Charging for On-line Gameplay is ridiculous

[QUOTE="donalbane"][QUOTE="makingmusic476"]I've been playing pc games online for free my entire life. I started going online with consoles with the ps2, but hated having to create a separate log-in for each game. The ps3, however, has fixed that, and it suites my needs just fine. I'd much rather buy a new game every year than pay for the unnecessary features of XBL. Resistance online, along with the online of any RTS game on the pc, are great, and don't really need any extra features, and any features they could use are not worth near $50.

I guess it's really just a matter of opinion. Do you want to spend the money on games, or spend it on a slightly more streamlined online matchmaking system?alfy13

Alot of console gamers who know nohting about pc online community will never understand, because they always been charged for using gold accounts. so they know nothing outside of what they are use to do doing. personally i dont care for paying for xbl, because i have no choice but to. but why i post is because of ppl like your self trying to tell me taht MS cant do xbl free and it must be charged. any how its hard for me to explain in english, but i hope you understand. and also im not trying to be rude ot you either, just japanese is my first languge so i get frustrated at times when i post in englih.

360 has free online also called silver. .rybe1025

Liar. Silver doesn't allow you to play games online.

The Ps3 online is not nearly identical because not all games have online support. On the 360 everygame has to have online connectivity of some sort and that's why I don't mind paying 50 dollars a year.Sparky04

Agreed. There is another difference. With XBox Live you can play against people from all over the world. I'm talking about Australia, China, Europe and even Africa. With the PS3 Online service you can only play again people in your own country. $50 a year in nothing. That's like 14cents a day. MMORPG games cost much more then that a year. When developers decided not to continue online support for their 3yr old PS3 game, they'll pull the servers and that is that. That won't happen with XBox Live.

[QUOTE="musicalmac"]While I don't agree with all your points, I'll defend to the death your right to say them.JohnWinger

I love Family Guy!!

[QUOTE="alfy13"]

[QUOTE="donalbane"][QUOTE="makingmusic476"]I've been playing pc games online for free my entire life. I started going online with consoles with the ps2, but hated having to create a separate log-in for each game. The ps3, however, has fixed that, and it suites my needs just fine. I'd much rather buy a new game every year than pay for the unnecessary features of XBL. Resistance online, along with the online of any RTS game on the pc, are great, and don't really need any extra features, and any features they could use are not worth near $50.

I guess it's really just a matter of opinion. Do you want to spend the money on games, or spend it on a slightly more streamlined online matchmaking system?TheDarkDisciple

Alot of console gamers who know nohting about pc online community will never understand, because they always been charged for using gold accounts. so they know nothing outside of what they are use to do doing. personally i dont care for paying for xbl, because i have no choice but to. but why i post is because of ppl like your self trying to tell me taht MS cant do xbl free and it must be charged. any how its hard for me to explain in english, but i hope you understand. and also im not trying to be rude ot you either, just japanese is my first languge so i get frustrated at times when i post in englih.

PC online is still better and still free. None of the online services can stand up to the original Battle.net.OMGTEHGRUKWTF

[QUOTE="TheDarkDisciple"][QUOTE="makingmusic476"][QUOTE="TheDarkDisciple"][QUOTE="JohnWinger"]

[QUOTE="hummer700"]Xbox live offers many things that aren't available on PSN, and i strongly belive it is worth the $4.16 a month

If you cannot afford roughly $5 a month, then you shouldn't be playing video games, you have larger issues to handle.JohnWinger

Its not the idea of $50 being too much money. That's not my argument, but if you feel its okay for companys to keep throwing in miscellaneous charges here and there and screwing you over, then you win.

Everything you decribe to back up your argument is completely WRONG.

Gamerpics, voice chat, demos, trailers, movies, etc, etc.

All that is already free.

Microsoft wants $50 a year solely for ON-LINE GAMEPLAY. Which is BULL. On-line Gameplay has been free for years. Who is Microsoft to rip people off?

Don't even post unless you have an IQ higher than George Bush.

If you are talking about silver having all of those things free then you are WRONG.

They do NOT have the same access access when it comes to free content, because they do not get all of the content that gold users do, and if they do, they have to wait longer.

