Can someone explain this XBox Live thing?

I'm pretty certain I'm going to buy a 360 now, probably in March when RE5 comes out, they're about $400 for the pro here in aus, so they've come down nicely.

Whats got me confused is this XBox live thing... through all my years gaming on the PC, I've NEVER payed to play games online... I pay an ISP for my internet, and I normally expect to get my online gaming free, especially when the companies developing the games/hardware shouldn't even be hosting the servers. I mean, it's free on other consoles like the Wii and PS3 as well. I also hear you have to pay to be able to download stuff on more then two accounts or something? Thats probably never going to be an issue for me, but still, people are having to pay for demo's now? That's like me paying to see advertisments on TV :? And don't I already use microsoft points or whatever to purchase downloadable games and content anyway? Maybe I'm wrong and you can download those without the subscription?

Furthermore, if any MMORPG's come out on the console, doesn't that mean to play those, you have to pay out to MS who don't really do anything but take your money, pay out to your ISP, and the game developer? Three subscriptions for one game?

So... can anyone clarify this, is the Live subscription required for all games or just some? Like CoD I can play free online on every other system ever developed in the entire world... I'm all up for buying the console, but I dislike the idea of having to pay a subscription fee for what should be a free service...

I'm pretty certain I'm going to buy a 360 now, probably in March when RE5 comes out, they're about $400 for the pro here in aus, so they've come down nicely.

Whats got me confused is this XBox live thing... through all my years gaming on the PC, I've NEVER payed to play games online... I pay an ISP for my internet, and I normally expect to get my online gaming free, especially when the companies developing the games/hardware shouldn't even be hosting the servers. I mean, it's free on other consoles like the Wii and PS3 as well. I also hear you have to pay to be able to download stuff on more then two accounts or something? Thats probably never going to be an issue for me, but still, people are having to pay for demo's now? That's like me paying to see advertisments on TV :? And don't I already use microsoft points or whatever to purchase downloadable games and content anyway? Maybe I'm wrong and you can download those without the subscription?

Furthermore, if any MMORPG's come out on the console, doesn't that mean to play those, you have to pay out to MS who don't really do anything but take your money, pay out to your ISP, and the game developer? Three subscriptions for one game?

So... can anyone clarify this, is the Live subscription required for all games or just some? Like CoD I can play free online on every other system ever developed in the entire world... I'm all up for buying the console, but I dislike the idea of having to pay a subscription fee for what should be a free service...

DriftRS

Why should it be free?

[QUOTE="DriftRS"]

I'm pretty certain I'm going to buy a 360 now, probably in March when RE5 comes out, they're about $400 for the pro here in aus, so they've come down nicely.

Whats got me confused is this XBox live thing... through all my years gaming on the PC, I've NEVER payed to play games online... I pay an ISP for my internet, and I normally expect to get my online gaming free, especially when the companies developing the games/hardware shouldn't even be hosting the servers. I mean, it's free on other consoles like the Wii and PS3 as well. I also hear you have to pay to be able to download stuff on more then two accounts or something? Thats probably never going to be an issue for me, but still, people are having to pay for demo's now? That's like me paying to see advertisments on TV :? And don't I already use microsoft points or whatever to purchase downloadable games and content anyway? Maybe I'm wrong and you can download those without the subscription?

Furthermore, if any MMORPG's come out on the console, doesn't that mean to play those, you have to pay out to MS who don't really do anything but take your money, pay out to your ISP, and the game developer? Three subscriptions for one game?

