Way back in 2001, I was lucky enough to get an (original) Xbox shortly after launch. At the time, the Carson City Target was not a terribly popular place to buy video games. Jumping up to 2005 I had become a fairly solid fan of the platform and managed to get an Xbox 360 a few months after launch. However by the time the Xbox One came around, real life had struck and I had much less free time and money for video games. There was always a longing for the XBone but never strong enough to actually get one. That was, of course, until this Christmas when my girlfriend got me the Xbox One Elite Bundle. However, this is not a story of love so much as it is a study of on-boarding.

A while back Microsoft decided to do away with “points” and “point cards” for its Xbox service and converted everything to the user’s local currency. In the small print during that conversion was that your existing points would be expiring on Monday June 1, 2015. You should have also received one or more emails about this.

Today, the demo for Mass Effect 3 was released. I immediately downloaded it and fired it up. I was not disappointed.

Amazon is still doing expanded Holiday Deals. Even better than that, Steam is having a Holiday Sale. Now through December 31, you can get “gifts” or coal from steam for completing achievements. The gifts can be coupons or full games, additionally, the coal can be traded in for more gifts or further entries into a giveaway. Lastly, Microsoft is doing 12 Days of Xbox Deals (more info here). Merry Christmas and get onto Steam!

I’ve been an Xbox Live Gold member for the last few years now, and other than the first time I bought a Gold Membership (through the Xbox), I have always bought my memberships via cards that were on sale (usually through Amazon or eBay’s daily deal). As a result, my subscription had well over 20 months left on it.