Xbox Rewards Challenge - Rewards Expire?

So I logged into my .NET account (or whatever Microsoft is calling it these days) to find out when my Xbox Live Gold subscription expires. When I logged in, I had this nice little message waiting for me:


So, it turns out the points given away in the Rewards Challenge expire after 30 days. Here's the information they give you when you click on the "Learn About Expiring Points" link:

When do my Microsoft Points expire?
Purchased points don't expire. Any points you get through promotions can have expiration dates. Typically, points expire within thirty days of the date you get them. To view any points in your account that have expiration dates, go to the Billing and Account Management page, sign in with your Windows Live ID, and then click Microsoft Points under Stored Credits. If you have points that are expiring in the next thirty days, you can click View expiring points to view the points and their expiration dates.

I don't remember them mentioning this in the past. Also, I redeemed these points on March 31st and they expire on April 22nd, so that means they expire 30 days from the time Microsoft made them available to redeem, NOT 30 days from the time you redeem them. The funny thing is, Microsoft never told me I could redeem any of my rewards from the Rewards Challenge. I only found out through one of the many gaming blogs I read. I'd imagine there are a lot of people out there that don't even know the rewards are available right now. By the time they find out the points will have expired. Seems a little shady to me, Microsoft.

Update: It looks like I jumped the gun on this one. The 200 points that are expiring aren't from the Xbox Rewards Challenge. They're from another promotion that I participated in. It was the Xbox Live Arcade Trivia where I won 1,000 points. Shortly after winning I purchased Alien Hominid HD (great game, by the way, but super hard) and that used up 800 of those points. The remaining 200 are the ones expiring soon. So the good news is, people that participated in the Rewards Challenge don't have to worry about their points expiring so soon. The bad news is, Microsoft is still giving away expiring points. I guess we'll find out soon enough if the Rewards Challenge points are going to expire at some point too.

Encore!

Ok, just one more of these videos. This video is much better quality than the last one. You can actually see what's on the screen this time. This time around we're playing Surrender by Cheap Trick. Enjoy!

We Rock Hard

So, last Friday I played Guitar Hero II for the first time at a local BestBuy. I was hooked immediately. So hooked that I went to Walmart at midnight a couple nights ago to get the game as soon as it was released. Well, it turns out that I'm not the only one who is having a blast. Heather is loving the game as well. We decided that since we both loved playing it, it would be even more fun if we could play it together. So, we picked up a second guitar yesterday. Now, behold as we rock hard to Possum Kingdom by the Toadies. Heather plays on Easy and I'm only good enough for Medium right now. The video quality is pretty bad. I'll have to work on getting some better quality video on here, but this gets the job done.