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[kics]

ebay??? i'm gonna look into it...  i dont think its overpriced... i pay for quality, NO CHEATERS ALLOWED ... hehe,

a quick question if my service ends jan 08, and i buy a 12 month card and apply it today... it will roll over till jan 09 ??

[Deihmos]

QUOTE(kics @ Apr 20 2007, 03:44 PM)

ebay??? i'm gonna look into it...  i dont think its overpriced... i pay for quality, NO CHEATERS ALLOWED ... hehe,

a quick question if my service ends jan 08, and i buy a 12 month card and apply it today... it will roll over till jan 09 ??

People always compare it to PC gaming. Yes it's free for those not running the servers. The people that actually have the server are paying more than $150.00 a month.

Anyway PC gaming is filled with cheating and hacking. I play Battlefield 2142 and there are just too many cheaters. I doubt there are any games without cheating on the PC that is free. Hopefully Live for Windows can change this.

[Achtung]

I don't by any means think Xbox Live gold is over priced, But I do however agree that not having dedicated servers for games/downloads is totally unacceptable.

Like twisted said I remeber playing Xbox1 games on dedicated servers and thats what MS touted as the justification for the $50 price point. Now we are still paying $50 but they axe the servers.

I have no problem paying for the service but keep it a service worth paying for.

[jdsony]

Why fight this guy though? It doesn't matter how much you pay improvements can always be made. It's important that the perceived value of Live is high. People that haven't used Live before see the PS3 with free online gaming and think "Great, I'll buy one of those". At the same time it's important to keep current Live customers happy by offering them more. Some of you may be content but others are restless and there is room for Microsoft to brighten up their day.

[Yuyu]

$4.17 a month buys me convenience.

To do the level of interaction and tracking of data on a PC for a game that an Xbox Live title does automatically is worth the price for me. I have the technical know how to chat online and create friends within PC games but, how many people want to spend that time and effort to learn how to do so.. Not as many that would just rather pay $4.17 a month and have Xbox Live do its thing for them.

I'm not talking about the titles that do that for you either. There are plenty of games now where you have to use crippled networks like Gamespy, etc.. Custom server play? Why would someone want to bother learning how to do so?

[TheJulianaTh20]

I completely agree that xbox live should be free for online gaming. I think it is stupid to have to pay to play online; something that is free to do on PC.

[eatshitanddie]

50 bucks a year is nothing to how big of a experience you get. EXCLUDING snot nosed brats, high voiced retards, team killers, racism, stereotyping, spawn killers, cheaters, fags, ignorant people, idiots, people without mics, playstation lovers -yes thats right, and there on XBOX LIVE!!, i got kicked for saying ps3 blows-, rude people, whiners, quitters, hosts that kick on arrival...

But you can usually avoid most of that by the Mute selection =]

[IJTF_Cinder]

Everyone FOR making online play free is simply right. Why should any of us have to pay to play a game that we paid money for, online using OUR bandwidth. This simply doesn't cost Microsoft any money. The other features DO.

Online play should be available to all. If you wanted, they could make an option for setting that only Gold Members be allowed to join your game. I don't think this is something that should be forced though, as your friend down the street may have a Gold account and you a Silver.

And as for $50 not being much, it is when you don't make enough use of it to justify it. I barely play any PC games online anymore, and I own hundreds that I am still capable of playing (Servers still up, etc). I shouldn't get left out of playing online just because I don't feel a $50 fee is warranted. Sure, keep me out of everything else and leave me with less features and ads.....ala Gamespy (FREE BTW!)

[0794]

i completely disagree - Xbox Live is appropriately priced and I do not want online multiplayer gaming free.  making multiplayer free would really dilute the online experience esp with cheaters and those just playing to make others angry with racism, cursing, and also inappropriate play.

current ads are unobtrusive and also keep everyone up to date on the current entertainment releases.

