Rolling in those MS

“Hi slappyhands,
Happy Birthday Month!
Congratulations! This month you'll be another year wiser. But what's a birthday without a sweet surprise? Try this: Enjoy 20 Microsoft Points as our gift to you. Use it toward anything you wish in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Your birthday Microsoft Points will be automatically deposited into your Xbox LIVE account by the 15th of the month.
It's just one of the fun extras you get for reaching CONTENDER, CHAMPION or LEGEND status on MyAchievements from Xbox LIVE Rewards. Now, take a deep breath and blow out those candles!
Hoping your birthday wishes come true,
Xbox LIVE Rewards Squad”

First off, thank you. Yes, my birthday is coming soon. Secondly, you don’t seem to have an adequate understanding of what things cost on Xbox Live, which is odd, because you work there. “20 Microsoft Points,” is not enough to buy, “anything you wish in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.” The lowest priced item I can think of is 80MS Points, and that will get you either an indie game, or a pair of gloves for your Avatar. So basically I’d have to save up my birthday rewards for four years to get something, and by that point, the 360 will be extinct. There’ll be a 720, or something similar. They’re phasing out the MS points by the end of this year, I heard, which is a move in the right direction. What happens to the points we have, though? Are they converted into dollars? True story, I still have credit left in my Playstation Store wallet, back from when I had a PSP. It’s only a dollar and some change, but there’s nothing I can buy with it, even if I had a Playstation product, because it’s so little. You’re expected to top up your non-refundable account to buy crap you don’t really need.