I just finished reading on the front page
Dyson's supposed take on Street Fighter II HD that inherently evolved into a round table discussion focusing instead of Capcom's fighter to online services and their pricing structures or models. What I found most interesting about the piece, aside from it being a frank look into our own editors frugality, was how most of them just didn't want to pony up any money to play multiplayer. Isn't parting with eight bucks a month for Xbox LIVE worth it?? Doesn't it offer you superior online service that you can't get anywhere else with the bells and whistles that you have all come to love?? A centralized model where voice chat is integrated in all games, instant messaging a way of life, and achievements supposedly adding longevity to your games??
Sure, there have been growing pains, as with everything that grows does, but it's still worth paying, am I right? The answer to that may not be as obvious as before. Where in the past Microsoft could easily tout LIVE as being far superior than anything the competition was employing with their gimped out services, *cough-Sony* *cough-Wii*, the amount of features that Microsoft has trumpeted before are slowly but surely being emulated or straight out copied by the competition. With the 2.40 firmware update coming in
two days for Sony's black behemoth, the better footing that LIVE had over PSN will be leveled considerably.
With Sony employing a free online service, albeit not as robust as LIVE's, and adding more and more features to it to make a a legitimate counterpart to it, will Microsoft bite the bullet and drop the price of LIVE or do away with it altogether from the mounting pressure of the ever evolving PSN offering the PS3 is giving it's owners for free? If I was a betting man, which I'm not, the chances of that are slim. And herein Sony could make a stab at Microsoft's strengths that may inevitably become it's Achilles's heel because of it's pricing.
Say what you will about Sony's Qore but if it leaves PSN multiplayer free of charge as it is now indefinite, with in game XMB in tow, I support it fully, as any other lucrative business models Sony has yet to employ..i.e..movie and television downloadables. If this takes place, along with Home around the corner, Microsoft may have to do what Sony's arrogant honchos had to do: take a slice of humble pie and adapt ( I know if LIVE were free I'd be on it like white on rice ).
I'm not even mentioning the real superior alternative to LIVE by way of Steam on the PC. Seriously, how much longer is Microsoft going to charge you for services like multiplay? For the majority of the time it's still peer to peer. Shouldn't this be free already?? Jim had an interesting comment in that piece I mentioned reading, in it he said something to the effect of:
Instead of adding to the Gold Memberships, they are taking away from the Silver ones. They'll have to find better alternatives in my opinion, to justify their asking price. Because to me, the only real reason people are willing to cough up fifty bucks a year for it boils down to one thing.
Playing with your existing friends online.
But what if they just stop renewing their Gold memberships ( as is slowly happening )..what then? What's the next best reason? Again , how much longer is Microsoft willing to charge for Xbox LIVE? I think the better question to ask that would yield some insight on that question is the one that's the title of this blog.
"how much longer is Microsoft willing to charge for Xbox LIVE?"
As soon as people stop paying for it.
I could see M$ lowering the price somewhat (or more likely extending each player's existing contract by a few months), but in order for M$ to rescind the price structure completely, that would be akin to them admitting that they were wrong about something, and that's simply something M$ doesn't do.
Also, this reminds me off you Jimbo....for some odd reason.
you are such a mean and hurtful fanboi
I'm more pissed at the fact that with the PC ports of 360 games, you still need a Gold account to play on-line.
The 360 games published by MS that is.
For as long as I have to. Because inviting / joining my friends in real time is THAT cool.
My 360 is my main console. I'm thrilled I don't have to pay for online for my PS3 or my Wii, but I don't have a problem paying for a service that's giving me a great time while I'm using it.
They will kee it like this until people stop paying for it, what most users who enjoy playing online with their 360 won't.
Say someone bought COD4 for the 360 and doesn't want to pay for GOLD anymore but still wants to play COD4 with his friends online, he will very unluckily buy a PS3 with COD4 only so he can enjoy to play it online for free.
Anyways the 360 fanboys will still continue to praise XBOX LIVE, because it is so much better and has more functions than the PSN. Mainly because they are fanboys.
Also I'm going crazy because of the 2.40 firmware and check the system update every 20 minutes. Although I know it's coming in two days.
@ANGELSDONTBURN
and in 2 days it'll be THAT cool on ps3, for free
Because I can you facist! I do admit Steam is better, though.
Also, nice Soul Eater reference you got there.
I don't mind paying $4.25 a month for a really good online setup. I mean, that's a latte. big fucking deal.
*fascist, btw.
So how much longer are YOU willing to suck Sony's dick without looking like a Dumbass??
Your title did make m chuckle. I'm sure some die-hards will continue to pay even when it's free. I know I'm not going to be re-newing my Live account when it runs out. But then apparently I'm a fanboy. lol
What Topgear said. What King said.
Dude, seriously, its less than 4 fucking bucks a month. We can handle it, because we're not a) cheap asses, and b) willing to shell out another 400 bucks for 'free online service'. Let it fucking go. Xbox Live and PSN both have good and bad things about them, as do the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Now stop with it. Its getting fucking annoying.
HURR, WE'RE GETTING XMB WE'RE EQUAL NOW HURR
I don't even use the fucking in-game media option for games.
What Twisted Imp said.
Amazing that a call to arms for Microsoft not to charge people who want to play multiplay for free would give birth to such lyrical stylings of:
"So how much longer are YOU willing to suck Sony's dick without looking like a Dumbass??"
and
"HURR, WE'RE GETTING XMB WE'RE EQUAL NOW HURR"
How cosmopolitan.
