I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the costs of having my xbox live account hacked and having my identity stolen.... i will never put my credit card on XBL or PSN.
Halo 4 Amex card holders credited $25 for completing game
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Microsoft partners with American Express for promotion that pays cardmembers for syncing their account with Xbox Live, accomplishing in-game tasks, and finishing campaign.
For some Halo 4 gamers, it will pay to play. Microsoft has partnered with American Express for a new promotion that gives eligible card holders coupons and credits for tying their account to Xbox Live and playing 343 Industries' new shooter.
Cardmembers in the United States and United Kingdom who sync their American Express card with their Xbox Live account will receive coupons to establishments like AMC Theatres, PacSun, and Carphone warehouse. Additionally, all card holders who sync their card with Xbox Live will receive an automatic credit of $10 in the US or £10 in the UK.
On top of that, American Express cardmembers who play Halo 4 will be rewarded with credits and coupons for their in-game achievements. Those who complete the single-player campaign on Normal or harder difficulty will instantly receive a $25 statement credit (£25 statement credit for those in Europe).
Further, if a player is one of the first 25 people in the US or one of the first 5 in the UK to complete the campaign alone on Legendary difficulty, they will be entered to win a trip to the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo.
For more on the promotion, check out the American Express landing page. Halo 4 is due out worldwide November 6. GameSpot's review of the title praised its story, combat mechanics, and competitive multiplayer, but lamented its fleeting Spartan Ops missions.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
185 comments
Who says gaming is only for kids and teenagers? Time to put my AMEX and good credit to use!
Interesting strategy. In many cases we are lucky if we don't have to pay more to even see an ending to a game.
That's good at least you get some thing for completing the game. i wonder what the fees will be like..
It is sad, but true so many people who use a rental service will just rent the game and beat it for a free 25 bucks.
@kawaiiflonne Why is that sad? If they wanted to incentivise buying the game they would have made the promotion "Get $25 back when you buy Halo 4." This is intentional.
people thsi is dumb, HALO is targeted to young people, and most young people cant even get the hardest card to get ( American Express) let alone a lot maybe have no credit at all, or already have a few things on there credit report that wont allow them tog et a AMEX card. plus AMEX charges you to pay a yearly fee for having a card. on top of that AMEX is no normal credit card, they want you to pay the balance IN FULL each month. i get the "oh wow gold AMEX card" all the time, im not stupid enough to get one.
seems like this is a total fail, what a 14 year old will tell mommy or daddy to snyc there AMEX card to LIve to get "free" money
Not all gamers are young. The Gold Card BTW is a charge card and not a credit card. You have to pay it in full each month or face big time fees. Amex also has credit cards available.
@msfan1289 Hows this targeted to young people?? 17+ sorry but this is a game for the older gamers not 14 year old's as it dose have a rateing of M
@msfan1289 Absolute fail. Amex has cards that don't charge annual fees nor require payment in full each month.
2 Like @msfan1289 You may be surprised to know that the average age of the gaming population is in the mid to late 20's now. Gamers do age. Gaming as a recreational activity is not just for bored teens.
Sounds cool but it's too bad that I absolutely REFUSE to ever get a credit card. Got enough debt from college, I certainly don't need any more.
@Jedilink109 It's not debt if you repay the balance within the grace period. A lot of credit cards have rewards programs that allow you to actually profit from using them - you just have to have the self-discipline to avoid spending more than you can repay quickly.
@Jedilink109 Credit cards aren't the problem, not paying the bill is the problem. My father got me my first card when I was 14 and made sure I paid it myself and on time. To date, I've never had to pay more than what I would have paid in cash (less actually, if you count the small % back I recieve every month.). Credit cards are great if you pay on time, it's when you don't pay on time that they backfire, but that's more of an issue with the holder, not the card. Do hate the 30+ "pre approved" offers every month though...
@---Cipher--- @Jedilink109 i get a ton from capital one. what i hate is offers from American Express and Discover card, the only 2 cards that most places ( if not a big box store) wont take at all because of the stupid transaction fees they get out of every charge.
5 Like @Jedilink109 good luck getting a low interest loan for a house or any other endeavor. u need a good credit score for that, and to build credit score you need a credit card. if ur not a dipshit and dont buy things you cant afford, and make your payments on time,you wont go into credit card debt
1 Like @ERRB73 My credit is fine dude. I've gotten different things with credit before. I even paid off my car about 2 years ahead of time.
I just don't see the point in paying for something twice (at the store, and then later with my bills when I "actually" pay for it). It's pointless and monotonous and that crap gets on my nerves. If there's something I really want that I can't afford, I typically just save up the money and buy it when I have it. Perhaps more people should do that and we wouldn't have such crushing debt across this entire country, *ahem* excuse me, WORLD.
1 Like Actually in order to build credit history you need to have revolving credit such as from a credit card, otherwise you will not have enough history and no one will ever lend you anything without a massive interest rate.
Credit Cards can actually be very helpful, especially those that give you rewards and don't have an annual fee, plus if you pay it back in full by your due date you will never get charged interest.
The people that say credit cards are trouble are the people that cannot handle it and spend money they don't have, just be responsible.
@Jedilink109 @ERRB73 yeah bro like people have over $18,000 plus to buy a new car in cash, yeah bro people can totally save that money up in months after paying bills, rent ( home loan) and unwanted expenses, yeah bro sounds liek mommy and daddy paid for your stuff bro. good job bro
He's right though. Many lenders will completely avoid lending to someone without a credit card. Bad credit is better than no credit, sadly.
