The dtoid community is a cultured bunch and likes to see the world. There are, however, a few lessons to be learned about moving overseas and how easy this may be with regards to gaming.



It’s almost been a year since i moved from New Zealand to sunny Edinburgh, Scotland (aka “yeah my city has an f’n castle!”). You would have thought taking two 12 hour flights, adjusting to the new climate and starting fresh with no credit rating would be the biggest hassle in relocating. In fact, the biggest problem I’ve had is moving electronically. Buying iTunes points, using a credit card/region locks on Steam, transferring licences to a new PC are all things you don’t really consider being difficult and to be fair are small annoyances. There is one problem that still continues to bite me in the ass, a year later: Xbox Live.


I’ve had a 360 almost since launch and love the bloody thing (read: I am not a fanboy, some of my best friends are black.. etc..). I haven’t had too many troubles with it, except for the odd RROD. With this experience, and that i had already invested a lot in arcade games linked to my profile (not to mention gamerpoints), the smart choice for my first UK games console was the 360. No problems there, except when you start to involve Xbox Live.

In the process of moving, my Gamertag Gold membership had expired, but fortunately for me my local supermarket was running a special on 12 month live membership cards and point cards (as a side note i’m still not used to buying games with my foodstuffs). Well, that’s handy so i bought said card and got 4200points. I get home and login to my account

user: TheToiletDuckNZ
password TheToiletDuckNZistotallyawesome1hackmainframe

and i’m in.

Redeem code and boom goes the dynamite i have 12 months of gold membership!

Next up, my 4200 points.... code is not valid.

Hmm, must have typed it in wrong.


Code is not valid.

Okay, i guess i got shafted. Bugger. I rang up Microsoft support in Delhi and they ask me if i typed the code in correctly, then ask for my account details. They inform me that i can’t use UK points card on a NZ account. I say i’ve changed my location details and they said that it doesn’t matter. I ask if i can update my details with them and they say no. Well, fuck, what am i supposed to do then? I explain i now have 12 months on one account and can’t use my points.

She informs me the only solution is to make a silver UK account, put the points on that and then the games will be linked to that account and are able to be played with my Gold membership on the same console. Hmm, okay but then what happens if something happens to my console and i need to switch licences. Don’t worry about that until it happens she said (yeah like that’s reassuring with a console that has such a high failure rate).



You may ask, well fuck TheToiletDuck (you’ll have to buy me a drink first), why didn’t you just buy some NZ points online using a credit card? And you’d think i’d reply “wow, i never thought of that” except, i wouldn’t because i DID think of that and no dice .They don’t let you use a foreign credit card online. Hmm, actually i don’t even think they let me use my NEW ZEALAND credit card from an overseas IP address.

That was in August of 2008 so let’s fast forward to the present to when the two account fuckjuggle is still biting me in the ass.


Battlefield 1943 is released and i have a sweet moolah of points sitting in my account for just the occasion. Only, you can only buy this game using a Gold membership. Ah well, fuck it, the game has problems anyway and i have TF2 on PC. Impulse buy avoided.

Then, Dtoid lets me know that Ikaruga is half price!

Sweet, i’ve been waiting to pick this up for ages so why not. Only, it’s half price for GOLD memberships only. Fuck’s sake.


Hey, i see the 1 vs. 100 beta is out.. for GOLD membership only, no worries i’ll use my NZ account.. but the 1 Vs. 100 beta isn’t in NZ.

You get where i’m going here, if anyone tells you that your live ID is a global identity, you're right to tell them that is fucking bullshit (and then ask them why they're talking like a microsoft PR rep). Live is connected worldwide (by tubes i believe) but it’s far from a global identity. Keep this in mind when you move countries, even between compatible regions (PAL -> PAL) that things like xbox live memberships/itunes memberships/steam memberships ARE region locked. You might be able to log in with them from another country but don’t expect to be able to DO anything with them.

Once again, i’ll bring out EMO kiwi to summarize:
WAHH WAHH WAHH