earning his prize, the people have become just as obsessed as Halliday.

The staples of geek culture have become more than a fun pastime for those serious about Halliday’s hunt. Those participating in the hunt study Commodore 64 games and John Hughes movies with the seriousness and dedication of archaeologists. It’s a world where a copy of Adventure or a Rush album is treated with the reverence of an important historical document… or even a religious icon.

But Ready Player One is about more than a fun mishmash of geek culture. It’s also about addiction and identity. Many of the users of Halliday’s virtual world spend more time there than in the real one, some of them becoming real-life hermits, never leaving their homes in favor of living their lives in cyberspace. When the outside world is in shambles and you have access to a place where you can be and do whatever you want, where do you spend your days? And when your life is spent in a shared simulation, what’s more important – who you really are, or who you are online?

As I write this, I consider the fact that I’m in a darkened room surrounded by monitors, and how disconnected and frustrated I feel when my connection suffers. I also consider that writing for this site is the first time I have used my real name online in many, many years. I wonder how far we really are from the dystopian society imagined in the book. But then I imagine buzzing Mechagodzilla’s head in a flying DeLorean, and I smile.

Ready Player One is available right now from your favorite bookseller. Read it. I’m telling you, this is going to be huge. I’ve heard that it’s already been optioned for a movie by Warner Bros. It’s going to be a thing.

Personally, I couldn’t be more in love with a book. I’m just waiting for Ready Player Two.

Game Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

[Originally published on Bad Cartridge]

The original Deus Ex is one of those games. One of the games that when it’s mentioned on a message board – and it will be – you better have played it, and you better have something to say. Because if you haven’t, and you’re foolish enough to admit it, you will be yelled at, you will be scorned, and your manhood will be brought into question. Yeah, one of those games.

The first sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, did not live up to the monolithic reputation of the original cyberpunk masterpiece. Will Human Revolution manage to recapture the beauty of Deus Ex, or will it be shelved next to its predecessor as just another sequel that wasn’t quite good enough?

The short answer is a resounding yes, Human Revolution is a worthy successor to Deus Ex. For fans of the series, that will be all they need to hear – they’ve been waiting for another game like Deus Ex since the year 2000, and this is it.

In this installment of the series the player is cast in the role of Adam Jensen, a security officer employed by Sarif Industries, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of human augmentations, or “augs.”

Augs are envisioned as the next generation of prosthetic limbs – robotic body parts that are so advanced that they become an appealing elective option, with uninjured, healthy individuals often choosing to replace arms and legs, even eyes and components of their neural system, with cybernetic enhancements.

Run faster, jump higher, see the world differently, even think faster… augmentations make it all possible. Not everyone agrees with the idea of meddling in human evolution however, and that is the central conflict of the game: by allowing these unprecedented leaps forward in human capabilities, is Sarif Industries founder David Sarif playing God?

The driving tenet of the Deus Ex series has always been player choice, the ability to tackle any given situation in any number of ways, and Human Revolution does not disappoint in that regard. Whether you want to kick down the front door and greet your adversaries with a shotgun to the face, or sneaking in silently through an air vent and putting your foes to sleep with a carefully placed tranquilizer dart is more your style, the game accommodates either of these styles – as well as most anything in between.

My personal preference is a combination of stealth and hacking, turning security systems – which mostly consist of automated turrets and security bots – against their owners, and taking out whoever is left with a few precise headshots.

If you’ve never played a Deus Ex game, it can be quite hard to understand just how flexible the ways of accomplishing your various tasks truly are. There can be up to half a dozen or so routes into a single building, for example, allowing you to choose not only your method of attack but your direction as well. When most games allow the player only one option – or maybe a binary choice once in a while – the sheer openness of the possibilities here is staggering. It’s even possible to complete the game without killing anyone – a feat unheard of in almost any other game that puts a gun in your hand. Anyone, that is, except the bosses…

Boss battles: a phrase that can make the modern sophisticated gamer’s blood run cold. They’re here, and they’re the weakest part of the game by far. The inclusion of these arena-like kill-or-be-killed confrontations is contrary to the rest of the game’s design, and frankly it baffles me why they’re there at all.

In a game that encourages stealthy and clever play so strongly, it’s disappointing that the designers couldn’t find a better way to conclude each chapter, or at least give the player an option to find a way around the encounter. Not to mention the sheer difficulty, if you’re unprepared – after sneaking my way through every situation up to that point, I suddenly found myself locked in a room with a man with machine guns for hands, and I was equipped with only a silenced handgun and a tranquilizer rifle.

One could argue that this forces the player to find unconventional ways of dealing with a direct confrontation with a heavily armed foe, but to me it just felt like an archaic trope of game design, an out of place relic wedged unwisely into an otherwise brilliant game.

Since we’re talking about flaws, I’ll mention a few more – though there just aren’t many to be found. One is fairly long load times, which occur every time you change areas or reload your last save. And you’ll be reloading a lot, especially if you’re a stickler about sneaking by your enemies without getting caught. [Ed. Note – The PC version has received a recent patch which claims to dramatically decrease loading times. For reference, I played the game on a mid-high range PC, using a GeForce GTX 470, and with some slight graphical tweaking it ran beautifully at 1920x1080.]

The other glaring flaw is the sub-par character models. While the main character Jensen looks fine, most of the other characters you’ll meet are definitely a bit on the low-def side. They’re not terrible, but it can be distracting given how beautiful the game’s art design makes the rest of the world look.

The city locations have a decidedly Blade Runner-esque look and feel, and each interior is packed with detail, making the world feel much more alive than your typical bland corridor-filled shooter experience. Explorers will find much to love about Human Revolution, because each location is packed with hidden areas and alternate pathways which are sure to reward you with a few extra credits or ammo packs for seeking them out.

Excellent storytelling, creative art design, and unrivaled flexibility in player choice – Deus Ex: Human Revolution has all of these. It’s a wonderfully old-school experience, and comparisons to the original are of course unavoidable.

In 2000, Deus Ex was in many ways ahead of its time… but nostalgia has a way of leaving out the inconsistencies in our memories. You’re not going to catch me saying Deus Ex wasn’t a fantastic game, because it’s one of the greatest of all time… but time marches on, and a decade is a very long time in the world of gaming. There are things that simply weren’t technically possible when it was created, and while Deus Ex certainly did nothing wrong, this new installment has the benefit of ten years of design evolution pushing it forward.

So with that in mind, I’m forced to amend my earlier statement: Human Revolution is not only a worthy successor to the Deus Ex name… it’s the game I always wanted Deus Ex to be.