Suckers! Kidding: I pay for it, too. I don't necessarily like it, but what can you do. I'd love to think that part of that $59.99 I drop a couple times a month goes to the servers, upkeep, and other services that they say our Gold fee is going toward. But I guess not.
Regardless, a Microsoft internal document that CVG got ahold of says that 56% of worldwide Xbox Live members are Gold. These numbers aren't current enough to figure in the post-New Xbox Experience users, but we're guessing that this rate is just as good if not better by now. It seems that the US has the highest rate, holding steady at 60%.
Back to my mini-rant. I'd like my $8 (or less with a yearly buy) a month to pay for a better, more consistent service. I think they're getting there, but some older games seem to fail more often online. Why is that? Street Fighter IV works great, though!
And PS3 fanboys, don't you start in. The service may be free, and it does get better by the day, but there are still things that lack that you'd imagine would be better if they had the income to put toward it. And paying for things like Qore--things that should be free--sucks even worse than a monthly online fee.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
11:00 AM on 02.24.2009
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Oh, nvm.
All of my games function just as well online on PSN as they do on XBL, the PSN store is infinitely better and more organized than the XBL Marketplace, and I consistantly have much better download speeds on PSN (on a wifi connection) versus what I get on XBL on an ethernet connection... considering the wifi/ethernet difference shouldnt you think it would be the other way around?
Also, am I the only person who thinks its rather strange that even though XBL has 'exclusive' content that we still have to pay for it regardless? If DLC was multiplatform I could certainly understand the cost, but considering (using GTA4 as an example) that you need to pay for XBox Live to let you pay for the GTA4 DLC... it doesnt seem logical and seems extremely unfair to the consumer.
New title launch day comes on the PSN. Oh, neat! I can see everything that came out today by hitting "new" releases. Easy enough.
Launch day for the 360. God damnit! What the hell came out today? Time to check Major Nelson's blog for the Arcade release, then hunt for everything else.
Also, I don't think the argument against Qore is fair. It comes with exclusive content as well (demos JUST like "gold subscriber only demos"), so what's the difference?
I'm talking strictly here about the marketplace aspect. As far as content, the PSN is getting there, but isn't as robust as the Live Arcade.
@SephirothX
No, I don't understand that concept at all. "Left4Dead demo exclusively for Gold subscribers!" Why? It's ONLY on the PC and 360. What's the point?
I beg to differ my friend. In my opinion the ability to play games online, especially @ $60 a pop, should be free. I don't have to pay for Qore if I don't want it.
There are a few benefits to getting the 360 version: more general gaming public to play with, and more of your friends are likely to own a 360.
Not that Live is much better (it is actually), but I've learned long ago to sucker people into buying me 13-month cards. Hence, all of my online gaming is free.
Are you on PSN via wireless? If so, upgrade your router's firmware (it solved a similar issue I had).
Also, Live is a little superior to PSN... but its not 60 bucks a year kind of better.
XBL is more consistent than WoW and their forced weekly outage windows. Unless specific examples are sited, it's pure conjecture. Older "failing" games could be related to the peer-to-peer infrastructure.
Paying a fee then paying for things that should be free like oooooh gamer pics, themes, and map packs the developers want to release for free. Now that really sucks.
I know, having more headsets means more underage racists and homophobes, but by my experience the PSN userbase seems slightly more mature.
Oh wait, I haven't been on Home for a while :P
If PSN keeps getting better and the install base grows to the point where everyone I know has a PS3 (like it is with the 360), I'll probably start playing on PSN, too. Until that day comes (and throw in cross game chat), XBL is my home for multiplatform games.
Even if I did play online, the last thing I'd want to do is talk to idiots via a headset.
PSN = 21 and up local bar with no cover
XBL = 18 and up club with a cover charge
(The age barrier = install base)
Sure, I'd prefer to go to a bar with no cover charge, but most of my friends aren't 21 yet, so when all my friends call me on Friday night to hang out, I keep going back to the place with a cover.
One day more of my friends will be 21 and we'll all be able to go to the bar with no cover charge, but that day isn't here yet.