They do NOT have the same access regarding voice chats and friends list management.

And they do NOT have any access to multiplayer or any of the features that come with it.

PSN or people with a Wii sure as hell don't have as much as XBL either.

[QUOTE="OMGTEHGRUKWTF"]PC online is still better and still free. None of the online services can stand up to the original Battle.net.alfy13

[QUOTE="OMGTEHGRUKWTF"]PC online is still better and still free. None of the online services can stand up to the original Battle.net.alfy13

On-line gaming has been free for many years on the PC, PS2, etc.

The Internet backbone as we've known it has been paid for about 1,000,000 times over with customers from around the world paying for monthly Internet bills.

So why is it that Microsoft has the conceit to put up toll booths on then Internet backbone and charge for On-line play?

If there was a real good reason such as Quality of Service, then it would be quite understandable, but that it not the case.

Most of the games on Xbox Live have lag issues.

PlayStation 3's On-line is nearly identical, but it's free.

Microsoft is the only company that wants the milk the people for all its worth.

I'm not a fanboy. I love all the consoles. The 360 is still a great console with good games. I just think there is no reason to charge $50 a year for Xbox Live Gold.

It just goes to show you how low Microsoft will go.

JohnWinger

[QUOTE="alfy13"][QUOTE="OMGTEHGRUKWTF"]PC online is still better and still free. None of the online services can stand up to the original Battle.net.cobrax25

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

philhilluk

[QUOTE="JohnWinger"]

On-line gaming has been free for many years on the PC, PS2, etc.

The Internet backbone as we've known it has been paid for about 1,000,000 times over with customers from around the world paying for monthly Internet bills.

So why is it that Microsoft has the conceit to put up toll booths on then Internet backbone and charge for On-line play?

If there was a real good reason such as Quality of Service, then it would be quite understandable, but that it not the case.

Most of the games on Xbox Live have lag issues.

PlayStation 3's On-line is nearly identical, but it's free.

Microsoft is the only company that wants the milk the people for all its worth.

I'm not a fanboy. I love all the consoles. The 360 is still a great console with good games. I just think there is no reason to charge $50 a year for Xbox Live Gold.

It just goes to show you how low Microsoft will go.

xXHackettXx

[QUOTE="philhilluk"]

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

cobrax25

lol - I really hope you are not being serious

[QUOTE="rybe1025"]360 has free online also called silver. .OMGTEHGRUKWTF

Liar. Silver doesn't allow you to play games online.

On-line gaming has been free for many years on the PC, PS2, etc.

The Internet backbone as we've known it has been paid for about 1,000,000 times over with customers from around the world paying for monthly Internet bills.

So why is it that Microsoft has the conceit to put up toll booths on then Internet backbone and charge for On-line play?

If there was a real good reason such as Quality of Service, then it would be quite understandable, but that it not the case.

Most of the games on Xbox Live have lag issues.

PlayStation 3's On-line is nearly identical, but it's free.

Microsoft is the only company that wants the milk the people for all its worth.

I'm not a fanboy. I love all the consoles. The 360 is still a great console with good games. I just think there is no reason to charge $50 a year for Xbox Live Gold.

It just goes to show you how low Microsoft will go.

JohnWinger

I will say this.  The PSN is not identical to live.  Xbox Live is one dedicated network.  Developers don't have to pay to run servers cause they can just use Xbox Live's servers.  On PSN developers have to run their own servers and they are paying sony to run their own servers on PSN.  That also could mean that developers could charge us their own price to play their game online.  Developers don't pay microsoft for using Xbox Live servers cause the consumers are paying microsoft for the Live service. Lag on Xbox live could be from numerous things such as you having a bad internet connection or other people in a game with bad connections. 

[QUOTE="cobrax25"][QUOTE="philhilluk"]

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

philhilluk

lol - I really hope you are not being serious

when you learn how to spell "rediculous" i will take you serious.

 

 

phybaoptikz

When you learn to capitalize I will take you seriously. 

