Xbox Live Arcade repair hell

See bottom of post for workaround provided by Jonathan Blow

I sent my xbox in to be repaired just over two weeks ago. They received it, and soon shipped another Xbox to me. I was to get it last friday (which would have made it just 2 days shy a fortnight round trip), however issues with UPS and doorbells delayed my gratification. This was not the final delay.

I was unable to play games I had previously purchased in the Xbox Live Arcade, like Braid. In fact, this entire post is centered on Braid not working properly. Braid was of the belief that it was a demo game, and has been every single time I start it. Clicking “Unlock full version” reveals I already have the game, and closing the purchase screen (by clicking back) now, but I do not believe originally, removes the “Unlock full game” from the menu for the duration of the gaming session. Braid forgets it was purchased every single time you start, and as such, forgets to load save files. This means I cannot finish Braid unless I play all the way through in one sitting, or use the old school pause-and-switch-tv-inputs trick (you didn’t do that as a kid?). I looked this issue up online, and Hawty McBloggy re-posted a microsoft guide to resolving the issue. I used the trick posted and played some braid, and it was indeed the full version because I could get to the end of World 2 and be told that the princess was in another castle (but not that I wouldn’t get an achievement because I haven’t bought the game). However, access to World 3 was not granted the next time I started Braid (I turned the system off and took a break). I was worried that I might have to go through the motions Travis Illig did.

Recently, I went to the Memory management screen and deleted the full game, only to re-download it. I loaded Braid, and the “Unlock full game” item is still in the screen. More playtesting will have to be done to find out if it will work, but I wanted to get a post out so that I could update it later. Thus, this will be updated.

Update Thu Sept 11 3:55 am EDT4USA

I got all the way to worlds 4 and 5 last night before turning off the Xbox. I loaded Braid again today (after last night not only deleting the game, but deleting the save files just in case). Unlock full game is back in the menu, and since it uses a single save system, afterward it does NOT check to see if you have any saves (and why should it? the developer probably didn’t expect users like myself to have to constantly remind the game to check for a license and then allow me to go further). Thus, while I can easily click “Unlock full game”, be told I already bought it, hit back, and the game will notice the license is there, I cannot play saved games and thus must beat the game all at once to ONLY receive achievements (not access to all worlds). This is a serious DRM issue that has not been addressed, and even worse, there is no document telling you that this will become an issue. Microsoft barely has a page on this issue, whose steps render your purchased games half-functional (as long as you’re not interested in actually playing a saved game).

I will be calling Microsoft soon and will probably end up updating this post instead of writing another blog post, as it really isn’t so long as to warrant multiple posts, and I try to not be too loquacious.

Edit: 20 minutes later. I e-mailed jonathan blow. His e-mail address is hard to find.

Edit: Fri Sep 12 2008 8:44 am EDT4USA

cleared my cache at the suggestion of a friend, loaded braid, clicked unlock, clicked back (game then was unlocked), and exited braid. Opened braid again, menu shows braid is locked again. God damnit.

Update Fri, Sept 12 2008 8:55 pm EDT4USA

Jonathan Blow, author of Braid, replied to my e-mail. Awesome. Here’s the workaround:

Yes, this is a known bug and I am going to put out an update to fix it. In the meantime, you ought to be able to workaround the problem. After you start Braid, go to Exit the Game, so that you are at the Press A to Sign In screen. Then just press the xbox button to open the guide, then press it again to close the guide, and the game should realize it is really the full version. (This can also work if your profile is signed in and you do it during the loading screen, before the game starts up).

Sorry about the inconvenience but this is something that VMC seems to not have been testing for (Castle Crashers has the same problem).

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