With the imminent release of one of the most highly-anticipated console games ever, Grand Theft Auto IV, I decided it was finally time to purchase a “next-gen” video game system. That is, since GTAIV was only being released on the XBox 360 and Playstation 3, I wasn’t going to be able to use my wonderfully-entertaining Nintendo Wii to play it, so I had to pick one of the other systems.
At first, my decision was an easy one, one that would be made on price alone. The least-expensive version of the XBox 360 (the “Arcade” system) is roughly $280. The least-expensive version of the Playstation 3 is roughly $400. Plus, I soon discovered that if I purchased an XBox 360 along with GTA IV from BestBuy.com, I would receive a $50 Best Buy gift card for free, essentially bringing the price of the XBox 360 down to $230… what a deal! I couldn’t pass that up.
I quickly made my purchase on Monday, April 27th, 2008 and selected store pick-up for both the console system and video game. Shortly after placing my order, I received a series of e-mails from BestBuy.com letting me know that my $50 gift card was getting ready to ship, GTAIV would be ready for in-store pick-up on April 29th, and that the XBox 360 Arcade would be ready for pickup on April 28th, since the store was closed when I placed the order. Fair enough. This was shaping up to become the easiest game release ever. I had everything pre-ordered for store pickup, so no waiting in line and no worrying if they’d run out of copies before I got my hands on one. Boy, was I wrong about that.
I decided it would be a good idea to pick up the XBox 360 Arcade on the 28th, so I would have plenty of time to hook it up and play around with the settings in advance of bringing GTA IV home.
1:00pm
I headed to Best Buy down the street from my house and walked over to the in-store pickup sign. Once there, I noticed a large blue button on the counter, connected to a large, red-numbered timer behind the desk. I looked down at my order e-mail confirmation I had printed out and noticed the following guarantee:
Store Pickup Guarantee
We’ll have your order ready in 1 minute (5 minutes for larger items) after you present this email or you get $10 off.*
Interesting, but I didn’t see any need to bother with that, as there was no one in line and I didn’t expect much of a wait. Shortly thereafter, a Best Buy employee took the e-mail confirmation from me, brought out my XBox 360 Arcade, completed the purchase, and I was on my way. Simple enough. Here’s where the fun starts.
1:30pm
I got home, carefully unboxed the XBox 360 Arcade system, keeping track of all packing materials and bags in case I had to put it all back together later (always a smart move). Upon removing all cables and hardware from the box, I soon noticed that there were no cables included for HD video. That is, no component or HDMI cables were included. No big deal, I had a spare HDMI cable I could use. Also, no ethernet network cable was included, but I had a spare one of those as well.
As I began hooking up the XBox 360 Arcade, I then noticed that the unit lacked a digital optical jack for surround sound. After searching through the box again, examining each piece that came with the unit, I decided to search online to figure out how I was supposed to get surround sound out of this system.
As it turns out, if you don’t own a surround sound receiver that supports HDMI input/switching, Microsoft expects its customers to purchase an additional $50 cable in order to enjoy surround sound from their XBox 360 Arcade. Yes, you read that right. This game system is described on the official Microsoft web page as follows:
Every Xbox 360 title supports 720p and 1080i high definition resolution or 480p standard definition resolution, in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing so you enjoy smooth, movie-like graphics and multi-channel surround sound.
They conveniently leave out the part where you have to purchase an extra $50 cable to actually enjoy the multi-channel surround sound that you were promised when you purchased the $280 game system.
2:00pm
At that point, I decided that I had already forked over $280 to Best Buy and Microsoft and didn’t want to pay any more, so I tried to come up with a work-around to the problem. I realized that my HDTV (a Samsung HL-T5676S) has a digital optical output, so I could likely hook the XBox 360 Arcade to the TV via HDMI and then route the audio through the TV to my stereo receiver. WRONG. After trying that and failing, I searched online only to find this wonderful bit of information:
The HDMI input on Samsung TVs can not pass digital 5.1 Surround Sound to the Digital Optical output jack. This is not a limitation of the TV (technically, it could be done), but instead a limitation imposed by laws and regulations. The TV can not pass straight digital signal because to do so would violate copyright laws and copy protection regulations.
GREAT! My television thinks I’m a thief because I want to hear the sound coming from my XBox 360 Arcade the way it was intended to be heard. WONDERFUL. There went that solution. Thanks, “copy protection”!
6:00pm
After taking a break from the whole thing for a while (a cooling-off period), it was decision time again. I had already paid $280 for the XBox 360 Arcade. Adding a $50 cable would bring the total to $330, just $20 short of the XBox 360 (not “Arcade”), which comes with the $50 cable plus a 20GB hard drive (for storing downloads), a headset (for talking online), and an ethernet cable. The $350 XBox 360 is only $50 less than the $400 Playstation 3, which includes a Blu-Ray Disc player.
