advertisement

Free XBL cross-platform play until autumn update

By Luke Anderson, GameSpot UKPosted Jul 29, 2008 7:44 am PT

Microsoft is offering Xbox Live silver members free 360-to-PC play until the next system update.

Xbox Live Silver members will be getting free multiplayer access to a number of Xbox 360 and Games for Windows cross-platform games until the new Xbox 360 system update rolls out this autumn.

A spokesperson for Microsoft told GameSpot UK today, "For a limited time, we are offering free online multiplayer on Xbox 360/Games for Windows titles that offer Live cross-platform play. Supported cross-platform titles include Universe at War, Shadowrun, and Lost Planet: Colonies Edition."

This follows on from Microsoft's recent announcement that its Games for Windows - Live service would now be free. It previously charged PC owners for gold subscriptions, which let them play cross-platform multiplayer with Xbox 360 owners, whereas the silver subscription was free.

The next Xbox 360 system update was unveiled at this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, featuring a full overhaul of the dashboard, including the blade menu structure, new avatars, a partnership with Netflix for Gold members in the US, and new Community and My Xbox channels.

See GameSpot's preview of the new Xbox experience for more details.

115 Comments

  • grootelaar

    Posted Jun 6, 2009 7:16 am PT

    xbl sucks why you need too pay 80 bucks for 12 months well yay more money too the window this is why i chouse the ps3 free multiplayer

  • cocomacoco

    Posted Sep 27, 2008 8:25 pm PT

    I think if I payed for XbL, everyone should pay to be able to play, this is not fair, for whatever amount of games should be, I do agree with letting silver members experience XBL at least once a month, but not like this, sorry, but I payed

  • CaptainLunchbox

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 10:18 am PT

    jtthegame316

    £40 over a year is nothing. the people going on about how psn is free and moaning about ms charging i would imgine pay a montly fee for there internet which in the long run works out more than what you pay for live. sony have there ways of getting money out of people on psn. if you really think sony are giving you anything you must be mad cause they are the tightest company going. xbox live is an excellent service definetly worth the yearly subcription. if it was a montly fee they yeah it would be a rip of but it is yearly so it is good.

    ^Says the kid with no bills to pay.

  • jtthegame316

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 8:41 am PT

    £40 over a year is nothing. the people going on about how psn is free and moaning about ms charging i would imgine pay a montly fee for there internet which in the long run works out more than what you pay for live. sony have there ways of getting money out of people on psn. if you really think sony are giving you anything you must be mad cause they are the tightest company going. xbox live is an excellent service definetly worth the yearly subcription. if it was a montly fee they yeah it would be a rip of but it is yearly so it is good.

  • mattcake

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 6:57 am PT

    And yes yes PSN is free, but watch out for those other little fees like changing your character in Metal Gear Online. They all add up And yes PS Home will be free, but you know the good/different stuff is gonna cost ya. I wouldnt sing Sonys praises too highly if I were you, theyll nip you for cash just as badly as MS do

  • mattcake

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 6:50 am PT

    I like to keep my console gaming and my pc gaming separate thanks. Not cross platform nonsense with pathetically crippled mouse controls on PC, or autoaiming console controls.

    Go watch some quake2/3/warsow demos to understand the speed at which PC games are supposed to be played. It should take you a fraction of a second to turn 180 degrees in a PC game, not 5 seconds You'll never get that on a console and you shouldnt even try - different machines for different gameplay

  • tutt3r

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 2:35 am PT

    too bad they don't make more cross platform games... i understand the balance may be hard, but its such a great idea

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 1:41 am PT

    @ ronnet: You do know that the 360 Dashboard has advertisements and PSN doesn't have advertisements at all, do you? So yeah, Microsoft is ripping you guys off.

  • asmodeus_z

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 1:33 am PT

    Well, at least I have a chance to give Shadowrun a try.

  • Zoldaire

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 12:59 am PT

    Why do people complain about this news? It's absolutely great for Silver members. They get to experience the XBL for a few selected games, that are good, but not the most played games on the 360. For the love of god people, it's not the END OF THE WORLD if the Live Play is free for 3 games for a few months. If you have gold, then this news doesn't really bother you at all since you can play the games live already. If you have Silver and own these games, knock yourself out. I think this little thing M$ pulled is good. There is a slight bigger chance now that they will attracts more Silver users to buy Gold, when they see what the Live Play has to offer.

  • ronnet

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 11:26 pm PT

    Live shouldnt be free, otherewise it would become PSN and we dont want that, atleast I dont. Live SHOULD be cheaper, but as long as so many people stgill have a fulltime gold subscription I cant see them do that. Probably because it would be less profitable to have more players online all paying slightly less but with higher maintenance costs. But making older games free online from time to time would be nice of them.

  • Sydwynder

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 9:44 pm PT

    I'm surprised that Live fees haven't at least gone down in price since the PS3 is free. Yeah I agree it's a better service, but still.

  • danxxx

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 7:01 pm PT

    live should be free... thats all.

  • z3dd1cu5

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 6:05 pm PT

    Seems to me when they made GFW Live free, it somehow affected the cross platform Live games too. They figured it out after some gamers did and then said "Oh we are offereing free play for a limited time" aka until they get it fixed in the fall update.

  • XJRockcrawler

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 5:02 pm PT

    sirnicoli, devs can use dedicated servers on XBL as well, their choice. I don't see anything PS3 related in this story, why post here? People like you give PS3 owners a bad name.

  • rob101

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 4:21 pm PT

    How about a couple of free month for Gold Member as well, seeing as how we already pay for use, and see no benefit from this free Silver crap except for the fact there will be a whole bunch of noob on the site

  • ctg867

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 4:04 pm PT

    Well that's nice of them I guess, but I doubt many, if any, will actually use it. You either have Gold, or you don't have the 360 plugged in. Bottom line. Hopefully this will lead to a revamped GFW Live, or maybe it'll just be elongating it's inevitable end.

  • OfficialBed

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 3:25 pm PT

    meh...i have gold...doesn't matter to me

  • chiggins28

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 3:25 pm PT

    why is it so negative in this forum? this is good news. i pay for gold but i'm not going to start raising hell because non paying xbox owners get to play three games cross platform. give me a break.

  • childe_roland

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 3:20 pm PT

    SirNicoli, all ANY company cares about is profit, in order to make a profit you have to make sure your customers are happy. Microsoft has its problems but judging by the look of things I would say they're making a profit, sooo what does that tell you? It tells you that for the most part they're customers are happy.

Lost Planet: Colonies Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $10.65 – 31.95

Amazon.com $10.65 SHOP ›
eBay $31.95 SHOP ›
Mwave.com $29.99 SHOP ›
advertisement

Related Content

Matches based on text similarity.

advertisement
Click Here
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Lost Planet: Colonies

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement