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Xbox Live May Be Moving To Free

kotaku.com — It seems that ending the gold/silver distinction in Games for Windows Live (effectively making it free) might have had the same effect for those who game on titles that are both PC and 360

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  • SpiritOfRock, on 07/27/2008, -7/+55Woohoo!
    • BoneStamp, on 07/28/2008, -12/+9Ya, might actually turn off my PS3 and play my 360 a bit then.
    • Halokhan, on 07/28/2008, -4/+2Since Shadowrun is free to play now. I want everybody to check out this amazing game and bring some life back into it. Its only $15 on Amazon and is definitely worth the look. Great Respect goes out to Jon Howard, The Father of Halo CE and Shadowrun. Thank you.
      • BugMeNot2, on 07/28/2008, -2/+6I was about to buy it on the PC for $5, but since it requires Vista, I pretty much said to myself "***** it."
      • Suprfire, on 07/28/2008, -1/+4Naw you said-
        ***** it
        WELL DO IT LIVE!
      • rudieboy, on 07/28/2008, -2/+3WE"LL DO IT LIVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!
  • Foliot, on 07/27/2008, -31/+290If I have to keep paying for the best console online experience, I will... But free is nice too.
    • theaceoffire, on 07/28/2008, -3/+70It would certainly remove one of my biggest complaints!
      • OhFrak, on 07/28/2008, -39/+8Just think!

        You'd be getting laggy P2P gaming and the pathetically low players counts FOR FREE!!!

        No wonder the 360 is selling at exactly the same rate as the first Xbox fiasco. No one but existing US Xbox owners would be dumb enough to buy a 360:

        Wimpy graphically hardware - Unreal Engine 3 LOL!
        Worst console hardware reliability ever
        Gimped storage format - only 7 gigs compared to 8.5 gigs last gen
        50 dollar a year online charges
        No dedicated servers
        Laggy P2P gaming
        Disc scratching/disc destroying 12x DVD drive
        Loudest console on the market
        Overpriced add-ons - 100 dollars just for WiFi, double cost proprietary harddrive upgrades

        WTF was Microsoft thinking when they rushed this turd of a console out the door back in 2005...

      • birch25, on 07/28/2008, -2/+16OhFrak, i find it humerous one pf your complaints with the xbox360 is it's $50-a-year online when the very article you're posting for is about Live being free. just sayin...
      • theaceoffire, on 07/28/2008, -15/+9I am a PS3 owner.
        I was writing a huge list here, with multiple bullet points... and I realized that no one would read it, and no one would care. So let me sum up:

        The 360 is a powerful machine with a few issues that MS plans to resolve by releasing a new XBOX console by the time each issue becomes unbearable. Hopefully one with backwards compatibility, but probably not.

        And don't spout that stuff about "Wimpy Graphical Hardware". Have you *seen* bioshock?
      • OhFrak, on 07/28/2008, -23/+5birch25 you *****.

        We're not 'complaining' about the ***** Xbox 360 online service and its 50 dollar a year for laggy P2P online.

        We are making fun of it.

        Got it? Good, now shut the ***** up.

      • GlitchEnzo, on 07/28/2008, -4/+14"Wimpy graphically hardware"

        FACT: The 360 has a more powerful GPU than the PS3. It has more pipelines, plus it has a unified architecture.
      • Smills, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5I'm a PS3 owner. I also own an Xbox 360. They are both good, but I play the 360 more to be honest.
      • Duggan360, on 07/28/2008, -3/+8Who agrees OhFrak is one big douche?
      • StefanArak, on 07/28/2008, -3/+3"No wonder the 360 is selling at exactly the same rate as the first Xbox fiasco. "

        OhFrak, you do realise that the 360 has sold nearly double the amount that PS3s have?

        http://nexgenwars.com/
      • 1gunners4, on 07/28/2008, -1/+2Is... Is OhFrak insinuating that PSN is superior to XBL???
      • Duggan360, on 07/28/2008, -1/+1StefanArak if you look at the 'Where do we get our blah blah from' you will see they say they are only estimates from votes
      • StefanArak, on 07/29/2008, -0/+0Yeah, I looked at that, and it doesn't say anything like that!

        Look.

        "What we do here at NexGen Wars is compile numbers from NPD, Media Create, ChartTrack, as well as various other sources. We then take these numbers and, based on past sales trends, extrapolate the numbers out to give as close to real-time estimates as possible. Again, these are only estimates, but we are confident in our ability to bring you accurate and unbiased sales figures. Not only do we extrapolate the numbers out so they don't lag months behind with the official sales numbers, but we also update the numbers when new official numbers have been released to keep our estimates as accurate as possible."

        So they are taken from sales figures; they only say they're estimates because they're not real time. The votes have nothing to do with it.
        The votes are just who you think will win eventually.
    • OhFrak, on 07/28/2008, -46/+8"If I have to keep paying for the best console online experience"

      Xbox 360 online - Laggy P2P online gaming?

      What a pathetic joke of an online service.



      • Psythik, on 07/28/2008, -0/+18Stop using dialup.
      • richardhenry, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5Mine doesn't lag. Are you using plastic cups and string for your connection? They suggest otherwise in the manual.
      • cruzer2727, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2It's called 15mbs down, you should try it.
      • chaosblade77, on 07/29/2008, -1/+1@cruzer2727

        Too bad a lack of competition between ISPs prevents that kind of thing in a lot of places, some of us are stuck between crappy DSL connection of less than 1mb/s and a massively overpriced cable connection ($60/month last I checked) for 5mb/s.
      • ScionX, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Most of the lag on XBL is due to people thinking they have T1 connections going to their home. While I understand and kinda agree that we shouldnt be paying for a big P2P network if you experience lag it's because either your or the hosts connection is not able to handle what he's trying to make it do. Nothing to do with the XBL service.
    • dandonia, on 07/28/2008, -36/+5The only time it would be going free is if the PS3 were offering pretty much an identical service for free - oh wait they are.

      XBL is awesome - it is hardly £35 per year better than PSN.