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

philhilluk

$50 a year isn't that bad...MMORPG's cost $180 or so a year.kittykatz5k

[QUOTE="philhilluk"][QUOTE="cobrax25"][QUOTE="philhilluk"]

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

cobrax25

lol - I really hope you are not being serious

[QUOTE="cobrax25"][QUOTE="philhilluk"][QUOTE="cobrax25"][QUOTE="philhilluk"]

The day the xbox live service becomes free is the last day I will ever use it.

I can get nasty free online services anywhere on the PC or PS3 but I shouldn't have to put up with it on the 360.

Ninja-Vox

lol - I really hope you are not being serious

[QUOTE="donalbane"]

If there was a real good reason such as Quality of Service, then it would be quite understandable.

The main thing Microsoft's system has over Sony's is the fact that the guide button allows you to bring up friends lists whenever you like, see what your pals are playing, and chat with them no matter what they're doing, and all of this can be accomplshed without exiting whichever app you are running. (I wont even go into the ability to access custom soundtracks no matter what you're doing, or the fact that you can stream your music from your computer's sizable hard drive without copying over a single megabyte to your console.)

Furthermore, there are 3 levels of screening out obnoxious people: The Zone system, the Feedback system, and the Reputation system. Thanks to these marvelous features, I play with a greater percentage of like-minded players than any online service I have ever used, and I come from the PC gaming world which was in fact free, but inferior to Live in all other respects.

The service is of a higher quality. You would know this if you had a Live account and a 360, which I'm assuming you don't because you make ridiculous claims like "PlayStation 3's On-line is nearly identical,"which it's most certainly not, and "most of the games on Xbox Live have lag issues," which is another falshood. Have you played 'most of the games?.' I have, and aside from the occasional slowdown (typically resulting from a player with a crappy broadband connection,) there are practically no problems.

The Live vs PSN paradigm is much like the difference between honest to goodness TiVo and the PVR services offered by cable companies. Sure the cable companies offer you the ability to record shows, but for a fee TiVo adapts to your preferences and recommends shows based on an elaborate feedback system. TiVo service costs money ($13/month,) but is superior in most respects, and you never hear about disatisfied TiVo users. Just like I can tell you don't have Live... if you did, you'd have nothing but nice things to say about it. You may have had Live back in the Xbox days, and are basing these statements off of those experiences, you should know that when the 360 launched, Live got dramatically better.

Everyone wishes the things we want were free. If Sony can deliver the same service free of charge, they should, but until they do, their service has to be free because nobody in their right mind would pay money for it's limited feature set.

VoodooHak

To add to that....

Building an infrastructure where the community can regulate itself is great. But in the offchance we need extra moderation, we know for sure that there are people actively monitoring feedback. One thing not specifically stated is the matchmaking system that uses rep, zone and ignore/prefer status to match you up.

We also know that XBL is a closed, secure network that actively checks for modded consoles.

Also consider XBL's connectivity to the web. I like being able to log into my account on xbox.com to check my messages and see what my friends are up to.

I like that MS has resources whose job is to specifically connect with the community. Major Nelson, Trixie... and the support they give to fan sites.

With all that, the fee is well justified

Quoting for those that say PSN offers everything XBL does, but for free.  Convenient of you to ignore this.

not bashing, (ok maybe i am )

but 5 years of xbl is $250.00. owie.

After playing RFOM and Motorstorm online and as of now, I have yet to have a problem with the online service........  I will not be renewing my XBL account, XBL for PC is just dumb, and XBL is a rip off as far as I am concerned.   

PSN provides online for free, just like PC and its awesome.  Basically any multi plat game I will be getting on the PS3 just cause the free online.  And MS will have to have some pretty amazing first party titles to get me to spend $50.00 a year on XBL, and before some 360 fanboy starts posting lists of games, I already know whats coming.....

After playing RFOM and Motorstorm online and as of now, I have yet to have a problem with the online service........  I will not be renewing my XBL account, XBL for PC is just dumb, and XBL is a rip off as far as I am concerned.   

