Why Xbox Live isn't free

TheHater - 552 days 22 hours ago

They get my 50 dollars a year :(
They should lower the price a least because there is a lot of Big Mac advertisement on Xbox live dashboard.

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Fragking28 - 552 days 21 hours ago

i dont mind paying for it but like 35 for the year would be nice.

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AlterEgo - 552 days 21 hours ago

I paid for it once and never used it. I bought it because I was planning on playing Gears until my eyes bled...

but I couldn't really find myself justifying the price.

ESPECIALLY when competitors, no matter the condition of their online gaming...is FREE.

I'm sure a price drop would do MS some good, but as long as Sony keeps their free service, that's whose online I'll be playing the most.

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Ben1054 - 552 days 21 hours ago

WTF you have bigmac advertisments, i thought they only advertise games on xbox, that is bad

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Chuck Norris - 552 days 21 hours ago

How else will they keep pouring those $50M DLC deals?

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jadenkorri - 552 days 21 hours ago

they removed the online play from gold and had it free, then everyone could play

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rroded - 552 days 21 hours ago

meh since ive dropped live in favor of psn I got ta say its been good. The only thing i miss is ingame xmb for chatting but i expect sony will have something similar soon enough.

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SpaceCowgirl - 552 days 20 hours ago

X-box live offers the opporunity to get called names by the true elite of the internet... I mean who wouldn't want to pay for that?

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Xiphos - 552 days 20 hours ago

You shouldn't have to look at any advertisements if you're paying for it.

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Lifendz - 552 days 18 hours ago

Bill Gate's bathtub won't fill up with money on it's own?

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Jim Crowslaw - 552 days 17 hours ago

Becuz Bill Gates is the 2nd richest man in the world

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MrAnonymous - 552 days 16 hours ago

50 dollars a year sounds like much, but if you think about it you are pretty much paying 13.7 cents a day...that right there isnt much

.6 cents an hour...but thats if you play 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year...but still

i play about 3 hours a day (yes i am addicted to games) so i basically pay 4.6 cents a day

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prunchess - 552 days 9 hours ago

Any idea what that works out per second?

Can any one tell me why they think Xbox Live is worth 50 bucks a year compared to the Free PSN?

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MrAnonymous - 551 days 23 hours ago

paying 50 a year...or in my case 4.6 cents a day...for THE BEST ONLINE SERVICE is why it is worth it

i can go outside and find 5 cents right now prolly...lmao, but i dont need to ;)

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Mr BlueScreen - 552 days 20 hours ago

Keep on paying the price for live! Its good for me-ah I mean Microsoft...Bow down to Bill gates and his creations! 00000000100100100 O-o-o-h cra-p-p-p! 0010010010

"Press esc to restart your computer"

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PirateThom - 552 days 21 hours ago

Exactly, because so many idiots (myself included) pay for it, they know they can charge for it.

If everyone cancelled their subs, they'd be forced to reduce or remove the cost.

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Kigmal - 552 days 21 hours ago

yes very true, there is no justifying. The simple fact that your friends have it you have to have it too. :(

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John Madden - 552 days 20 hours ago

#2, 3, and 4 are things you cannot do yet on PS3. And one thing they're forgetting is achievemnts. We know #4 and trophys are coming to PS3 soon and the #2 and #3 are coming within a year later.

Right now if your a gold member your only paying for 4 those features. There are some differences with the cross game chat but on PSN you cn talk to 6 other people on video chat so that is offet.

And they forgot to mention the things you don't get on live. XBL being a paid service at $50 should have all the features that the PSN has and more and they don't have it.

XBL being a paid service is the main reason why I have never bought a XBOX. Having to pay for an online servic is like paying for the system twice. If you been an xbox live member since 2002 you already payed $300. On PS2 and PS3 i've played all my games for free of charge online. I would never trade the fun I had with Socom 2, Socom 3, Resistance, COD4, and Unreal Tournment 3 for the same thing for basically the samething for $300.

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juuken - 552 days 20 hours ago

Not everyone is willing to pay for it. It should be free in the first place. MS is being a bit too greedy with this service.

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Bzone24 - 552 days 17 hours ago

What's good about it is if you don't want to pay for it you don't have to. Is it really worth complaining about a charge of $4 a month on a console that that some of you don't even own?