      PSN and Metal Gear Solid and £5 change

      vs

      Xbox live

      -----

      PSN wins.
      • Duggan360, on 07/28/2008, -2/+4I hate your type!
        Get off your all mighty hill of ***** because no one cares!
      • krekc, on 07/28/2008, -5/+3PSN wins? Really? Does PSN offer netflix? No, I didnt think so.
      • theonlybradever, on 07/28/2008, -3/+1"PSN and Metal Gear Solid and £5 change"

        how's that Metal Gear Online outage?
      • dandonia, on 07/29/2008, -2/+1I don't see netflix on the 360 either - you idiots - you never seem to look past your borders. When the rest of the world get Netflix on their 360 then you can brag about it - until then STFU. Also Netflix really? - you think Netflix makes the 360 a better media player than the PS3? Don't think so buddy. Come back when it has the same codec support as the PS3, Bluray, wireless networking, streaming that doesn't take any configuring and the ability to move data from a usb device to the harddrive - like say movies and music. Even if the 360 got all those features it still wouldn't be as good. A quite moment in a horror flick is hardly quite if you are watching it on the 360.
        ----

        I wasn't saying XBL sucks, I was saying that for the same price as a years subscription I can lay my hands on Metal Gear Solid have a 5er change and still play online. Over the last two years that I have had my 360 £85 on XBL is ridiculas - thats 4 full games with change right there and for what? The ability to play online which has always been there on the PS3 for free.

        ---
        "I hate your type!"
        You mean "people who can count" or "people who are smarter than you"
    • StefanArak, on 07/28/2008, -6/+6Nah. You see, you have no-one to play with if you're on PSN.
    • troopa, on 07/28/2008, -4/+1I'm glad people are digging you up. Whenever I say something positive about Xbox Live's fees, I get digged down. It's a mystery!
    • adrames, on 07/28/2008, -1/+1I wouldn't say it's the best online community...
  • BookmasterIce, on 07/27/2008, -56/+81Is it just me, or should this have been the case when the x360 was first released ?

    Sorry m$, looks like you cant collectively fist ***** my wallet any more :)
    • Foliot, on 07/27/2008, -3/+55They can do whatever they want. If they CHOOSE not to fist ***** your wallet, you can :) all you want.
    • BookmasterIce, on 07/27/2008, -1/+11Hmm... well, there's no possible way to fit TWO fist's in there, maybe if they leave i can colonize.
    • WYendrys, on 07/27/2008, -2/+17I like when they fist ***** me...err...my wallet.
    • BookmasterIce, on 07/27/2008, -1/+8Ill assume you meant the latter.
    • Ajajadude, on 07/27/2008, -5/+35It's never gonna happen. Microsoft giving up a source of income that millions of people are seemingly willing to pay for? Yeah, and the next version of Windows will be reasonably priced.
    • joshuagor44, on 07/28/2008, -3/+10Why the dollar sign?
    • HCviolence, on 07/28/2008, -4/+26If 4.16$ a month equates ***** to you then maybe it's time to change your career.
      • alexforcefive, on 07/28/2008, -11/+14It's not the cost, it's the fact you have to pay for it at all. Since when was paying for multiplayer considered reasonable?
      • SwedishNinja, on 07/28/2008, -9/+14"It's not the cost, it's the fact you have to pay for it at all. Since when was paying for multiplayer considered reasonable?"

        Umm, since every MMORPG ever (Well, most MMOs)
      • Memnochxx, on 07/28/2008, -6/+10Since before xbox live was even a thought.
      • alexforcefive, on 07/28/2008, -6/+6yeah, because it's only MMORPGs you have to pay for...
      • Disease, on 07/28/2008, -3/+6Is $40 for a year and a month really that bad? As much as I'd like Live for free I don't mind paying the $40 to have a unified online system for a year.
      • Falsey, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3Actually, in the industry, $4.16 will only get you a *****; you'd have to raise the bar to around $6.23 for a *****.

        And don't even get me started on blowjobs...
      • CarzorStelatis, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1@alexforcefive:
        Have you ever heard of something called World of Warcraft? Millions of PC users pay a helluva lot more than Xbox Live just to play _one game_ online. You see, in this world full of people who don't live in basements, many of us are willing to pay for a service if we consider it valuable to us.
    • lupka, on 07/28/2008, -11/+4PS3 Fanboy Alert
    • uberduger, on 07/28/2008, -3/+1Everyone who refers to Microsoft as M$ is a massive douche. We get it already. It was barely funny or clever the first time, and it's sure as hell not funny or clever now.
  • ithejosh, on 07/27/2008, -55/+21You people have ***** issues. Take a look at yourself. I have ***** had it with XBOX Live's influence on the ***** internet. You really think making xbox live free is a ***** joke? do you? BURN IN HELL, *****. Don't tell me where the ***** line is, because if you don't know, you have probably corssed it many times in the past, and will again in the future.

    Bringing up memories of xbox live not being free to a comment thread based on a story about an article? ***** low. I wish reporting inappropriate content actually did something these days, but in the actuality, it won't change much. The same ***** will always come back, poking at jokes, and relying on the other sick ***** to digg them up.
    That's it digg, I'm starting to give up. It is going to take some ***** dynamite samaritans to drag this ***** back up to the good site it used to be. For all you ***** digging these guys up, I seriously question your humanity. This is not the time of the place to make jokes about this kind of material, and you know that. You ***** know it.
    • joecolly, on 07/27/2008, -0/+29That's what she sa..
      Nevermind, that'll probably just piss you off even more.
      • PaddyD, on 07/27/2008, -0/+8Turn off your internet and go take a walk or something, jeez.
    • CollapseControl, on 07/27/2008, -1/+12So... do you use the Xbox 360 to game online or not?
    • fizquierdo87, on 07/28/2008, -1/+15wow, that comment in video form would have been pure gold.
      • Galaxylander, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3ANGRY GERMAN KID: English Edition
    • Mr_Lyle, on 07/28/2008, -1/+14It was funny once or twice...it's over now.
      • vinceislegend, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5I dugg you up. I didn't read it all, but you are adorable.
    • MasterChief4134, on 07/28/2008, -1/+7sir, the first thing you need to do is CALM THE ***** DOWN
      • KingFog, on 07/28/2008, -1/+2Sigh... He was repeating a comment from a story about Virginia Tech building a super-computer to try and get cheap lulz...

