I have one question that must be answered, why does this guy not have a much more prominent role at gamespot, and I vote that he should.
Gamespot keeps giving top of page articles to that idiot Tom Mcshea, who constantly tries to make us feel bad for liking to play video games he doesn't like.
Finally, Aaron, buddy, thank you for sticking up for the silent majority.
That's a logical argument. Basically, alot of people are already committed, and it would suck to have to move to something else, after spending so much time and money purchasing games for this system that they already own.
I guess it's irritatig to me to see so many people assume that they are entitles to get this service for free, just because other companies do it, and resort to personal attacks because of the entitlement mentality.
Look, back when Xbox first came out and paying for the service seemed like it was worth it, you may have agreed the fee was nominal. Now that there are other companies that offer the service for free, but you still decide to pay for the service from MS, I think you need to take a look at your own choice of paying for the service instead of pointing the finger at the corporation and saying "they made me do it!"
Why buy an Xbox at all, if I have to pay for online service. I do have a choice in the matter, it's the choice to not buy it. Nobody is forcing me to buy the xbox, just like nobody is forcing me to buy a honda versus a chevrolet. If the world is full of this many fools, who allow themselves to "fall into the trap set by greedy corporations" to purchase ENTERTAINMENT items, then pfft, that's their own stupid fault.
Personal responsibility is almost non-existent in these times. It's really sad.
Thanks for the compliment. Although I disagree with most of Tom's points of view, I think he does a fine job drawing interest to this website, via articles like this. Look, after barely a couple hours being posted, his article as drawn thousands of responses and passion from guys like us. Websites, as a business, drool over this kind of interest. I'd probably get along with Tom pretty well, kinda like two people with opposing views but end up laughing at the silliness of the reasons for our arguments.
This is not meant to be a rhetorical question, but which console actually offers more (good) exclusives and other stuff like that? It all boils down to what the consumer sees as the greatest value for the money they are willing to spend. You have a console (PS3) that is willing to offer their online service for FREE, yet there are millions of people still willing to pay MS to play on their console! This is counterintuitive! If a corporation finds themselves in the position of being able to charge people for a service, and stay successful, even though their competitors are willing to offer the same service for free, why would they even consider losing revenue? The MS model is still sucessful, so why fix it if it aint broke? If I were Sony, I would fire alot of people because they can't get people to buy my stuff even though the service I offer is free! Personally, I really think the Sony chat software is so inferior to the MS software, that many people who want to connect to others realize that it's much easier and seamless with Xbox, and the sales pile up because of it. I find myself not booting-up my PS3 for online play, I only do it for the SP exlcusives.
Xbox live may be a rip off, but people still buy it, and that's why they keep charging for it. Say what you want about the "evil greedy" corporate nature of that practice, but it's how business works. If you give people a product/service they desire, you will make money.
Until a serious competitor arrives on the scene to challenge MS, this will not change. I hold out hope for this happening, using the cell phone industry as an example. We can get the latest/greatest cell phone for less than $50 these days because of the competition that exists. If Motorola or Blackberry were still the only player on the block, no cell phone would cost less than $500+ today. Coroporate competition theory has prevented this.
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