Xbox Live Gamerscore now earns rewards

Microsoft has implemented rewards for those that reach milestones for their achievement bolstered gamer scores, offering birthday gifts and money back on purchases.

The introduction of gameplay achievements oh so many years ago was a big thing. It added a new element to gameplay that people enjoyed. While some games offered the full 1,000 points for simply completing a game, other developers took it in new directions offering extra points for those that played for long periods of time or achieved massive kill counts. They became a way of showing off. Now though, with everything from certain websites to Ereaders offering them, they've lost a lot of their original vitality. This latest move by Microsoft could help revive that.

For those with a gamer score between 3,000 and 9,999, you'll get a special gift on your birthday. Don't get too excited though, on the rewards sign up page, the * entry explaining it says that the approximate value of the present is 15p – so expect it to be a bit of avatar clothing or something similar.

The next threshold is 10,000 all the way up to 24,999. Those that reach this second group will receive the birthday surprise and a 1 per cent rebate on all Xbox Live marketplace purchases every month. Of course to obtain this money back offer, you'll need to have an active gold account, costing around £5 a month for monthly subscribers, or about £3.50 a month for yearly buyers.

The final group which is 25,000 points plus, is the same as the second offer, but offers a 2 per cent rebate instead.

KitGuru Says: While this is hardly going to make a huge difference to most Xbox gamers, it does make Microsoft look good for offering something for the most devout users of the platform. How many gamer points do you guys have? I'm around 10,000 last time I checked but I'm far from a big Xbox gamer. PC all the way.

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