Say you go to a website that offers a sevice for free. How do they fund this service? Through advertisement right? So with Xbox Live you have to pay £40 a year to see adverts for shitty bands, have yourself insulted in game (I'm personally called a paki because of my gamertag, at least twice every time) with no option to vote-kick people like free online pc games (Like ten year old Counter Strike) even though that would probably be abused too and it's really up to the game developer to handle that one. Sometimes theres unbelievable lag, yet my pc games work fine online.
Then they pull stunts like taking away the ability to download demos as soon as they come out and try and tell me its a feature?! It just fills me with spiteful rage. That's why I haven't paid for live in a year. The only game that even makes me consider getting it is RE5 and I will probably end up just using system link because I dislike split-screen.
I sound like I'm in a blind rage but I just don't understand what I'm paying for. I heard it costs somewhere around $500mil to run it all, and that was a few years back. But I'd just really like to see the same functionality PC gaming gets online because at the moment it just seems like I'm paying for the internet twice.
It's best to look before your membership expires, just in case no deals are happening when it does. Or, when you do find a deal, get two years for nearly the price of one year and you'll be set for awhile.
Oh, and I'll be extremely surprised if PSN never costs money. Once they have even more multiplayer friendly games like Killzone 2 and Resistance 2, they'll have you where they want you. Right now, they don't want gamers to have to "choose" because they know most will choose XBL.
Finally, I'm amazed that someone pointed out the speed of downloads on the PS3. Mine is wireless and sits not two feet from my wireless router and it takes me at least an hour for a fucking title update to download. It took me three hours for the Valkyria Chronicles demo. My 360 downloads take a few minutes at most for a similar size, and my connection speed is 8 mbps. I haven't tried a wired connection yet, to be fair.
I think that might have something to do with your router receiving your PS3s connection. My 360 downloads at the same exact rate as my PS3. It's the exact opposite of your situation for many other people, so I have no idea what the issue is.
So if something like LBP or MGS online loses a lot people, Sony or Konami might shut down those servers to save costs, much like they shut down the MGS3 and Capcom shutdown the RE Outbreak servers.
On the other hand you can pop in the very first game to have XBL and still play, I'm fine paying 50 bucks, its once a year, its ONE GAME and I'm not a cheapskate, plus it means I can play whatever online game I want, you would be surprised at the old titles people still play.
If anything, I pay for xbox live and dont buy a ps3 because I dont feel after how sony has treated the fans these past couple years, that even buying a ps3 would just send the message that I actually approve of horrible marketing, a total lack other than Valkyria chronicles of games I care about, and a total lack of generally giving a damn about pleasing customers.
What I said to the other guy, make sure your router firmware is updated.
Thanks for the advice, I'll try and find some deals.
@Midgetsnowman - Yeh, cause micosoft are real cool guys. Loving and caring. Everyone who works for them seems like the creepy uncle who touched you in your special place as a child. "He said he was going to give me a red ring! *sob*"
And MicroSoft can't shut down servers on their end?
They could but only if XBL ever stops being viable, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Like I said, you could pop in the very first XBL capable game and still find matches.
I guess I'm just old school. I hate monthly fees associated with games. I spend over half of $100 and I can play until my hearts content on the PlayStation. With the Xbox, I need to keep shelling out loot to them to get all of the features meant to be packed into one game. PC games have mostly free online multiplayer (with the exception of MMORPG's with fees) PlayStation games are ALL free to play online... Why is MS doing this? to make up for the millions they lost in a lawsuit for assembling faulty products with prior knowledge. Someone has to pay for it.. did you think that MS would pay for it? Not likely.
YOU pay for their mistakes. Not the Billionaire Bill Gates.
I've had my PlayStation 3 for almost a year, and I only spend money on it when I WANT to. Not because I'm FORCED to. If I want a game, I buy it.. I don't have to subscribe and buy it to get some lame deal. I don't have to buy Disney Dollars first, then pay for the game. PSN tells me how much their games cost up front. I can play new demos without having to subscribe to Qore.
My PS3 downloads just fine, I can get 1 GB in less than an hour. Yes, I use my wireless adapter.
I'm tired of being nickle and dimed to death.
What are you paying for, exactly? Microsoft doesn't host game servers-- they just do matchmaking. There's ads on the dashboard, even with a Gold account. And if you play something that's not like Halo/GoW it can be tough to find a group of people playing it online.