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juuken - 552 days 9 hours ago

Is it worth not complaining about it when I'm about to own that said system? I know you don't have to pay for it, but what IF you want an online service with features? That means you're forced to pay for it.

Stop making excuses. MS is still ripping people off.

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Bzone24 - 552 days 4 hours ago

How about you stop using the "but I'm going to be buying one" card for your complaining about a system you DO NOT own. You will not be buying a Xbox 360, you just like to somehow justify your criticisms of a system you have no intentions of owning.

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juuken - 552 days 1 hour ago

Bzone, you amaze me, you really do. I almost forgot I was in the Gamer Zone because I was ten seconds away from giving you one good piece of my mind.

Guess what?

I graduated from college.

My uncle is getting me a 360 as a gift because there are two games I want on it-Ninja Gaiden 2 and Infinite Undiscovery. So are you assuming that just because I'm getting a 360, I have to be a mindless 360 owner?

I still support Sony fully, and I have every right to.

You can think however you want but it still stands that I will be getting a 360 and I will be owning both systems. And if that said 360 breaks on me, THAT'S IT. I will send it in once but if they send me back something that fails again, I will be selling it on EBay.

Spin this as much as you want.

And say hello to ignore list.

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Scar 360WA - 552 days 21 hours ago

It is for me.

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fox02 - 552 days 21 hours ago

for me 2

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Lord Vader - 552 days 21 hours ago

Excellent point Silellak.

Bubbles my friend.

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TrenchaunT - 552 days 21 hours ago

I agree. I can understand for some people it isn't worth it, but to me it is. A price drop would always be nice, but it's not outrageous--not as much as a subscription MMORPG, for example.

And as I have said before, making it cost money means that MS has an effective means of banning cheaters, vocal racists, and other trouble makers. Sure, there are still plenty of such people on Live, but it could be much worse. At least when a person is banned, they can't just make a new ID without paying some money for it.

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Madmax1281980 - 552 days 20 hours ago

i totaly agree with u 100% buddy. just look at games like virtua tennis released both for ps3 and 360 as far as i remember the ps3 version was lacking online play. i own both a ps3 and 360 and i dont mind paying for live the 360s online service is so much better send game invites by pressing the xbox guide button and bam or to chat to ur friend or to play any music ingame or u can check ur friends friends list or u can see how long or the last time a friend was online or leave feed back for good or bad gamers ect. it feels more like ur part of a comunity on live wheres the ps3 feels alot unfinished.

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Stryfeno1 - 552 days 19 hours ago

Couldn't said it better myself. Have a bubble.

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ChampIDC - 552 days 5 hours ago

Yeah, that was the point that caught my eye the most in the article. It seems many people just blew past that one or didn't read the article at all. Bubbles for you.

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iHEARTboobs - 552 days 1 hour ago

I don't think that's totally true. Plenty of PS3 games have multiplayer options. If the percentage of all ps3 games that offer online multiplayer is a lot smaller than the percentage of 360 games that offer the same then ok. But i don't that that's the case. I own only a PS3 hence i don't pay for online, if i had to in the future i would because i love playing online. I'd HATE it but i'd still do it.

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Dethspyder - 552 days 21 hours ago

I've never had lag on PSN, but that's respectable. Long live solid snake

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DTClown - 552 days 20 hours ago

MS = douchebag

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Max Power - 552 days 20 hours ago

any bluetooth headset on the ps3 can you say the same for xbox 360?

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Ramzadel - 552 days 20 hours ago

Add that $4.16 a month to your internet providers bill.

You are already paying for your broadband, why should you also pay extra a month to play online, when you are online already?

Most PC games have been doing this for years, like the article states, it's been working right?

Also I never understood why even though you pay for online gaming you still get ads

If the PSN got a ton of ads each time you play, I can live with it because it's free, but there aren't any

Do Xbox 360 owners feel like there shouldn't be any ads on live, if you are paying for it, please tell me???

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Meresin - 552 days 18 hours ago

"about .14 cents a day.
about 1.00 dollar a week
about $4.16 a month."

Look at it from a total cost of ownership perspective. Assuming the 360's lifespan is 6 years, you're looking at a total additional cost of $250, and that's assuming the first year of gold is free. I don't remember how long the trial period is with the purchase of a new system, so I went long on my guess.

