I blogged a few months back about a soon-to-be ability to transfer your Xbox 360 licenses to a new console. Somehow it appears the license migration tool slipped into being without a huge amount of fanfare and it went live back at the end of June.
As I've been waiting for this, I'm a little frustrated it wasn't given more exposure. There are a large number of people (including myself) who I'm sure have previously repaired 360's, that may still not know this tool exists.
Currently, there are a large number of Arcade games than my children can't easily play on their Children's XBox Live Silver accounts as at the moment, the licenses are still spread across my now dead and defunct, returned consoles.
The tool is a two step process and can be initiated by visiting http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration.
Once you've signed in, you transfer all of your licenses to the current console and then simply have to 'redownload' all DRM'd items to the new console. The site clearly explains the steps and as soon as I'm home later in the week I will be doing this.
Interestingly enough, the initial screen shows you the total licenses you own as well as to what console they are currently locked to. My licenses are currently distributed across 4 consoles: -
I'm curious to know what the 327 licenses are that I downloaded to my third (now dead) console. I didn't download THAT many arcade games!
Some interesting points to note with the tool:-
- For all new 'recent' repairs, they is no need to do this, as the process is now performed automatically as part of the repair process.
- You can only run this tool once every 12 MONTHS. The reason for this I don't quite get given the functionality of the tool. This essentially restricts you from upgrading your console, if you're so inclined, to once a year only.
The time limit is particularly restricting for me. Given all of my repairs were prior to this process being available I NEED to use this to migrate all of my previous licenses to my current console. If I choose to upgrade to an Elite (or a HDMI enabled Premium console), I'm effectively back to where I am now until August 2009.
However, that's a bridge I will cross once it occurs. For now, the tool is a much needed fix for a large issue Microsoft has had with their 360 DRM policy and I for one welcome this version.