I ultimately decided to go with the $350 XBox 360 over the PS3 mainly because I’d be saving $50 right away and could still get the free $50 gift card from Best Buy, which was not offered with the purchase of a PS3. So it was then a simple matter of heading back to the store, bringing back the XBox 360 Arcade, and swapping it for the XBox 360 at $70 more. Wrong again.
6:30pm
I returned to the store and found out that there is little to no communication between BestBuy.com (where I purchased the system) and Best Buy, the brick-and-mortar store. When I presented the store employees with my situation, their solutions were as follows:
Oh wait, did I write the same option 3 times? Yes, because that was the only option they presented me with. As much as they tried (or appeared to try) to work with the BestBuy.com order, they told me that they have no access or control over web-placed orders and can only provide in-store pickups and a place to return items to. I asked if I could just cancel the order completely, walk over to one of their in-store computers, place a new order online, and then pick up the XBox from their desk. They said that was certainly an option, but it would take over an hour for it to be ready because, get ready for this, they have to wait for an e-mail to show up from BestBuy.com. Yes, instead of BestBuy.com putting in-store pickup orders into a secure database accessible by the appropriate store, they E-MAIL the order to the store. Evidently, the e-mails only go out once an hour or so. What a great system.
I decided at that point to just return the XBox 360 Arcade, have them cancel the free $50 gift card, and hang onto the pre-ordered copy of GTA IV for the moment, just in case.
7:00pm
I walked over to the Mac section of the store, plopped myself in front of a MacBook, and went to BestBuy.com to place a new order. In order to receive the free $50 gift card, I would have had to order a new XBox (which I planned on doing) and another copy of GTA IV (no problem, I could just cancel the other one). However, the web site was no longer letting me select in-store pickup for GTA IV for unknown reasons. Another layer of complication. I gave up there and decided to call BestBuy.com’s phone number for help.
7:20pm
For the next 40 minutes, I paced around Best Buy attempting to get the whole situation squared away. The first time I called, I somehow got transferred from the BestBuy.com operator to STA Travel.
Yes, the student travel agency… which has absolutely nothing to do with Best Buy. The STA Travel agent was completely baffled as to how I reached her and when I called BestBuy.com back, they had no idea either.
I finally was transferred to a nice, but extremely slow-working employee who eventually was able to place an in-store pickup order for an XBox 360 as well as make sure that I would receive the free $50 gift card that I was supposed to from the beginning. She assured me that as soon as we got off the phone, the order would be ready for pickup in the store. I asked if it would help if I walked over to the video game section and brought the pickup employees the game system and she said it would speed things up.
8:00pm
I lugged the XBox 360 over to the pickup counter only to find out that they hadn’t received the infamous order email from BestBuy.com yet and had no idea when it would show up. Furthermore, since it was one hour until the store was closing, and the infamous e-mail generally takes an hour or more to show up, they recommended that I just return the next day to pick up the game system and the game. At that point, frustrated, I gave up for the day and headed home… or so I thought.
8:15pm
Upon arriving home, I sat down at my computer to find an e-mail from BestBuy.com letting me know that my order was ready for pickup. Wonderful timing. Since I had already put so much time into the whole thing, I decided I might as well head back over to Best Buy to pick up the darn thing.
Upon arriving to the in-store pickup area, I asked the employee about the $10 off timer and if it was actually possible to get $10 off. She slyly informed me of the fine print associated with the deal:
One minute starts after you have presented your photo ID, purchasing credit card and your confirmation e-mail or valid order number to us, and when Best Buy enters your order number into our computer system. Best Buy will track the time, which will end when you have the product in your possession. Wait time in line and the time to print your receipt not included.
In other words, there’s no chance of receiving $10 off as it will never take longer than 1 minute for them to complete your purchase since the timer doesn’t start until after they have your credit card and have pulled up your order. At that point, all they have to do is run the card, which takes all of 10 seconds. Real slick, Best Buy.
8:30pm
I arrived home with my new XBox 360, carefully unboxed it as I had earlier in the day with the Arcade version, and began hooking it up. I thought just maybe that was the end of the headache for the day. WRONG again.
Microsoft, being the brilliant company that they are, decided to place the HDMI jack so close to the proprietary A/V output jack that you can’t fit both an HDMI cable and the special $50 A/V cable connected to the system at the same time. That is, all of my efforts in wanting both HDMI and surround sound just went down the drain. Time for more research online.
As it turns out, Microsoft has a solution to the problem! Buy another $50 cable. This one basically extends the jacks outward from the system to allow for both an HDMI cable and a digital optical audio cable to be connected.