        He wasn't angry, he just failed...
    • Muncher, on 07/28/2008, -1/+3You, sir, have corssed the line!
    • Ramenamen, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6What the hell are you even talking about
    • Disease, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1The line must be drawn here!
    • Trax91, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3Why so Serious?
    • thh204, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3I don't think that many people got it.
  • CochiseFugue, on 07/27/2008, -6/+81 I honestly hope that they give online gaming ability to silver members. A switch to a free-based online gaming service would push them past the minor thing the PS3 currently has over it which is the fact that the PSN is free, though kinda *****. A switch like this could have a huge effect on their already substantial market share.

    However, it would also make sense for them to give gold members a reason to keep paying a subscription fee.

    So what would you still have to pay for in this "New" Gold Membership? How about a subscription to Netflix giving you access to the new streaming video service available late this fall, and how about that streaming alternative/replacement to cable/satellite television they brought up with that DirectTV partnership a couple years back.....? I'd keep paying for Gold for that.... and cancel my cable.
    • Mr_Lyle, on 07/27/2008, -3/+23That's all good and well but you're thinking too locally. None of the features you've mentioned would matter to anyone outside the United States. None of us outside the US will be able to access the Netflix feature or any sort of streaming television through a DirecTV deal anyway, so there would be absolutely no incentive for us to keep paying. If they do make online gaming free, they'd need to figure out other ways to make people want to continue paying for their gold accounts. While I very much hope they stop charging for Live, the fact is that there are way too many people willing to pay for the service and I have a real hard time believing they'll just throw away that big a revenue source just outta the goodness of their hearts. At least not until Sony's PSN becomes a serious threat.
      • werries, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2what if Gold membership gave access to the lower-end priced marketplace stuff?
      • dandonia, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Sony's PSN/PS3 have always been a serious threat - Why do you think it has been outselling the 360 for such a long time?

        The 360 is cool but it really doesn't come close to the PS3 in terms of value for money.
    • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -15/+6Disagreed. PSN is superior. When Live uses dedicated servers instead of peer to peer, then bitch. Till then, Live is inferior
      • Zarokima, on 07/28/2008, -8/+2What happens when those dedicated servers go down? You never have to worry about that with peer-to-peer.
      • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -2/+2And yet MS still shut down the Steel Battalion servers
      • dandonia, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Do you not remember the massive XBL outage over xmas?

        http://kotaku.com/347358/

        ---

        They both have their own weaknesses but one of them is free
    • freebird09, on 07/28/2008, -1/+16Perhaps if silver became heavily ad-supported and gold was ad-less?
      • uberduger, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1But can you imagine how bad it would get? Flash adverts popping out from your dashboard urging you to click the Fart Button... If that ever happened, they'd better make a Bronze account type that was the same as today's Silver.
    • SuicideMouse, on 07/28/2008, -0/+8I'm waiting on PSN to let Canadians and the rest of us download movies and tv shows. If they do it fast and well they'll be seriously thanked by those of us who WANT to Legally download movies but have very little selection on Xbox Live.

      The option to play while downloading seems to work very well for all of their other videos on the PSN and I would love to be able to do that with movies.

      I've rented 1 movie on Xbox Live and I never will again unless they seriously manage to make the service a whole ***** lot better.

      P.S. It would have been really nice if Sony mentioned at E3 that no one else was getting the store upgrade...
      • Sarawanan, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3iTunes is a decent option for movies and TV shows in Canada,

        However, I know that most people want to watch on a big screen and they just don't want another peice of equipment crowding up the place {AppleTV}.
      • kyrre, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1What is wrong with the video service on Xbox Live? I do not have access to it but I am curious to know.
      • SuicideMouse, on 07/30/2008, -0/+1Kyrre, I don't know if you'll see this comment but:

        We have a VERY limited selection. Very limited.
    • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/28/2008, -5/+5Free XBL would completely ***** the service to death.

      Every 12 year old in the world, every idiot, would be on it - not only being annoying - but further clogging their already often ***** servers. Please, I'd rather pay.
      • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -2/+10"Every 12 year old in the world, every idiot, would be on it "

        They are now
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2Yeah – I realize that, but just imagine that doubled. That's what free XBL would be like, at least with the paid account there is some small filter.

        I kind of wish they could allow a 18+ XBL area, verified by the CC info on your account or something... but oh well, I suppose that's what my PC is for.
      • uberduger, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2@ RobertLeAwesome: I totally agree - was talking to my brother about this yesterday. 18+ would work so well. If anyone who reads this has a blog, please write a post about it so we can digg the hell out of it and get a petition going!
        The single thing keeping me from XBL is all the annoying little brats on there. HEAR THAT, MICROSOFT?!
        You will get my £50 as soon as you can guarantee I won't have to hear a prepubescent voice yelling 'niggerniggerniggernigger!!!' at me.
      • Pic0, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1Currently you can already play with the 12 yr olds and you can mute them too.

        As long as games have mute feature there shouldn't be a problem with letting everyone in to play.

        i would suggest MS require a CC# for confirmation that an adult understands online play or the person is 18+

        provide a feature for 12 year old's parents to have communication blocked over live
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3 it's not as fun when you play online and have to mute 3/4 of your team, what's the point of online play at that point?

        Generally when I have an annoying team of 12 year olds, in gears or something – is when I revert to age 6, spin in circles and throw grenades at them – because otherwise I'd just be helping them win, and when annoying people win it just makes them more annoying. I really feel like an asshat when I do that, so I'd rather avoid it.
    • NCg8r, on 07/28/2008, -1/+1At least it's limited to every idiot willing to pay a recurring fee...
    • bigfatpaulie, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2A free 1000 ms points each month would be a good reason to keep paying for gold if they made the online play free. But I doubt either scenario will happen.
  • CollapseControl, on 07/28/2008, -7/+67Here goes Kotaku, blowing ***** out of proportion again, it is pretty clear what the deal is.
    • Bartboy919, on 07/28/2008, -0/+11Well, I trtied it myself with shadow run, and what they are reporting seems to be true.
      • CollapseControl, on 07/28/2008, -9/+2It seems like it's an error between the crossplatform games, and it'll be fixed soon I bet.
      • beefchi, on 07/28/2008, -0/+9no, i think only cross platform games will be free on xbox live
      • vinceislegend, on 07/28/2008, -10/+3GTA4 was just confirmed for PC. That is more than good enough for me.
    • AZRoboto, on 07/28/2008, -0/+16The article said that there's a Live Free Weekend going on right now, so of course it'll work for you.

