Month: June 2012

How do I enter an Xbox Live code on the Xbox 360

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With more an more access to digital game codes to download games, redeem points, or get DLC from Xbox Live – you need to know how to redeem those codes to get your goods! Well, luckily for all of us, it’s not too hard at all. This week’s Xbox Tip of the Week will show you how it’s done.

Microsoft makes it very easy to log in to your Windows Live ID and enter your code on their website at https://live.xbox.com/redeemtoken, but if the computer is all tied up by someone else and you’re on the Xbox, you can enter your code as well. Microsoft has made it simple to enter codes from the guide! Once you’re signed in to the Xbox 360 under your own gamertag, and signed in to Xbox Live, do this:

  1. Press the guide button on the controller (the Xbox Logo button)
  2. Press the left bumper to get to the Marketplace blade
  3. Press down, then “A” to select Redeem Code
  4. Enter the 5×5 (5 by 5, 5 sets of 5 characters each, the 25 character code) (the dashes will fill in automatically) and press the Start button on the controller.
  5. It will show you what you are redeeming a code for – press “A” to Confirm

    6. And you’re all set! Of course, Supprt.Xbox.com will also always tell you how to redeem Xbox Live codes.

Gaming in Windows 8 – The Hydro Thunder Hurricane beta / preview / trial

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If you immediately moved on to the Windows 8 Release Preview and wiped out your installation of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (build 8250), then you, my friend, are missing out! Shortly (very shortly) before the release of the Release Preview, I began seeing a few “Xbox Live” branded games showing up on the Windows 8 store. Attempts to download them went painfully slowly. But eventually, and even after multiple attempts, the game finally downloaded, and I found myself playing Hydro Thunder Hurricane (a demo of it, anyway), on Windows 8.


click to see full HD 1920×1080 screenshot


Hydro Thunder Hurricane, along with Wordament, have both been released as trial versions. While I haven’t fooled around with Wordament too much, Hydro Thunder Hurricane seems to start up as fast if not faster than it does from the Xbox 360 Dashboard, right from my start menu. The whole time it runs, the system remains responsive, touching the Windows key works to get back to the new Metro style Start Menu, and the game resumes without a hitch (thanks Windows Phone Mango!). Multi tasking (Windows key + Tab) from the desktop, I can still see the last animated frame of where I was at and pick up like nothing happened.

Only two maps are available in Hydro Thunder Hurricane, the famous Tsunami Bowl, and Lake Powell. The game has an options menu which overs controller, mouse/keyboard, or touch controls. I have used Mouse and Keyboard and have been able to play the game quite well. Hydro Thunder Hurricane in Windows 8 loads up natively in whatever resolution you’re already running Windows in, which in my case was a full blown 1920×1080 – and it looked great and played smooth the entire time.

If running Xbox Live Arcade games on Windows 8 is going to be a feature of Windows 8, even if games have to be rolled out one by one, my only request is that I get the games I already paid for automatically added to my account. For instance, Hydro Thunder Hurricane (which I have on the Xbox 360, along with Hydro Thunder Go on Windows Phone 7). But beyond that one request? I want everything else to be just like this. Multiple control scheme options, full resolution and fast, seamlessly integrated within Windows itself, fast launching… this was a true treat to stumble on to. Get yourself in to the Windows 8 “store” and check it out, if you still have the Consumer Preview – it seems to be absent in the Release Preview, so far – but perhaps I’m just looking in all the wrong places.