This thread is becoming to angry. So to cheer you guys up here is some great pics. STFUAJPG
"How cosmopolitan."
Tasty little drink.
Typically, I buy the online games for my PS3, and use my 360 to play those occasionally interesting "Exclusive" titles.
And just for the sake of pissing a few fanboys off, lets do a brief comparison of the X360 and PStriple online services, shall we?
PStriple:
-Laggy
-Shitty Community
-Light on the features
-Free
X360:
-Laggy
-Shitty Community (BRO?)
-Cutting edge features such as: Instant Messaging, and Dick Hats
-Not Free
-It costs money
-You have to pay for it, bro.
The choice is obvious, BRO.
bro bro bro bro bro, BRO! BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!1!1!ONE!
I have a fairly good incoming stream of cash and I don't play any mmorpgs as I think the monthly fees related with those style of games are lame.
I don't think I could survive in a LIVE world, though I could be wrong as I have never gone online with my original Xbox........for various reasons............
As long as I can play online with people, friends or not, I am a happy camper.
@Y0j1mb0
And here we though free was a good thing. Boy were we wrong!
I think the real question should be "How much longer do you think that Sony will offer PSN for free?".
Really, if they make all the features equal and have dedicated servers set up for the games, I don't think the publishers are going to want to keep picking up that bill that LIVE customers have been paying all along.
Sorry man, I've done the Gamespy thing. I will gladly pay 5 bucks a month to not deal with it again.
Enjoy your XMB, or what is also known as: a fucking menu.
Honestly, I'm willing to pay for it for a long while because
A] it's only $4 a month
B] The majority of my friends still are only on X360
C] Everyone has a mic
I can't stress the importance of that last one enough. One of the smartest things Microsoft did this time was include a mic with every console guaranteeing that function will be used. Granted, you get plenty of idiots this way, but at least I know that if I go to play a team based game, I'll more than likely be able to communicate with the team easily. PS3 games are waaaay too quiet especially MGO and I can't blame the players since shelling out $30 for a bluetooth mic never really feels worth it. I can understand if that point is actually a turn off for some people but I value it.
I will say though with XMB finally coming, Live looks less and less worth it but I guess we'll have to wait until E3 to see if they have anything planned to put them a step ahead again.
What Clockwork said sums it up for me.
Live costs 14 cents a day. Well, technically, it costs 13.698 cents a day, but that's just being picky.
Thanks for taking my comment out of context, you cunt. Oh great, he says something that makes sense, but HO! THERE'S ONE COMMENT HERE THAT IS CYNICAL! QUOTE IT!
Twat.
You guys need to chill...For real.
Probably not gonna fit, but fuck it.
sigh.
There's not enough Image Marco's up in this bitch, I wish someone would fix that with at least 7 more of these HE-HI-LARIOUS fanboy images.
@The Wrath
I wouldn't say it's a luxury but no one fucking has one. You'd expect a lot of people in MGO to have one since team work is essential but no. Out of all the games I've played I've only seen 4 people total using one.
Sure, it weeds out the idiots but it also ultimately ruins the game play for some games.
I'm curious as to what the 2.40 update, which mainly revolves around being able to view the system menu during a game, has to do with online multiplayer.
SUNTZU=FANBOY ... Confirmed
I'll pay for it until I stop enjoying the time I spend on it. Right now $3.85 a month (that's the rate if you get a 12+1 Live card) is worth it to me to play with my good friends without any hassle.
I've never played a single PS3 game, let alone one online, but I hear things are getting better. Good for PS3 owners, I guess. It's only taken Sony how many years to finally get a quality service rolled out? Like 4 or 5? I forget when Live originally launched on Xbox.
As much as I realize this post (and some of the comments) were made simply to piss 360 players off, just remember that you're only now arriving at the "fully functional and integrated online" party for your PS3. I wouldn't get too smarmy about it, really. You've dealt with a shittier service for quite a while. Be humble, 'cause all your chosen company is doing is copying what Live users have had for ages. Just be glad they've finally gotten their heads out of their asses and put something of good quality together. Wii owners... just sit back and wait. You've got quite a while to do so.
@Takeshi
Something tells me
"GODAAN
JEJAKA
MILIK
ORANG"
isn't nearly as dirty as it sounds.
@Mr Wilson
You're doing it wrong! You need to post another one of those images that we've all seen a thousand times before, otherwise no one will take you seriously.
What B-Radicate said.
@Gantz
I assume it's something about milk and oranges. Shopping list perhaps?
I do have to say I think this argument is pointless anyways. I'm paying more money for a single gallon of gas then to play on LIVE for a month.
Well i don't have a PS3, more or less all of my friends have 360's and i find it to be a brilliant service, so i'm willing to pay £40 a year for it.
Silverdragon summed it up nicely. If you can afford gas, you can afford live.
/thread
LOL, I typed console fanboys into Google Image search, and this came up,
Also, something to ease the tension in this here post
Hope you all like!!
@Shipero
Aw, no Milking Christina's Oranges?
Rumor Willis? That girl is ugly, and I want to reshape her head.
But Yojimbo... its a play on words!
I agree with Tonemeng and Silverdragon... live is cheaper than a gallon of gas, so its not that big of a deal. Should it be free? HELL YES. But thats life.
Monica Belluci is a fanboy
@TOPGEAR
Ugly you say?
Are those bewbs ugly?
No. :)