      If it's still working tomorrow on a non-cross-platform game, like Halo or COD4 or GTA, then Live on Silver is real
      • xino, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5I just logged in with my silver account and tried to play Halo 3 on Xbox Live, but it didn't work.
      • Gromdul, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2I saw "he played on Thursday" and thought of how Double XP Weekends always seem to start on Thursday evenings for me. I think it has something to do with the international date line.
    • OhFrak, on 07/28/2008, -18/+5What a ***** of an online service.

      50 dollar a year just to be 'allowed' to play games online

      Over 5 years that adds 250 dollars to the price of the 360 - 300-400 console + 250 dollar online fees == 550-650 dollars

      No dedicated servers

      Laggy P2P online infrastructure - Microsoft is forcing 360 owners to pay and then gamers have to rely on each other residential bandwith limits for servers

      Player hosted P2P online means pathetic player counts like 8 for Gears of War and 16 for Halo 3

      Too bad for Microsoft the inane 50 dollar a year online fees is the only thing keeping the 360 barely out of the red in losses.


      • Muyoso, on 07/28/2008, -3/+4First of all, there are dedicated servers. Microsoft runs servers for certain games, companies like EA run their own servers. I have NEVER lagged online once with XBL. Levels are already a ***** with that many people in them, any more and it would be unbearable.

        So every one of your points is wrong. Thanks for trying. Oh, and tell me how your beloved PS3 is at inviting friends to come play with you in game, while chatting with them no matter what game they are in?
      • username9000, on 07/28/2008, -0/+9You seriously must be a Sony plant. You just regurgitate the same ***** over and over and over.
      • CollapseControl, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2Guarenteed this whiney little kid hasn't even used the 360 to get a good game session going.

        If he did have a 360 chances are, he loaded up one match, got destroyed in a legit way, then got ***** talked to, began to cry, and packed up his 360 to return it.
  • Hellman109, on 07/28/2008, -7/+35The difference is that on the PC side it was a flop, on the Xbox side its basically a must have...

    I dont mind paying because it kicks ass.
    • OhFrak, on 07/28/2008, -29/+6Yes, 50 dollar a year laggy P2P gaming 'kicks ass'!

      LOL! Sucker born every minute...

      • xino, on 07/28/2008, -0/+9I have played many lag free games on Xbox Live. When I first got it in 2003, I played Wolfenstein and XIII a lot and those had lots of lag, but Halo 2 and 3, Gears of War, COD 4, and others had really good performance.
      • werries, on 07/28/2008, -1/+8you pay more for gas than for a year of Xbox Live, quit your bitching.
        Xbox Live is not laggy 90% of the time. and its a wonderful service.
        i'd still pay for xbox live, but if its free, awesome.
      • RaiderTD, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4You are a *****.
    • EvilCan, on 07/28/2008, -1/+12^ Said by someone who has never tried XBL*

      *I freely admit that I've never tried PSN, but that's not really all that relevant.
    • Yondelldude, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2I don't mind paying either. Why? Because even that small amount of $7 a month ($4 if you pay for a year up front) is enough to keep the REAL idiots off of Xbox Live. Yes, I'm glossing over the mouthbreathing losers and twelve-year-olds on crack because more often than not I don't put my headset on. And even though they're annoying, a good majority are still decent players to play against or have on your team.

      I get the feeling that people that haven't tried Xbox live yet still complain about the lack of maturity on Halo 3 have no idea what lurking horrors await the entire XBL community if they open the tubes up to everyone.
  • whataboutdave, on 07/28/2008, -28/+26I might be the only one that feels this way, but the price attached to XBL has kept me from buying any Xbox product thus far.

    Cheap as it may be, I don't see the point in paying to use the internet connection I already pay for. As good as the interface is, the whole thing just seems like a way to extract more $$$ from the user for as little product as possible.
    • watership, on 07/28/2008, -12/+40The fact that you don't own an Xbox 360 is why you can't see the value of Xbox Live.

      • snoogit, on 07/28/2008, -8/+16Bingo. Using the 360 without live is hard to do.
      • whataboutdave, on 07/28/2008, -9/+7My friends have 360s which I have used many times. XBL still doesn't blow me away.
      • Muyoso, on 07/28/2008, -8/+4What do your friends do with their consoles? Hit them with sticks? It doesnt impress you that at the punch of a button you can be chatting with a friend who is hundreds of miles away? Another tap of a button, you invite him to come and play online with you. 20 seconds later his game is up and running and youa re running around a battlefield with your friend, while talking to him through the headset. That doesnt impress you? I was blown away the first time I saw it.
      • whataboutdave, on 07/28/2008, -4/+8I WAS blown away the first time I saw it... a decade ago on Dreamcast if I remember correctly. In 2008 online play is commonplace - expected even.

        XBL is only special in that it requires subscription payment to make use of online play. I ask again: why doesn't Microsoft allow private servers and other online options beyond XBL gold? I think its a racket.
    • RudeTurnip, on 07/28/2008, -5/+15Your internet connection fee and Xbox Live fee are two completely separate things. For $50 a year or $8 a month, you're paying Microsoft to maintain a unified infrastructure across all games that allows players to easily find each other and play together, as well as keep score. Your games will work just fine without Gold membership and you'll still get system and games updates.
      • whataboutdave, on 07/28/2008, -1/+6I understand all of that, but at the end of the day why can't I just set up private servers as I would with any PC game? All I'm asking for is a few options so that online play isn't crippled without gold membership.
      • theonlybradever, on 07/28/2008, -0/+0whataboutdave:

        you CAN create private servers, even dedicated ones, depending on the game.

        that's up to the developer, not Microsoft.
    • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -15/+11I have a 360. I refuse to pay for Live. It's not worth it.
      PSN is superior, I get any multiplatform game for PS3 instead
      • JudgeMonkey, on 07/28/2008, -4/+12Ok, well that's a fine opinion, I strongly beg to differ though. I bought rainbow six vegas 2 on ps3 because a friend only has ps3 and wanted to play. So, I'm playing on my own in a game of team leader (endless respawns until the player designated as leader dies, then it's deathmatch with 1 life.) when I get team killed by "Crazy_Monkey24". I guess he didn't feel any loyalty to the species or was just faking.
        Anyway, on the 360 I can choose to avoid this player, on PSN I basically could mute him, or be his best buddy. Live is fine without you, and it has features I just feel weird without.
      • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -6/+4You can block him on PSN as well

        Live has very little PSN does not. In fact, the ONLY features Live has PSN doesn't are in-game voice chat channels with ppl playing other games, and invites. Both of which promised by Sony.