So... can anyone clarify this, is the Live subscription required for all games or just some? Like CoD I can play free online on every other system ever developed in the entire world... I'm all up for buying the console, but I dislike the idea of having to pay a subscription fee for what should be a free service...

dotWithShoes

Why shouldn't it? MS is charging you for a service to sell you more things. That's like having to pay amazon to be able to shop there. PSN = no charge. I can play COD 4 there for free. I like XBOX live, but why do you think MS deserves the $$? Do you really think that they are running the servers that your online games are running on? What do you get with a Gold membership? The ability to play games with your friends that you could play on your PC, PS3 free, and the ability to stream Netflix on your 360, which you can also do for free on your PC.

yes you have to pay.. and i mean i dont really care.. 80 buks a year wow! its nothing if you have the money to buy games and the console itself... for great online its worth it!adders99

You do not have to pay for demos. At least not all of them. Recently I downloaded the RE5 demo, FIFA 09 demo, Skate 2 and Football Manager demos for free. And if I read your question correctly, then I hope this is the answer you were looking for:

You pay for one Xbox Live Subcription (which will allow you to play all of your games online), the cheapest option is just to buy the 12 Months; it works out cheaper in the long run. Plus sometimes you get a free bonus month after those 12. The money goes to MS supposedly to help improve the servers and other bits, but it's obvious they're making bigmoney off it. It's pretty smart on MS's part, even if it is a pain in the ass.

if your getting a 360 you might aswell get used to paying for things Eg.

turning down the volume of your TV - 400 MSP

going to make a sandwich - 800 MSP

slapping bill gates with a fish - priceless

also microsoft make so much profit off XBL they would rather eat their own testacles than make it free

OK you don't pay to download demos there free all demos on live-market place are free If you have a gold membership you get access to some game demos before

silver members you can buy Live games on the market place but before you do that you can always play the game as a demo first if you like it then you can buy it

as for buying the x-box live membership for a year its a good thing as the on-line is very good also with the membership you get new features

with the new dashboard as party chat while playing a game and other stuff if you can afford it by all means get it i was lucky to have had a Friend buy it for me

cause for me its a bit expensive so that kicked butt i hope this kinda helps you also after your membership of gold expires it will revert back to silver

OK you don't pay to download demos there free all demos on live-market place are free If you have a gold membership you get access to some game demos before

silver members you can buy Live games on the market place but before you do that you can always play the game as a demo first if you like it then you can buy it

as for buying the x-box live membership for a year its a good thing as the on-line is very good also with the membership you get new features

with the new dashboard as party chat while playing a game and other stuff if you can afford it by all means get it i was lucky to have had a Friend buy it for me

cause for me its a bit expensive so that kicked butt i hope this kinda helps you also after your membership of gold expires it will revert back to silver

yes you have to pay.. and i mean i dont really care.. 80 buks a year wow! its nothing if you have the money to buy games and the console itself... for great online its worth it!adders99

30$ for 12 months at amazon. i dont see the big deal.

I don't think xbox live is really worth it unless you're in america. Games are all optimised to run well for americans but not far off smaller nations like aus.

Seriously, only like 1/4 of the games even let you sort games by ping. Being forced to play high latency games and then being screamed at by an 8 year old for "sucking" is not a fun experience. Of course when i get a chance to host in the stupid matchmaking systems (and the roles are reversed) i am obviously a "cheating and standbying whore"...

Microsoft has to pay for the servers so why wouldn't they charge people?pistonfan74

Because they aren't offering servers. Games run peer to peer. Anyway, the only point you need to win this argument is that Microsoft offers the same service (Windows Live) for the PC and that one is free! Tell me how this is not a rip off for console users? I don't care that it's not much money. It's still not worth it. But some people here would even pay if MS charged them a dollar for switching on the XBox each time. Because a dollar isn't much, right?nethernova

I know the games are peer to peer but they do run servers to host the content. If you don't like it then don't pay for it but they can charge whatever they want. Capitalism is a wonderful thing! lol

Why am I hearing people say you have to pay 80 dollars for xbox live? You can buy xbox live cards for like 38 dollars for a year. That's 3 dollars a month... Skip a starbucks one day a month and you'll have enough. And why does the xbox cost 400 dollars there?threx808

Microsoft want you to pay them for the privelige of playing videogames online. Simple as that.Floppy_Jim

