I have never doubted XBL being worth the $38-$45 annual subscriptions fee. The cost to maintain the best premium dedicated online service seems small for what you get.
In my opinion you get, by far, the best online store, Netflix streaming and browsing, VOIP (that's all the chat features), feature rich and easily accessible parental controls (approve/disapprove friends via email, control all features online and off, etc.), easy and consistent invite system and true usability of the XBOX button (get a message, hit XBOX button and go right to the message, or get a friend online notice and get "invite" with one click, and more). I could on about all the little niceties like user avoidance, rep system, ESPN etc., that make it an online gaming and marketplace easily worth ~$4 or so/month. I haven't even mentioned the ability to message and make purchases that auto-download all from xbox.com.
There's only one problem, I've never met anyone with an XBL Gold Membership that had a problem with the cost. I didn't really realize it until I got a PS3 and began using PSN but I never met anyone on XBL that had a problem with the cost, because obviously, they could afford it.
The notion that there are people that can't afford $50/yr doesn't cross the XBOX Gold Member's minds. I've met several good friends on PSN and many of them can't afford to download games from the PlayStation Store, let alone spend an extra $50 on a premium online service.
At least on the PlayStation platform, these people can enjoy online gaming and social networking without impacting their budget. While it may be an inferior experience to all the XBL offers, XBL offers little or nothing to those that can't pay the subscription costs.
Before anyone goes nuts, I'm not saying PSN is the where all the poor people are. I'm saying you don't see them on XBL because they simply can't get online at all on XBL and Microsoft should correct this.
Allowing free online play would not affect current subscriptions. Once you have experienced the features and accessibility that Gold Membership offers, you will pay the subscription cost if you are able to.
Sony bit the bullet and is offering a premium service (though no infrastructure or feature improvements) so Microsoft should offer Silver Members free online play. Maybe only on weekends, maybe with no chat initiation, maybe with their own farm of lower performing servers. Somehow, Microsoft should address this segment of the gaming community with at least minimal online play.
Ahmed from eXputer: "2015's Fallout 4 received harsh criticism upon launching, but I think it was unwarranted and the game deserves more praise than it got."
It was totally that bad. I couldn't finish the campaign it was so bland and boring as I recall. Got so sick of it. 1000 stimpaks on hard. It is very rare that I play half a game and then just quit. I usually always finish it. But i was so bored with this game I just stopped and never went back and never regretted it. Just thinking about that game makes me shudder
That's exactly what happened to me too lmao
Fallout 4 is not a fallout game period it's a bethesda game
The comparison with Skyrim is mind-boggling. Yes, Skyrim has streamlined many of the systems that Morrowind introduced. However, it did not tamper with the core of the Elder Scrolls franchise; it did not diminish the freedom and sense of exploration that made Bethesda RPGs famous. Fallout 4, on the other hand, did exactly that to the Fallout series. It eliminated what made Fallout such a beloved series to play. There are no consequences for your choices, no reason to explore, and barely any interesting set pieces in the game.
It's not terrible, but it's a painfully mediocre game in a franchise that typically doesn't produce such mediocrity. So that is why people see it as bad, the bar is just much higher.
Jack writes: "Nvidia's RTX 5090 specs have been leaked, so we take a look at how they compare to the current flagship RTX 4090."
Interview with Stephen Russell, Actor for (Nick Valentine, Codsworth, My Handy) in Fallout 4 which is a vast open world role playing game set in the apocalyptic wastes of Boston, the Commonwealth. The career goes further with other Bethesda games from Starfield to Prey to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
It's not the poor people, it's not people not being able to afford. It's people used to gaming for free on PC in the last decade until MS said otherwise and don't like wasting money. Because frankly, XBL Gold is wasting money. Sure if you haven't experienced online anywhere else, it's amazing, but aside from Halo, there's very little you can play on XBL G exclusively, half the time, most people are playing multiplats, which I find hilarious and ironic. Why people flock to CoD, (a multiplatform game, the same experience on all other platforms) on Xbox Live, I haven't a clue.
Besides, who in their right mind would pay for XBL G online if they have a PS3 doing exactly the same for free and with more than 97% of the same titles and gameplay experience? Would you pay for a houses electric bill and never use it? That's XBL G if you're not playing on it, especially if you have a PS3.
A 360 is the cheap option for a console and people BELIEVE because they can't see otherwise they can't get as good ONLINE GAMING (Not features nobody uses) for cheaper, let alone free.
Also, before anyone brings it up. XBL G is not an MMO. So it's NOT worth the money at all.
£50 a year is more than enough for an extra game every year. So in short, my honest belief, except for original XBL and 360 only experiences, XBLG is a complete waste of money and I get angered when the lemmings think they can't get online gaming anywhere else and pony up because MS says so and won't let people play the other half of the game they bought on the disc at retail.
Which is why none of them have headsets and they complain about the cost of XBL, while playing on an inferior online service. Also, most the PS3 people I know sponge off friends that can afford the map packs, which is piracy essentially. One person gives them out to up to five friends.
XBL isn't expensive. I've had it for a long time and I've never paid more then $34 a year for it. The past couple of years I've paid $25 and $27 respectively. I pay more for a haircut, which I get at least ten times a year. People just like to find things to complain about and honestly tend to be a little jealous of. I have successfully converted about eight clan members from PS3 to the Xbox 360, how did I do this? It's easier then you might think. You can go into Gamestop and pick up games like Left 4 Dead, Halo 3, Call Of Duty, Gears of War all really cheap, then once you feel the difference of Live, with the stellar voice service and the custom online options, they get hooked. The XBL community is just so much better.
Early on when the PS3 just came out PSN was a ghost town, I ran into the same people on games and NOBODY had a headset. It's gotten a little better, but still nowhere near what XBL is. I personally don't want XBL to be free, I like it how it is now. I don't want people making 10 XBL accounts like they do PSN. I like it structured and I like it more exclusive.
As for the guy talking about Multi plat games and why more people play them on the 360, it's simple. A recent article said XBL brought in over a billion dollars in revenue. 6 million people a month play Halo 3, less then half of that is the entire PS3 online community for EVERY PS3 ONLINE GAME!
The reason people PREFER live and paying over a free service is because you get what you pay for. The competition is less on PS3, less teams on Gamebattles and the games don't last as long online.
The Xbox 360 is the best hardcore gaming machine out today and XBL is part of that.