        I hate when ppl claim Live has this laundry list of features PSN lacks, it doesn't.
    • AZRoboto, on 07/28/2008, -11/+5PS3's online sucks, there is absolutely no denying that. Wii online play sucks, that's a given.

      360's online rocks. Cross-game invites, cross-game chat, unified name and friends list. Ranking and achievements in all games. People have mics!

      There are different standards on consoles vs. PCs. On Consoles there's a need for unification, PCs do their own thing. And on a console, you're spending $400 for the whole machine, not $2000.
      • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -5/+3"PS3's online sucks, there is absolutely no denying that"

        I deny that, it's better than 360s
      • StefanArak, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3Yeah, but that makes you an idiot.
    • 33PercentGod, on 07/28/2008, -1/+6"As good as the interface is, the whole thing just seems like a way to extract more $$$ from the user for as little product as possible."

      No silly,that's what the Marketplace is for. Pay to unlock content and themes FTW.
    • antbedenman, on 07/28/2008, -4/+2what's the difference? Heaven forbid you buy a phone connection and add text messaging or buy cable and add premium channels?
  • CochiseFugue, on 07/28/2008, -2/+10I have to note that I do agree with CollapseControl. This is being blown out of proportion and I neglected to note that it will most likely only apply to games that run between the 360 and PC, if that. I merely hope that what I posted above is the case..... cause I know I'd support it.
  • Shaggy3, on 07/28/2008, -6/+16A very non-Microsoft move.. And a move in a great direction.
  • SidiousX3, on 07/28/2008, -27/+5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _________
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ./ It’s a trap!
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _,,,--~~~~~~~~--,_ . . . . ._________/
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,-‘ : : : :::: :::: :: : : : : :º ‘-, . . /. . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . . . . . . .,-‘ :: : : :::: :::: :::: :::: : : :o : ‘-, . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . . . . . ,-‘ :: ::: :: : : :: :::: :::: :: : : : : :O ‘-, . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . . . .,-‘ : :: :: :: :: :: : : : : : , : : :º :::: :::: ::’; . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . . .,-‘ / / : :: :: :: :: : : :::: :::-, ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ; . . . . . . . .
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    . . . . . . . /,’,-‘ :: :: :: :: :: :: :: : ::_,-~~,_’-, ;; ;; ;; ;; | . . . . . . .
    . . . . . _/ :,’ :/ :: :: :: : : :: :: _,-‘/ : ,-‘;’-‘’’’’~-, ;; ;; ;;,’ . . . . . . . .
    . . . ,-‘ / : : : : : : ,-‘’’ : : :,--‘’ :|| /,-‘-‘--‘’’__,’’’ ;; ;,-‘ . . . . . . . .
    . . . :/,, : : : _,-‘ --,,_ : : : ||/ /,-‘-‘x### :: ;;/ . . . . . . . . . .
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    : : : : : : :¯’’~~~~~~’’’ : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : : :
    • joemofo214, on 07/28/2008, -3/+10back to 4chan with you *****
    • Managua8Green, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3you can only use this once every 4 days
  • joemofo214, on 07/28/2008, -13/+6I will happily sit through ads if it means free xbox live.
    • nunofgs, on 07/28/2008, -2/+21Surprise! You're paying and you already sit through ads.
      • sugarazor, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3What ads do you sit through on Xbox Live? There are ads on the dashboard, but they no way make you "sit through" something. I think joemofo meant he would handle something like a 30 second break during a session to watch a movie trailer or something like that.
      • AAK15, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1What ads do you guys sit through? I'm under 18 and i get no ***** ads haha
  • vinceislegend, on 07/28/2008, -3/+11Is it true that, if you don't use it, you lose it?
    • snoogit, on 07/28/2008, -2/+12Only if it's your penis.
    • MrFisty, on 07/28/2008, -1/+2Aside from agreeing with the penis comment, if you have a silver account and you don't use it for a certain length of time, you will lose the account. I recently downgraded my gold membership while I'm without my 360 at the moment, and I was told I'd need to log in online periodically to make sure I don't lose it.
  • Makkiux, on 07/28/2008, -7/+21Its about damn time, it is ridiculous that I have to pay for a service that contains adds. It should be one way or the other
    • rugabug, on 07/28/2008, -1/+15You mean like cable?
    • sugarazor, on 07/28/2008, -1/+8Dude... One, you're on the internet, which is nothing but advertising. Two, the ads on Xbox Live do nothing - they don't pop up, you're not forced to watch them, they're just there on the dashboard, in no way keeping you from doing anything.
      • minuteZERO, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1It also looks like they will be cleaning up the ads a fair bit with the latest dash update which is nice of them.
  • sodade, on 07/28/2008, -1/+21I've been waiting out this console war, but the XBox would be a pretty big win for me if XBL was free.
    • SuicideMouse, on 07/28/2008, -12/+8My brother bought a 360 and I bought a PS3 and I've played both extensively.
      In all honesty, I like the PS3 a lot more.

      If you haven't bought a console yet, go play on both of them at a friends or something, figure out which one you like more, then choose for yourself.

      Personally I think if your decision is resting on the cost of XBL you're overlooking other serious things to take into account like the fact that the PS3 has a lot more room to grow and also plays Blu-ray. Not to mention it's superior music and picture displaying/playing abilities as well as it's seriously awesome ability to play most movies/shows/videos you throw at it, whether from the network or from the external HD you plugged into it.
      Also, while the PS3's browser isn't the best, it is a pretty nice start that I hope grows into something a bit better.
      • bagboyrebel, on 07/28/2008, -3/+1"the PS3 has a lot more room to grow"
        based on what information?
        "it's seriously awesome ability to play most movies/shows/videos you throw at it"
        My roommate has a PS3 and I have a 360 and in all honesty they are about equal in the regard.
      • Muyoso, on 07/28/2008, -1/+5Imagane that, you like the console that YOU bought more.
      • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -1/+3"the PS3 has a lot more room to grow"
        based on what information?"