$50 per year is beyond reasonable and very affordable (i have 3 accounts - mostly for when friends play at my home without accounts) - even a young teenager could have this be a birthday or Christmas gift once per year if they don't have a job.

as several have mentioned before - making Xbox Live a pay service is all about quality control...and no other online experience can even stand close to Xbox Live!

[rocarmy4life]

not that it even matters what i say, but actual dedicated servers for each game is what my membership should pay for

and multiple party private voice chatting

[TheIceman72]

I am sorry I disagree. I am sick of people complaining about the cost of XBlive Gold. Hell if you have a problem with the best online gaming service online and paying less than $5 bucks a month to use it, then you don't need to be playing on it. I mean come on, the PS3 online service sucks and the Wii has none. So there is nothing that remotely compares. We get a hella lot for less than $5 bucks a month.

[mlmadmax]

Meh, 50 bucks a year isn't a lot of money this day and age and i am happy to pay it for the experiance i get. This article doesn't mean much to me so whatever.

[GeToChKn]

I think they should have some sort of dedicated server system available for people to put up servers on a pc or something or a downloadable servers to the 360 hd with a remote panel so you could download a few different servers, put them on a 360 in a datacenter and remote them from there.  Some way to allow people to rent servers.  I imagine clans would like that as they do for pc games.  My clan rents a bf2142 server and I imagine halo3 clans or something would like that.

[belke]

unfortunately for all the money that M$ is losing for the production of the 360's it will never be free  

[kevhonda]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Apr 20 2007, 08:24 PM)

Not to pick apart your argument... ok I guess I am going to pick apart your argument

1. Microsoft DOES NOT LOSE MONEY on the 360 anymore... they've been turning a profit on the console itself for months now... true they did lose money at launch but that ship has long sailed. As of November of last year they were MAKING about $75 on every premium unit sold.
http://www.techspot....0-hardware.html

2. You're right that Xbox 1 Live was just for gaming .... but Xbox live GOLD is just for gaming too. IMO  the features that make Xbox Live so great are all available in the Silver package. Marketplace, Achievements, Messaging, Standardization across games... it's all part of Silver

Beyond that the Gaming service has been dramatically devalued since the Xbox 1. Games used to be played on Xbox Live servers (that's what you were paying for) now you play on someone else's console... "Host advantage" wasn't something we worried about with the Xbox 1 but it's a big problem these days. Other crap like only being able to private chat with one person at a time is also due to this. Xbox Live Gold is nothing more then a match making service, equivalent to paying money to unlock content that was already on a disc you bought. saying that Gold gives you "more value for money" is a joke...  because most of what you payed for on the Xbox 1 is now being given away for free... those free features have been enhanced dramatically while the features you're still paying for have been dramatically downgraded in terms of quality. In effect you're paying the same amount but considerably less.

With that said I still pay for gold because as devalued as it has become I still think it's worth what they're charging. Honestly $50 a year is peanuts IMO.

Yeas another "pick-a-part" I would have to disagree with the above statement "Host advantage wasn't something we worried about with the Xbox 1 but it's a big problem these days." I played halo2 for about a year and a half from the month of release and 3-4 months after it came out little kunt nuggets were using the  "Cable Modem Hack" to cheat ie: they would hit Standby on their Cable modems and cause your console to think the connection was lost and by the time it realized what was going on you had already lost the match. You could only perform this "hack" if you where "host" so even in those days people had "host advantage".

However I do agree with everything else you said...Anyway $50/month is nothing when 85% of gaming is/was lag free.  Also Microsoft tries to moderate cheating although they go about it the wrong way like banning people who cheated on Halo2 but then offering the free 1 month trials....think about it... All in all XBL  is the best service by far and when Halo 3 arrives Ill be payin $50/month again to play.

EDIT: MercilessGunner...Wow I agree 100% this should be Microsoft's XBL business Model!!! To me this would be the only way to go, and Microsoft has the resources to do this!! Cany anyone say online patition?