The short-sightedness of MS's DRM implementation is astounding. They instituted a system which could ONLY work as intended if there was a 0.000000% failure rate instead of the (estimated) 30% or so that exists currently.

To read more about the issue, visit Parallax Abstraction's GREAT summary of the issue at the blogspot link above and sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/fixxblm (also linked to from PA's site).

To see the full extent of the problem and read about the various applications of the "points after repair" Silver Dummy Account workaround, go to http://forums.xbox.com/1159815/ShowPost.aspx

You'll quickly realize what a snafu this really is since Mike Pollock's story is definitely a deviation from the norm (even though he's gotten through it twice now).

Good luck all! Get the word out! It's the only way MS will eventually admit their mistake with the DRM like the recent build quality admission.

Today I was told repeatedly by an MS customer rep that the XBLA purchases relate in no way to me being online or not. I even brought up them being tied to the console itself, but I was brushed off. Goddamn this can be… so… frustrating.

Matt: If you have a VGA connector on your TV, you can use that in lieu of HDMI — it'll give you 1080p capability and DVD upconversion…

Two other things I forgot to mention:

- They can automatically credit you the points for games you purchased, but anything over 1600 points, they'll give you prepaid card codes and just credit you the difference. In other words, say you spent 2400 points. They'll automatically credit the account and then give you a prepaid 1600 points code. Why they do it that way is a complete mystery to me, but it's how it's always done.

- If you redeemed a prepaid redemption code for a game (i.e. Bankshot Billiards, Uno, Geometry Wars, etc)…meaning you had a 25-digit code that activated a game without points… you MUST tell them that when you open your ticket because they don't credit those points. Rather, they'll give you a new code to reactivate the game. However, if you don't specifically tell them "I had a prepaid code for xxx game", they won't give you a way to activate it when they finally get back to you a week or 2 later.

In summary, I've done this twice — it's a major pain — but at least there's SOME way to move purchased xbox live content to a new console. Just bring a high level of patience to set up the ticket with customer service, and then be prepared to wait a while for a callback.

Now that I've got the HD DVD drive, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't itching for an Elite for the HDMI. But then again, I'd still need a 1080p TV to fully get the goods.

They'll then "escalate your issue to a supervisor" who calls back in about 7-10 days and will credit this new account with the points for the games you purchased. Finally, you can re-purchase the games with the credited points under the new account, effectively activating the games on the new console.

It's a huge pain, and if you get someone in India, hang up and just call back until you get someone who speaks fluent, proper American English. However, it CAN be done.

I just don't understand why they can't do this via the transfer cable (activate a new serial number and deactive the original).. but, that's a different issue I suppose. [I suppose this way you could ghost the hard drive manually, transfer the data, and then ghost it back and have the game installed on two consoles that way. But sheesh..]