        256 MB of flash for the firmware (PS3) versus 32 MB (360)
        Sony listens to customers and has been giving us tons of stuff we've asked for.
        MS goes out of their way to say no to requested features, and insult Sony for giving them to us
      • DragonForce4, on 07/28/2008, -2/+2xbox 360>ps3 at playing music that's for sure
        go try playing music in a game on a ps3
      • NinjaDolemite, on 07/28/2008, -1/+3"Room to Grow" Meaning it doesn't have ***** right now. Here's an idea: Buy the system AFTER there's enough games on it to justify the purchase. That's what I decided, 2 years later I'm close to buying a PS3. Glad I didn't miss out on 2 years of 360 fun.
    • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/28/2008, -1/+1If XBL was free every 12 year old would be on it without restriction and the traffic would ***** up the servers even more.
    • NinjaDolemite, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1I agree. I'd like it to be free, but i hope the quality doesn't go down the ***** with that. A lot of people don't realize how much better it is than PSN, and thus don't understand what you're paying for. You're paying for more dedicated servers and more content.

      And if you need another reason to buy an Xbox 360, it has 12 exclusives rated at 90% or higher. PS3 only has 5.

      It also has more games rated 70% or higher than PS3 has games! A lot of those 70-80% games are pretty damn good but peculiar to tastes, like Ninja Gaiden 2.

      http://n4g.com/industrynews/News-175872.aspx

  • neil1492, on 07/28/2008, -3/+14I really doubt this will come true. I thought Microsoft made money on XBL to recover costs lost from the system sale...which is why they started including headsets.
  • CalcProgrammer1, on 07/28/2008, -2/+7If they do this, they better repay you for your remaining months (convert them into Microsoft Points? That'd be fair compensation). I just activated a 13 month Xbox Live gold card last month so it should stay the way it is at least until next year, then by all means make it free!
  • LavaWarrior, on 07/28/2008, -2/+16They should have free online play, but you have ads, and then have it so you can pay for it, and it removes all ads.
    • waterdrop, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4Yes, I always hated how I pay for it and it has ads. I would be willing to live with the ads if Xbox Live was free.
      • sugarazor, on 07/28/2008, -2/+4How do the ads on XBL affect you at all? Seriously? It's a tiny box on a dashboard blade. If something that minor bugs you, you're gonna have a heart attack by the time you're 29.
    • DragonForce4, on 07/28/2008, -1/+2I don't mind the ads, it's not like I'm spending all my time looking at the dashboard, and the ads are usually relevent to whats going on in the Xbawks world, not like DURR BUY SOME TOOTHPASTE
  • hivesster, on 07/28/2008, -9/+14Awesome! This is a great way for them to compete with Playstation 3.
    • RyanBlack, on 07/28/2008, -10/+20Compete? Xbox live destroys PSN.
    • paulsmith288, on 07/28/2008, -1/+5if it wasn't for ps3 - no chance m$ would let this go free.
      • digitaldivinci, on 07/28/2008, -1/+2$ony.

        See, I can do that too.
    • NinjaDolemite, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3Yeh Live is tons better than PSN. PS3 is riding solely on customer loyalty.
    • NCg8r, on 07/28/2008, -2/+2Which TOTALLY explains why I switched to PS3 after 2 RRoD 360s. Loyalty.
  • bmystry, on 07/28/2008, -6/+17Well I find this a little scary I mean we have lots of annoying kids playing already and if it goes free I'm assuming every kid that hasn't gotten the gold membership is going to be able to play.
  • piratearggghhh, on 07/28/2008, -1/+11Not gonna happen. It's making Microsoft a ton of money and it's nice to know that I'm a paid customer, there is an expectation of level of service and performance.
  • jman583, on 07/28/2008, -2/+15Wow, I just bought 13 months of Xbox live yesterday.
    • MSstar, on 07/28/2008, -1/+7/facepalm
    • dsgamer, on 07/28/2008, -1/+5well technically you bought 12 months and got 1 for free
    • Duggan360, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2lololololololololololololololololol

      I mean

      That sucks =(
    • ericrous, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2Not to worry. When they switched "Windows Live" over to free, they gave refunds to all those who had already paid.
  • kirk89, on 07/28/2008, -4/+62I dont mind paying for a 12 month subscription, I just hate paying for downloadable content.
    • sugarazor, on 07/28/2008, -2/+4Depends on the content. Something like new maps or a new "episode?" Yeah, that should be free (or eventually free). But new songs in Rock Band that come out weekly? I don't have a problem paying for that.
      • Chicken, on 07/28/2008, -2/+3I don't get why you would pay to buy the songs you want to play on rock band... it should just be free as an incentive for people to buy the game.
        And buying a song every week for rock band? thats sort of overdoing it.
      • sugarazor, on 07/28/2008, -1/+3The incentive to buy the game is the 70+ songs already on the disc, the DLC is an incentive to keep playing. And I didn't say people should buy every song that comes out every week, but I think if a developer cares enough to support a game, putting out new content weekly, then they deserve an extra $5 here and there.
      • WhiteBoyDunkin, on 07/30/2008, -1/+0well there is royalityies dummy to the artist, label, M$, and the effort to make the song notes and put it all together. $.50 goes to artist, $.50 goes to label, $.50 goes to M$, and $.50 goes to Harmonox.
  • frenchkick, on 07/28/2008, -16/+10wow...i am sick of people saying XBL should be free...
    what are you 5 years old...if you have a job...it is no problem to pay for it
    if you want free online play get yourself a wii or a ps3 and see if they stack up to XBL
    i dont mind paying for it because it is a great service that they have worked on for years
    i dont care if it will never be free....stop bitching and get a better paying job

    it like saying water should be free because its all over the place...
    • HOTM, on 07/28/2008, -2/+11Just because you have a job doesn't mean you want to spend money. If it was free, you now have money to spend on something else..

