First Impressions: "Xbox Tournaments App"

Everyone knows that video game developers these days could care less about making a quality product, and more about the money making part of it. Often times games are released half-assed, or require additional DLC purchases for you to get features that should have/could have been included with the game without too much more effort/investment from the developer. Well it seems the guys & gals over at Virgin Gaming have taken it a step further with what appears to be legalized gambling via the Xbox 360 console. Upon downloading the "Xbox Tournaments" app, and signing up for an account I found out (much to my dismay) that the tournaments only included sports titles, and that it had a sort of wager system where a players could put in real money (via credit card, or what have you) in hopes of securing a larger monetary prize. At this point I haven't really looked too closely at the offerings of the app, but these first impressions have me questioning the motives behind the people at Virgin Gaming as well as the potential for future thefts by hackers.

I'm honestly curious as to if anyone has fallen for this gimic yet, or even what you may think of it. I for one see more harm coming from this tournament venture than good. For example if you were to load up your in-game wagers with big time bucks, and someone were able to gain your info via the official website, or through Microsoft somehow you'd be at a loss. Not only does this concern me, but the fact that I thought gambling was illegal in some instances makes me question the legal validity of this app.With that being said I can tell you now that even though I signed up for this competitive tomfoolery I will not be investing one penny into the tournaments. Unless there's some way to win without forfeiting my hard earned cash I'll be staying the hell away from this thing.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on the matter. If someone out there knows something that I don't please don't hesitate to let me know. For now though I'm going to leave this article as it is, a "First Impressions" write up of my concerns about the Virgin Gaming Xbox Tournaments App.

*UPDATE*

There are hidden fees associated with signing up for an Xbox Tournaments account. For certain periods of player "Inactivity" Virgin Games will deduct $2.00 per month that you do not participate. Stay the Hell away from this thing folks!!!

- Brad (OtakuDante) -