Why should it be free?DriftRS

Cause... M$ isn't acctually doing anything worth being payed for... They're not hosting servers, they're not giving you any special content, you still have to pay to download anything, unless you acctually think paying for trailers is worthwhile... I mean as far as I can tell, MS are just taking your money and not giving anything in return, it doesn't make sense to me. I know it's only $80, but still, it's another subscription your paying for, except this one isn't acctually "for" anything. I mean, if you really think online on the 360 shouldn't be free, then shouldn't you have the same outlook for your PC? Why are you not paying Microsoft to go online on a windows PC? Are you honestly saying you wouldn't complain if Microsoft blocked your access to the internet on your PC unless you payed them $80 a year? I'm sorry this is just turning into me complaining, I'm going to buy a 360 regardless, but damn, I just don't like the idea of this subscription to play online : /

LOL, topics like this crack me up. Just because you pay for your ISP, doesnt mean xbox live should be free. Its a completely different service, from a completely different company. They dont charge for demos, whoever told you that needs a helmet. Your paying for a service that allows you to communicate and play with other people, and it actually works pretty damn well. Ill give you this, I dont really agree with some of the DLC prices, and all that, but hey, if you dont like it, dont buy it. DLC is NOT necessary to play. I guess my point is this....if you can spend $400 for a system, and pay $100 for a game, why are you whining about a charge, that is 1 time per year, of $40-$50 depending on how you go about purchasing it. It doesnt make any sense, and really just seems like you were bored and wanted to complain about something. Xero319

You don't seem to be getting the fact that no one else charges you for a service to communicate with people. Does facebook charge you, no. Do you have to pay for your IM on the computer, no. Do you have to pay to play multiplayer games games (other than MMOs where the company is managing a profile for you on it's serves ), no. The PSN may not be designed as well as the XBL (most likely because Sony is primarily a hardware company), but you can do the same things on there for free. You can't say that XBL's service for online games is great, because that depends on the game. Looks at GeoW2. It takes 20 minutes to get out of a lobby and find a game. Halo 3 is very streamilined, but that's because Bungie knows what they are doing. You can play a 60 person multiplayer game of Resistance 2 on the PS3 and it runs just as well as live. Same with COD4. I am not arguing about the game systems, I love my 360 and have the majority of games for the 360. It just annoys me that I have to pay for a service that is free for every other system. MS likes to screw us out of money as is evident by the prices that they charge for hardware like 360HDDs.

[QUOTE="Xero319"]LOL, topics like this crack me up. Just because you pay for your ISP, doesnt mean xbox live should be free. Its a completely different service, from a completely different company. They dont charge for demos, whoever told you that needs a helmet. Your paying for a service that allows you to communicate and play with other people, and it actually works pretty damn well. Ill give you this, I dont really agree with some of the DLC prices, and all that, but hey, if you dont like it, dont buy it. DLC is NOT necessary to play. I guess my point is this....if you can spend $400 for a system, and pay $100 for a game, why are you whining about a charge, that is 1 time per year, of $40-$50 depending on how you go about purchasing it. It doesnt make any sense, and really just seems like you were bored and wanted to complain about something. kyrissbp82

You don't seem to be getting the fact that no one else charges you for a service to communicate with people. Does facebook charge you, no. Do you have to pay for your IM on the computer, no. Do you have to pay to play multiplayer games games (other than MMOs where the company is managing a profile for you on it's serves ), no. The PSN may not be designed as well as the XBL (most likely because Sony is primarily a hardware company), but you can do the same things on there for free. You can't say that XBL's service for online games is great, because that depends on the game. Looks at GeoW2. It takes 20 minutes to get out of a lobby and find a game. Halo 3 is very streamilined, but that's because Bungie knows what they are doing. You can play a 60 person multiplayer game of Resistance 2 on the PS3 and it runs just as well as live. Same with COD4. I am not arguing about the game systems, I love my 360 and have the majority of games for the 360. It just annoys me that I have to pay for a service that is free for every other system. MS likes to screw us out of money as is evident by the prices that they charge for hardware like 360HDDs.