      Like horse armor!
    • Darkswarm, on 07/28/2008, -2/+4I do have a PS3 and let me just say that it does indeed stack up to XBL and it's completely free. Also, I do have a job, but I'd rather spend that money on new games than nothing more than the ability to go online.
  • matt510, on 07/28/2008, -8/+41I find it interesting that people can moan and complain about paying for Xbox Live, but why shouldn't you pay? They are providing a service to you that you want to use. Why should you be entitled to that service for free? Yes, free would be awesome, but don't complain when a service that provides something to you asks to be paid.

    I know I will get dugg down for this, but you know it's true.
    • weside, on 07/28/2008, -9/+17I agree with you and dugg your comment, but you've gotta realize that we're dealing with the same people with the "sense of entitlement" mentality that sees piracy justified on here.

      Now, watch ME get dugg down for this (but you know it's true)
      • AfrikaKorps, on 07/28/2008, -2/+3I agree with you weside, so im digging you up.
    • LVsFINEST, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5First, let me say that I do not have any problem(s) with paying for XBL; I simply love it. But, to be honest, you really aren't gaining anything extra by paying for the service. The free Silver membership gets you all the features of the Gold membership except online play.

      XBL does not use dedicated servers to host games, but rather relies on the actual Internet connections of the gamer's themselves. So, in essence, XBL just directs people where to go, kind of like a torrent tracker; other people connect to you, or you connect to them. There is no central server that everybody connects to.

      That being said, what exactly does that 50 dollars a year go to?
      • byronm, on 07/28/2008, -1/+2Ignorance isn't an excuse. You're paying for a unified environment that works regardless of the game or genre. You're not just playing to "play online" - you paying to play on line in matches how you want, when you want, against whomever you want and usually without much lag or issues regardless of it being hosted or server based. Not to mention you're getting full leader boards, stats, achievements, rankings, addons/features/downloads.. its known that xbl averages 50gigbits per second during peak demand - especially around E3 & Comic Con. The true number of servers is classified information but i'm guessing easily in the 2500-4000 range to support 4+ million active/paid members.
      • pckbeta, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2In other words, everything I get completely free from Steam on my PC?

        Thanks for clearing that up.
      • LVsFINEST, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Your entire post has not point. Read pckbeta's post and try again. Or tell me what my 50 bucks goes towards, either way.
    • Varz, on 07/28/2008, -1/+7The reason why people complain is because online multiplayer is free on the other consoles and on the PC. Most of the servers are also just P2P servers not dedicated, why should you have to pay to play on a server hosted on someone elses Xbox? You already pay for your internet connection and you should be free to use it.
  • bizsumpark182, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4Either its just a glitch in the system, something that will only work for cross platform games, or Microsoft thinks that it makes enough off of Arcade games and micro transactions and is going to make XBL free. My money is on one of the first two.
  • rodon, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6Microsoft would never make xbox live free unless they had a good reason to. Games for Windows is the thing that is suffering, so this move obviously would benefit Games for Windows and their partners.
    For example, hardly anybody plays Shadowrun on PC. This move would attract PC gamers and 360 silver members to pick up those cross platform games and get online. This would move more units of the failing games for windows, and possibly attract xbl silver members to buy into a gold subscription for their other multiplayer games.
  • zaptoman, on 07/28/2008, -7/+2Oh that would be so happy. Do it MS! DO IT!
  • drunknmunky1, on 07/28/2008, -0/+15Can they add a paid option to filter out the annoying 12 year olds? That's something I would pay for.
    • quasipolymath, on 07/28/2008, -3/+6You get that for free already.
    • NCg8r, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2So they shouldn't make it free because it will attract all the 12-yr-olds... But they already have an option to block the 12-yr-olds, because they're already all on it. But PSN sucks because free = a bunch of 12-yr-olds...


      Gotcha.

      In other news, Don Fanucci wants his $50 again. Better pay up!
  • RSS14, on 07/28/2008, -4/+5Hopefully they will compensate us on the months we paid extra for once this comes into effect. Microsoft Points would do.
    • Frustian, on 07/28/2008, -3/+2Why? Boo hoo, they are making something free that you paid for. You paid for X months of service, and you are still getting that.

      Maybe they should pay you back if you bought an X360 at launch, because it is cheaper now.
      • RSS14, on 07/28/2008, -1/+1Then that will be the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple will refund you for the extra you paid for the iPhone, and if Microsoft can't even refund me for Microsoft Points, then that is lame.
  • Tyrghast, on 07/28/2008, -4/+6I dont mind paying for XBL, its very cheap, but at least it would shut the PS3 fanboys up a bit. They would have to resort to the ol' "LOL RROD" posts, even though that problem was fixed long ago.
    • JudgeMonkey, on 07/28/2008, -4/+6I'd rather have them complain then do this and let people be jackasses with no consequences. Let 'em whine, they aren't the kind of people you'd want to associate with anyway.
      • dandonia, on 07/29/2008, -1/+1You would rather pay for xbl than get it free- just how much of a ***** are you
    • Darkswarm, on 07/28/2008, -5/+6As if the Xbox 360 fanboys aren't just as bad? They always resort to the ol' "PS3 HAS NO GAMES" posts, even though that problem was fixed long ago.
  • wazzledoozle2, on 07/28/2008, -2/+34With the amount of ads they place in the dashboard, it should be free.

    • Duggan360, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1HALO 3 OUT NOW!

      I ***** know!!!!! It's been out for months stupid dashboard advertising thingy >:[
  • 33PercentGod, on 07/28/2008, -7/+16I have both the PS3 and 360 and it's great having free online on my Playstation. It has the same basic functionality as the 360 does. I can see who's online and what they're playing,send em messages,and join in their games. I don't get why I have to pay for this on Xbox Live WHILE having my dashboard crammed with ads on the blades.

    I also got a kick out of the fact I found out you can't send picture messages or video chat with the vision camera unless you have gold. What a joke.
    • soundsofreason, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1Well said.
      There's really not much difference between the two networks and their basic functions.

      Online gaming - check
      Messaging - check
      Chat - check
      Store - check
      Unique downloadable games - check

      That's why I've never understood all of those "XBL destroys PSN!" comments. Sure XBL has a larger online community in America, but paying for a service that crams adds into everything and makes you choose between two kinds of packages (as you mentioned, the lower without some basic functionality... which is a joke), versus a service that provides almost identical functionality... but it's free.
      So how exactly does XBL destroy PSN?
      • pckbeta, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2All this stuff is free through steam too, which makes xbl idiotic to own for a PC.
  • dvsbastard, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5I am surprised the push for a free Xbox Live service hasn't come from the developers... A free multiplayer service would make their games a lot more attractive to the Xbox userbase...

