Points. Seems like some people are still a little confused about two different points systems on Xbox 360, that is, the difference between gamerscore and Microsoft Points. I know that many of you that have played with the system for a while have got it all down, but some people still might need a little help.

 

Gamerscore: On your gamer card, there's a little (G) symbol and a number. The number starts out at zero, and goes up as you unlock achievements. You may get 5 achievement points for getting the Cluster Buster achievement in Hexic HD, and 10 more for winning your first game of UNO.

 

Gamerscore is for bragging rights. (In fact, during development, its name was "cred," as in "street cred.") It has no monetary value. It's not really a measurement of skill, either; achievements are totally up to the game developer, so some games have easy achievements and some are super hard. Gamerscore is a reflection of how many games you've played and how much you've played them.

 

Microsoft Points: Also known as MS Points, these kinds of points are purchased with real money and can be used to redeem content from Xbox Live Marketplace. It's a microtransaction system; that is, you buy a certain number of points, then use portions of that point balance to obtain content online. 

 

Your MS Points balance is visible in Xbox Live Marketplace, and also at billing.microsoft.com. You can purchase points in Xbox Live Marketplace using a credit card, or you can use a prepaid card to put points on your account. (There are also sometimes promotions that give out prepaid codes.) MS Points have nothing to do with gamerscore; a high gamerscore is not rewarded with and can't be traded for MS Points.

 

So, that's a quick overview. If you're still fuzzy on the concepts, just remember one thing: gamerscore does not translate to MS Points or vice versa. You can't trade one for the other. Playing till your eyes bleed to get gamerscore isn't going to automatically get you a new theme or Xbox Live Arcade game. It's cool, though. I think you'll find plenty of things in Xbox Live Marketplace worth starting your own cache of Microsoft Points.