[QUOTE="adders99"]yes you have to pay.. and i mean i dont really care.. 80 buks a year wow! its nothing if you have the money to buy games and the console itself... for great online its worth it!KorruptRaiden

(other than MMOs where the company is managing a profile for you on it's serves kyrissbp82

[QUOTE="KorruptRaiden"][QUOTE="adders99"]yes you have to pay.. and i mean i dont really care.. 80 buks a year wow! its nothing if you have the money to buy games and the console itself... for great online its worth it!SexyPorkins

I have both a PS3 and a 360 and I can say that XBL is definetly not worth the $60 (in Canada). All I really care about is playing online. I really do like that party feature on XBL but I don't feel like that justifies my $60. I have had alot more lag on XBL than PSN, and I don't really care that I get demos earlier on the 360 than PS3. I will continue to pay for it though, sadely, since all my friends have Xbox

[QUOTE="SexyPorkins"][QUOTE="KorruptRaiden"] Its not the point, you pay your ISP for your internet service as he stated, and you expect to get the full access for free, i mean PSN is free but why not live?Da_lil_PimP

I have both a PS3 and a 360 and I can say that XBL is definetly not worth the $60 (in Canada). All I really care about is playing online. I really do like that party feature on XBL but I don't feel like that justifies my $60. I have had alot more lag on XBL than PSN, and I don't really care that I get demos earlier on the 360 than PS3. I will continue to pay for it though, sadely, since all my friends have Xbox

I have been an Xbox Live Subscriber sinse the original Xbox here in Canada and XBL has never given me any lag problems whatsoever. Call of Duty 4 runs fantastic, Gears of War ran fantastic, Gears 2's problems isn;t in Xbox Live Matchmaking, Its the reworked code done by Epic that bugged the crap out of it making it a joke.

I also have a PS3 and I have played Resistance and Socom Online with it quite a lot and the first problem right off the bat in both are Lag Issues because of Terrible Host servers. they constantly disconnect, Everyone complains on the Chat about it, And cheating is a problem sinse there is 0 Security. I have seen so many people cheating on the PS3 Online service because of the lack of security I stopped playing those games online. Killzone 2 looks like it will have great MP but it will be hacked and cheated inside a month like every other game on the network.

I have never had this problem on Xbox Live with cheaters because MS has security and BANS accounts. Now I hear Halo 3 has some cheaters but I don't play Halo because I think its a terrible excuse for a game but I rarely hear complaints because people get reported on XBL so fast if something is fishy its taken care of.

So many years online with the service and no complaints. Is it worth the cash? Every penny. For the Price of a game your online for a year. its not a huge sacrifice. Most of you who complain anyway are still in school and don't have much cash so I see the merit but thats Life. Get used to it.

"Let me explain by making a comparison to PC Gaming. Let's say you are the game company Relic and you are going to make Company of Heroes for PC. What you have to do is create an online system to help players find each other, a system to rank the players based on their wins, a friends list to keep track of your friends, and a chat system so you can chat with people. That is a lot of programming to get all that running. And of course every game is going to do the same thing, so just because I have a friends list in Company of Heroes it is only for that game, I can't see that my friend is playing another game or chat with them. What Microsoft did was create the Xbox Live system that has all this programming in it to connect gamers together, allow voice chat, friends list, achievements, and a ranking system. Then they give all this information to a game developer who basically takes these prebuilt modules and plugs it into their game. Now they don't have to spend a bunch of time programming all those features in. The best part is it works across all games so I can chat with you even if we are playing different games. The only thing Xbox Live doesn't do is create dedicated servers to host the matches, the games are peer to peer. However lot's of PC games such as Company of Heroes are peer to peer as well. So basically Xbox Live does everything except host the match. The reason you pay for it is because at the time Xbox Live came out it was superior to anything on any console or even the computer, and Microsoft felt they could get people to pay for it. And people were willing to pay for it."

i found this nice explanation in another forum

Why should it be free?DriftRS

Cause... M$ isn't acctually doing anything worth being payed for...

I'm pretty certain I'm going to buy a 360 now, probably in March when RE5 comes out, they're about $400 for the pro here in aus, so they've come down nicely.

