Microsoft's Weird Attempt At Getting Japanese Users To Play Xbox

Siliconera:

If Japan spends 300,000 hours on Xbox 360 during that time Xbox Live gold members will get 100 MSP and Xbox Live free members get 10 MSP. Reach 500,000 hours of cumulative playtime and gold members net 200 MSP while free members get 20 MSP. If Japan makes it to a million hours, Microsoft Japan will give 400 MSP to gold members (enough to get some older XBLA games) and 30 MSP for free members.

The playtime is cumulative across all players, but still — the rewards aren’t exactly enticing. 400 Microsoft Points converts to about a dollar in monetary value, which you can only receive if you have already paid for an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

I hate online systems that use their own abstracted coinage. Luckily, the next Xbox will scrap Points in favour of dollars and cents. Much better.