Nice, but I still get 5% back with my other card. That adds up to a lot more since I pay for everything with my credit card.
MS whoring out the Halo franchise. But it still is nice to see that MS is giving ou cash to the dedicated hardcore people who would finish it.
I first thought that it meant that people would be have to pay 25 dollars for completing the game :P. What with all the fees that credit card holders have to pay and the overpricing of games you never know. This is pretty good, although I'm a bit wary about connecting this and that to different services.
This is one of the strangest incentives to get a credit card. Maybe it's a sign of video games becoming even more mainstream, which to me sounds like it's becomming a two edged sword.
Here we are already attaching our bank or credit card information to our consoles (buying MS points, DLC, Netflix, or what have you) and a credit card company actually found a way to take it upon themselves to up the ante and profit. You beat Halo 4, they sell you debt, Microsoft gets paid, all parties involved are happy. Very well played AMEX, very well played.
1 Like @TacticaIYou are only put in debt if you are irresponsible and do not pay off the balance by the due date. Credit cards are not evil, people are just stupid.
I agree. Wielding a credit card demands discipline, something the majority seems to lack. However for the disciplined Joe it can be resourceful in certain situations. Preferable more important stuff than a new Gucci purse or something...
@Lordcrabfood Any amount of a debt, is debt. If you charge .69 cents to buy chewing gum, hey guess what, you're .69 cents in debt. That is all they are selling you, debt. To insinuate anybody with a lot of credit card debt is stupid, is a little insensitive to say the least, the list of reasons why any given person could suddenly end up in a large amount of debt is pretty damn long. It isn't always THAT simple.
We are on a gamefaqs site promoting video games, video games are not a necessity, there are so many comments here about how credit card companies are ripping people off. No one is forcing you to take part in this and the last time I checked you did not require the game Halo 4 in order to live. The average credit card debt in the US per household is $7300, That is ridiculous. That is only credit crad debt, not taking into account other loans. The only reason people whinge about credit card companies is because they fail to pay off the money they owe. It is all about personal responsibility and anyone trying to blame financial institurions for their own personal debt is passing the buck.
@Lordcrabfood Good for you, and I would agree it would be stupid to blame the bank for credit card debt, especially if you didn't borrow the money from the bank. Though I don't know where you're getting this idea from that people do this on some sort of regular basis and living above their means by simply swiping their life away.
Actually it usually is that simple, stupid people blaming banks cause they accepted extra credit and then can not pay it off. If people stopped living above their means, then there would be no problems at all. I am aware that there are some exceptions, however these situations are in the minority. I have a credit card, always pay my balance on time, never have to pay extra apart from a small anual fee which is fine with me. I am sick of people blaming others for their problems, take responsibility for your own actions.
@Kjranu @Lordcrabfood That is a sound strategy, but I was consideeing people who use credit in emergencies and find later on they have a huge bill to pay, not to mention the other ways to end up with terrible credit, but I guess that isn't exactly relevant here lol.
@TacticaI @Lordcrabfood Consider credit cards something like a microloan to tide you over until the next paycheck. That is unless you spend beyond your means then you deserve what you get.
Now that's smart! Giving them money back for getting addicted to the franchise. Very smart move. I wouldn't be surprised if this grows.
1 Like It sounds like everyone who has a legitimate interest will be happy. Microsoft will see some of its customer accounts synced with a high credit line card. I don't know why, but I am sure it's good for MS. Amex will get some new customers and more usage from some existing customers. Gamers who qualify will get some monetary rewards for playing Halo 4. It's win-win-win.
Normally I'd say synching a credit card with Xbox Live will make those consumers personal financial info more susceptible to online fraud, but most Xbox Live users probably have some payment arrangement with MS already. If they can keep their Amex credit line low, a dedicated gaming card is easier to cancel and fix in a fraud, so it may be worthwhile to open a new account just for that purpose. Unless, of course, the synching makes it easier for the customer to lose other personal information or if Amex's fraud protection is weaker than other credit cards, but that's not for me to decide.
However you feel about this promotion is your business. I myself use only Playstation and Visa. I don't see why anyone would complain about the existence of this promotion though. For everyone who don't take issue with the way this contract is set up, they all benefit. And Gamespot has every reason to report this news to people who want and can get in on the deal but who may not learn about it otherwise. If you think this deal is BS, feel free to encourage others not to participate. I encourage all to exercise caution when participating. But to criticise this only because you want in but can't--and thus you want the deal not to exist so no one can get in on it--that's just childish.
2 Like I don't see how people would be upset over this, unless those are the same people who don't or can't get an Amex Card themselves.
I mean, you get rewarded for something you enjoy doing already, how is that bad?
Ugh, let me guess for the privilege of this Amex, or its card processors, will take an additional point off of retailers to pay for this.
Sorry if that sounds bitter and completely off topic, but I work retail and Amex has the highest card processing fees out of any of the big 3 card companies in North America, which as a consequence is one of the reasons so many places prefer not to take them.
I'm tired of American Express customers getting all these perks just because they are the least popular. Last Christmas, they got free gift wrapping at my mall.
Credit card companies make an insane amount of money for every card opened. If this makes people get AmEx cards, and if it turns some video gamers into its customers for life, this will be well worth it.
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- Publisher(s): Microsoft Game Studios
- Developer(s): 343 Industries
- Genre: Action
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