Whats got me confused is this XBox live thing... through all my years gaming on the PC, I've NEVER payed to play games online... I pay an ISP for my internet, and I normally expect to get my online gaming free, especially when the companies developing the games/hardware shouldn't even be hosting the servers. I mean, it's free on other consoles like the Wii and PS3 as well. I also hear you have to pay to be able to download stuff on more then two accounts or something? Thats probably never going to be an issue for me, but still, people are having to pay for demo's now? That's like me paying to see advertisments on TV :? And don't I already use microsoft points or whatever to purchase downloadable games and content anyway? Maybe I'm wrong and you can download those without the subscription?

Furthermore, if any MMORPG's come out on the console, doesn't that mean to play those, you have to pay out to MS who don't really do anything but take your money, pay out to your ISP, and the game developer? Three subscriptions for one game?

So... can anyone clarify this, is the Live subscription required for all games or just some? Like CoD I can play free online on every other system ever developed in the entire world... I'm all up for buying the console, but I dislike the idea of having to pay a subscription fee for what should be a free service...

DriftRS

[QUOTE="kyrissbp82"] (other than MMOs where the company is managing a profile for you on it's serves anjilslaire

Your argument is flawed. All of it is stored free for Silver accounts too. My gamerscore on my free silver account is saved along with my friends list and the ability to send and receive messages. ALL OF IT is saved on MICROSOFT SERVERS. Xbox Live gold is indeed a rip off if you compare it to everything else because it only lets you play peer to peer with other players. That by itself isn't worth paying for IMO. Silver should include multiplayer at it's bare minimum and all DLC under silver should require MS points. Paying for gold should give you everything silver has but access to free DLC or heavily discounted content.

ok, so for around 30 dollars you get three months of Gold membership, and then pay $8 a month after that. I don't see how that isn't a good deal, why pay for a year of live which is considerably more expensive?

In response to someone complaining about an overheating Xbox, this is the best course of action: first time through, just suck it up and pay for the maintenance, because it will pay off in the long run. Once it does it again (and it will), when you call Support just freak out and complain a lot, and it will be done for free. If you get a third time at it, do the same and you will more than likely get some really good stuff for free from them (extra live cards, MS points, etc.). They love their customer support, so they always want you to be satisfied (much like hookers).

so buy an Xbox over a PS3, pay for the live and have a grand time sir

Considering the price per year we pay for XBL you would think they could make a better console instead of one with a 60% failure rate within 2 years of purchase. Maybe the price of XBL is to pay for all those overheated, poorly made 360's to be fixed? Yes, i just had to send mine in for repair because of the 3 Rings of Death and it was WELL ventilated at all times as well as taken good care of. Microsoft is a money grubber. They charge for everything and ontop of that they make and then RELEASE faulty products (X360, Windows Vista, etc) They also hike the price up way too high for new DLC (the small amount of new game content you get for 800 microjunk points is plain ridiculous) They do whatever they want and get away with it. They get all that money and put it in their pockets instead ot making better products and giving something back to us. So ; 50 dollars a year. I guess its cheaper than paying shipping and repair charges. Waldkrieger

I've never had any complaints with my Xbox Live service. I've got a bad intenet connection and it doesn't lag all that much. Just to clear things up...DEMOS ARE FREE! TRAILERS ARE FREE! There is a mode that lets you party up with sven other people and talk and interact with each other while playing seperate games. That means I can t laugh at my friends getting raped at COD 4-5, Halo 3, GoW 1-2. While I sit back and play Fallout 3. Not to mention there is the free webcam features. You can chat face to face just like any webcam you would use for a PC. Like it's PC counterparts you have to buy the camera hardware of course. But some games have features that use this feature. Like the Command&Conquer 3 games. Then there is the downloadable games as well. You do have to pay for the XBL Arcade games but you can downlaod a free trial of the game. So you can play it before you decide to buy it. You also have to pay for the games on the Wii's Virtual Console right?

Then there is the exclusive downlaods for Fallout 3 and GTA 4. Which increase the story length of the games. But you don't have to have a Gold membership to get game content.

Is it worth it? That's up to you. To me it is. I don't even use the Webcam, Netflix or The XNA Creator's Club. I just use it to play games online and download new content for said games.