There was no way I was going to pay another $50 to Microsoft just to get what I was promised on the package. Fortunately, some inventive (and equally-frustrated) 360 owners came up with a better solution.
As it turns out, if you pry the plastic casing off of the area surrounding the proprietary A/V connection, it leaves enough room for that cable and an HDMI cable to be connected to the XBox 360 simultaneously, eliminating the need for the additional $50 cable. So after a few minutes, I was able to remove the casing as instructed, wrap the exposed areas in electrical tape (shouldn’t all home electronics purchases require the use of electrical tape to make things work?), and hook everything up to my HDTV and surround sound receiver.
9:00pm
Roughly 8 hours after I began the process, I finally had my XBox 360 up and running and was excited to begin downloading free game demos to enjoy for the night. Wait… the game demos aren’t free? I have to pay to sign up for XBox Live? $7.99 per month?! I thought the outside of the game system package said that it came with a free XBox Live Silver membership! Oh, what? Silver is just the free membership? So it didn’t really come with anything of value. THEN WHY IS IT ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOX?
As it turned out, the XBox 360 did come with *1 month* of XBox Live Gold membership for free (not mentioned on the outside of the box) and all I had to do was type in, via the clumsy on-screen keyboard, my full name, physical address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, username, password, security question, and security answer… everything just short of my Social Security number. I’m sure all of this is really necessary just to download game demos.
Suddenly, I found myself signed on to Windows Live Messenger. Eh?! I don’t want to chat! I just want some game demos! Why is this so difficult? I don’t want a Windows Live ID. I don’t want anything to do with any Microsoft online services. ALL I WANT IS GAME DEMOS… which, from what I understand, are available completely free via the Playstation 3.
There is my tale of frustration. A day filled with Best Buy’s failure to communicate and Microsoft’s amazing ability to try to take as much of its customers’ money as possible.
As I write this, it is April 29th at 1:15pm and almost time to head back to Best Buy to attempt to pick up my supposedly-reserved copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. I can only imagine what fun awaits me. I’ll be sure to press the big blue timer button when I get to the pickup counter in hopes that the credit card processing gods take longer than 1 minute to ring up the purchase and allow me to get $10 off as a reward for this whole frustrating mess.
Update: April 30th
Yesterday, after sitting down to enjoy the XBox 360 game demos for a while and before picking up GTA IV from Best Buy, I realized yet another hardware difficulty. As it turns out, there’s a really bizarre reason why the HDMI and $50 propriety A/V cables weren’t meant to connect to the XBox simultaneously. If both are connected, everything works fine (HD video, surround sound) until you change inputs on your HDTV. That is, if I’m in the middle of a game, pause it because I realize I need to switch inputs to watch the latest episode of Food Network’s Unwrapped, and then switch inputs back to the XBox, the game system resets itself for no good reason, regardless of what you were doing when you last left it. So, if you hadn’t saved whatever game you were playing, you’d come back to lose all of your progress.
Once again, it was time for a search online that yielded more cable-modifying results. I found this thread on the AVS forum that describes a process for further removing the metal shielding from the A/V cable (the one we already removed the plastic casing from), locating a small black wire that loops back onto itself, and cutting or removing that wire. According to the thread, that wire, for whatever reason, is what causes the XBox to reset every time you switch back to its HDMI input on your HDTV.
I greatly trust the AVSForum and its members, and it appeared that all of the posters had success in removing the wire, so I went ahead and opened it up, yanked out the small black wire with some needle-nosed pliers, and plugged it all back in… SUCCESS! The XBox 360 no longer reboots itself when switching video inputs. Another $50 saved.
Finally, it was time to head back to Best Buy to hopefully pick up GTA IV without any more problems. As I entered the store, I saw that there were plenty of copies still sitting around and that my reservation wasn’t needed. I decided to pick it up from the in-store pickup area anyway, where I had no troubles. I didn’t bother with the blue button or timer, as the employee immediately grabbed my copy of the game, rang it up, and I was on my way quickly.
GTA IV, as it turns out, is a FANTASTIC game and is even more deserving of the Mature rating that it received than any of the previous GTA titles. This game is DEFINITELY not for kids… but it’s great fun for adults.
I’ve also been emailed by several people in response to this post letting me know that most game demos should be downloadable for free without an XBox Live membership. Good to know. I received an extra month of XBox Live with the purchase of GTA IV, though I’m not sure I’ll ever use it now that I know the game demos are mostly free anyway.
Now, the final chapter in this saga will be waiting for my free $50 gift card to arrive in the mail. Hopefully it will and I won’t need to come back here to complain some more. I’ll keep you posted.