    Personally, I am not too fussed with the subscription fee but of course if the service was free, I would consider it a huge bonus, and besides I would probably just spend more cash on arcade games / DLC instead...
    • HolyChimp, on 07/28/2008, -1/+5Not really. If MS started giving out Xbox Live for free then it would be the devs that foot the bill for all the servers that Live Gold Members are currently paying for, just like it works on every other platform, but I'll bet running servers costs more than the few sales they'd lose from the few people not willing to pay for gold.
      • melkore, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1It's all p2p. There are no servers to run besides the Microsoft master server for each game.
  • AndrewDB, on 07/28/2008, -3/+11Buried as inaccurate.

    Look at the games that it went free for: Shadowrun, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition and Universe at War: Earth Assault, all of these games were on the PC LIVE version called "Windows Live".

    This doesn't mean that XBox Live for the 360 will be free.

    http://tinyurl.com/5cl6vv for proof they went for free.
    • hdadeathly, on 07/28/2008, -3/+0Party pooper.
    • magixx2, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3And in Shadowrun PC members which played for free could play against xbox live members which had pay for xbox live.
  • theduffster89, on 07/28/2008, -6/+1I doubt this is going to happen.... microsoft wants all the money that it can get now that apple is on the rise
    • HolyChimp, on 07/28/2008, -0/+7I keep seeing comments like this, and I wonder if they realise that Apple only started rising in marketshare when they introduced the Intel chips and BootCamp. How many of those Apple sales come from people that want Apple's pretty machines and the ability to boot Windows for game and specialised apps for work? MS doesn't care either way since they still get a license sale.
    • Galaxylander, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4I'm a complete Apple fanboy, but yeah you're basically just wrong.
  • RyanBlack, on 07/28/2008, -11/+11Xbox Live is super cheap. If you can't afford $50 a year for a great online service how the hell do you pay for games?
    • Duggan360, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2I wouldn't say its cheap but it's affordable for people who aren't lazy ass slackers
      • pckbeta, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1I just wonder why they are making me pay for a service that other companies pay for with advertising or make it just plain free.

        (Steam)
      • Duggan360, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Duh, Money
  • spin164, on 07/28/2008, -7/+4That would be nice, but I could really personally care less...

    • filldeviant, on 07/28/2008, -5/+1You're so apathetic of the story that you wrote a comment and filled out a CAPTCHA? Classy.
  • Tigergrape, on 07/28/2008, -12/+5i would rather pay for Xbox LIVE and get a decent experience. I mean, have you seen the ***** state of Playstation Network??

    KEEP TAKING MY MONEY MICROSOFT!
    • Darkswarm, on 07/28/2008, -1/+9Yes, I have seen the state of the PlayStation Network. It's just as good as Xbox Live. Enjoy paying $50/year for something PlayStation 3 owners get for free.
    • Tahiri, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5I agree with darkswarm. I own both systems, PSN offers 99% of what Live has, and on Dedicated servers versus peer to peer. PSN is better. The 2 features PSN lacks are not worth paying for, and are coming in fall anyway
  • aronnyc, on 07/28/2008, -4/+3About time.
  • MetalGear7, on 07/28/2008, -10/+5Wow I dugg this story when it was at 5 diggs and now its front page, glad to see I made a difference...kinda :)
  • Licurgo, on 07/28/2008, -3/+2i buy a 12 month suspcripcion today, this has the potential to make feel like a idiot,like the gta4 for pc,damn it, dear digg ¿you try to lower my confidence on my judgement?
  • finn, on 07/28/2008, -1/+3i let my gold service expire back in April, i just hardly ever played any games online to make the price worth it. I do hope they eventually make it free, but I don't expect them to, and i'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen.
  • Exodin, on 07/28/2008, -1/+8It's not going to go free on 360.

    It should have been free from the start on PC because there is such thing as an open platform and competition(With no one but MS charging for their terrible 360 ports no one wants)

    Why would Microsoft make the 360 version free when it's clearly doing great sales wise? Tossing away free money. The answer: They're not, the article was made for internet hits. Perfect example of cheap internet "journalism"
  • freshyill, on 07/28/2008, -1/+7I hope this isn't true. I just renewed for a year literally 20 minutes ago.
  • alexra, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1its 50 bucks for a year, thats it, not that expensive if you ask me, but hey what other option is there, the wii, the ps3. I would rather pay for xbox live's good service, then have free service from the wii's ***** wi'fi service, remember super smash brothers melee, the online was terrible.
    • Darkswarm, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1You're right. I remember Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the online was so bad, the game wouldn't even let me connect at all! In fact, the interface of that game was so bad, there weren't even any options to configure the Internet connection.
  • jeepgun, on 07/28/2008, -5/+2Nooo! I know I'm in the minority here and this will be buried pretty much instantly but I really wish Microsoft would charge more so it would filter out some of the idiots off of live.
    • phbohn2, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1yeah...charge $500 a year!

      rich people are never idiots!

      /sarcasm
    • BAWilliams, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Remember that, in the United States in particular, it seems like there is no limit to wealthy idiots. At least their pre-pubescent kids, if not themselves.
  • filldeviant, on 07/28/2008, -2/+3Hmm... This is interesting. I have a good and a bad feeling about this:

    The Good: Woo! Free Xbox Live gaming! That would be great. Finally people can enjoy Microsoft's robust online experience without paying.

    The Bad: In Battlefield: Bad Company, EA put out downloadable content (Weapons that give an advantage) that costs money. You may have a free subscription to the service, but you might end up paying for 'special game features'. We'll see how this turns out...
  • highonfire, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5i think they have about a year left before their business model will force them to switch to free. lots of people i know are picking up ps3 systems just for the fact that online play is totally free. with ps3 sales rising sharply MS is going to have to find a way to play hardball
  • conkers209, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2The reason why Xbox Live isn't free because what you are paying for the servers for Live. For PSN, the developers/publishers pay for the servers to keep them up. Now do I think paying to play online is BS? Yes I do. The PS3 and Wii has free online play, sure think whatever you want about how Wii does online, but its still free.
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