PSN provides online for free, just like PC and its awesome.  Basically any multi plat game I will be getting on the PS3 just cause the free online.  And MS will have to have some pretty amazing first party titles to get me to spend $50.00 a year on XBL, and before some 360 fanboy starts posting lists of games, I already know whats coming.....

shaggymcp

[QUOTE="Sailor_Enlil"][QUOTE="makingmusic476"][QUOTE="Sailor_Enlil"][QUOTE="Redmoonxl2"]

[QUOTE="dhjohns"]
First off, sorry for the double post, computer problem. :P But my friends list I control therefore I control who enters my voice chats. Not trying to argue, just saying I think technically the computer can do it all but it is not nearly as unified or the ease of use like the XBLmakingmusic476

To the bold text, not during gameplay. It's either turn off chat or listen to chat. Also, using MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Xfire or any of that is not difficult at all. Just about everybody who owns a PC/cellphone owns an account to an IM service. Just a matter of downloading the program and installing it, which is beyond stupid easy to do.

You're giving too much credit to XBL and very little credit to PC services.

On-line gaming has been free for many years on the PC, PS2, etc.

The Internet backbone as we've known it has been paid for about 1,000,000 times over with customers from around the world paying for monthly Internet bills.

So why is it that Microsoft has the conceit to put up toll booths on then Internet backbone and charge for On-line play?

If there was a real good reason such as Quality of Service, then it would be quite understandable, but that it not the case.

Most of the games on Xbox Live have lag issues.

PlayStation 3's On-line is nearly identical, but it's free.

Microsoft is the only company that wants the milk the people for all its worth.

I'm not a fanboy. I love all the consoles. The 360 is still a great console with good games. I just think there is no reason to charge $50 a year for Xbox Live Gold.

It just goes to show you how low Microsoft will go.

JohnWinger

not bashing, (ok maybe i am )

but 5 years of xbl is $250.00. owie.

out0v0rder

Nothing is free, it's just a matter of WHO is paying for it.

A PC service like XFire is fully funded by advertisers.

It's the same reason why network television like ABC, NBC are "free", while premium stations like HBO and Showtime charge you.

Personally I prefer to keep XBL ad free.  While I do realise they occasionally throw a few ads up for upcoming movies, they are alsways accompanied by free gamer pics/themes related to that movie. 

XBL rocks, its worth every cent, even if there is nothing good to play for 6 months

what my silly fellow pc gamers dont realize is that the free online games are not really all that free

enjoy playing cs? guess who pays for the servers? clans, people like you and me

enjoy wow? guess who pays for the servers? blizzard does, therefore you get smacked with a monthly charge

so basically if youre not paying a monthly/yearly fee then you have to pay for the servers yourself, either way you have to pay 

microsoft has to host all the xbox live **** therefore you get charged~

[QUOTE="hummer700"]Xbox live offers many things that aren't available on PSN, and i strongly belive it is worth the $4.16 a month

If you cannot afford roughly $5 a month, then you shouldn't be playing video games, you have larger issues to handle.JohnWinger

Its not the idea of $50 being too much money. That's not my argument, but if you feel its okay for companys to keep throwing in miscellaneous charges here and there and screwing you over, then you win.

This is it right there ^

This is the whole point of being anti-Microsoft IMHO.  They are trying to control the video game/entertainment scene and if they eventually do, people will be fleeced with an inferior product.

Time for fact spam.....

Xbox + 5 years of online gaming = $649.99
PS3 + 5 years of online gaming = $599.99

Not that I care about prices of stuff, but hey, at the the end of a generation youll SAVE money with the PS3.

Charging 11 dollars for batteries is rediculous.

XBL can charge you, I mean MS is a company and they need to make profit somewhere. Yeah it's better for it to be free, but what are you gonna do? Well...besides complain about it.

88Ghost89

They make billions off thier Windows monopoly. 

That's why I buy the prepaid card at best buy, 60$ every 12 months ain't a back breaker for the best online service available.

Here we go again. Another person that is cheap and does not know what the hell he's talking about.

I don't know if you noticed, but most of the multi platform games that came out for both consoles, PS3 had no online, but MS 360 did..

 

So I rather pay what, 4.19 a month for the best online game play.

dapmediainc

Agreed. I have XBL and play WOW and im a student, neither monthly fee is that bad and anyone with a part-time job shouldent have any problem at all financing what they enjoy. if you dont like paying for online service then uh dont pay and dont play...we dont need to hear about your views on the subject because its nothing new.