This is what makes me chuckle whenever I hear someone talk about the 360 being cheaper. It isn't in the long run. Even if you buy the arcade version ($280, Walmart), your total cost over the six year lifespan will be $530. Best part? The longer you actually use the system, the more the total cost goes up. If you manage to get ten years of use out of your 360, and use Live throughout that decade, an arcade system will run you $730 total.

That's one of the biggest reasons I chose the PS3 over the 360 in the end. As much as I respect the 360's capabilities, and really like some of its games, I just couldn't justify the extra long-term cost.

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OOG - 552 days 15 hours ago

lmao you cant really use the ads because you can turn them off and when Home finally launches you are going to see more advertisements then ever before with people wearing nike etc etc etc

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Bucky Sligo - 552 days 14 hours ago

I wish these sony fans can respect our choice to pay for xbox live as well. It's a great service and I don't mind to pay for a great service. If it was crap then I wouldn't pay a cent for it.

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power of Green - 552 days 21 hours ago

MSFT has the funds coming in to build XBL bigger and better.

Its not MSFT that has to cancel AAA games to apply resources to other projects *cough* *PSN*.

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RonDeMuerte - 552 days 21 hours ago

Microsoft has all the money in the world...yet they charge you for something that the competitor offers for free....that's great!!
HAHAHAHA Microsoft isn't going to improve your Xbox live experience drastically!!! they're already planning for the next Xbox to come out!!!.......and I gotta tell you....lately, history has pretty much shown that the first one to jump to the next generation is the loser of the current gen!!!!! so if Microsoft comes out with the next next gen console first...that just means they lost to their competitors....

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PirateThom - 552 days 21 hours ago

POG - Microsoft only have about 3 first party studios anyway, if they cancelled any games it would be more or less everything they have..

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power of Green - 552 days 21 hours ago

London Studios etc did not cancel games because of poor online support lol.

^^ You trolls come back when you figure out what I meant by the statement above and edit your posts when you figure it out. lol

Got to get some beer for the Boston/LA game.

See yah have fun trolling.

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power of Green - 552 days 21 hours ago

All these replies with all the jibba jabba in them are coming from point of view of defence of a serivce that doesn't offer half of XBL in function and sub services lol. $50 a year you say? lol

It only obivous what going on with 3 or 4 pro PSN or anti XBL posts in 3 hours after the shock of the XBL news thats been pooring in in the last few days these Sony fanboys posts are just the usual knee-jerk reactions to positive 360 news.

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juuken - 552 days 20 hours ago

Wow PoG...you have officially lost your mind. There's a such thing as an edit button, that way you don't sound like a nutcase in need of psychiatric treatment.

And as usual, you talk crap.

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John Madden - 552 days 19 hours ago

Only 4 of those features aren't found on PSN including the achievements which they forgot about. The latter 2 are coming to PSN soon and the #2 and #3 in the article are coming within a year.

PSN is 90% or more as good as XBL. It's only those 4 features that make it different. XBL doesn't even have all the features that the PSN has.

There's a combination of around 11 million Gold and Silver users on XBL and it's going to stay around that number if Microsoft continues to charge people. They will never expand there online or expand the 360 to the casual market. THey're just catering to the blind idiots that they have in the bag that continue to pay for an overpriced service.

Actually I give props to microsoft for introducing such a overpriced service and they stll get people to pay for it. The few people who pay for it are more than enough to cover the cost and subsidize for 1st party game development.

I'm more mad at the blind users who continue to pay for an overprice service.

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DarkSniper - 552 days 19 hours ago

Dark Sniper is thankful each and every day that he does not have to deal with the abysmal malfunctions that Xbox live gives it's customers. Microslaves are obviously incoherent and unable to speak a voice for themselves. Xbox Live has so many shortcomings that the customers should not pay a yearly fee for such horrible service.

PlayStation Network provides Dark Sniper and the rest of his Sony Snipers with all of the essential features that Xbox Live has and as an added bonus, PlayStation Home. All of this is issued at no charge. Free online is just a small token that Sony gives it's customers because they actually care for their consumers.

Your life, your network, your home. Only on PLAYSTATION®3.

$niper

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GiantEnemyCrab - 552 days 20 hours ago

You're a fishhead wtf do you know about the 360 dashboard?

Maybe you should use your spacetoilet and take a sh*t instead of trying to talk out of your arse.

The 360 dashboard ad's are game or content related PERIOD. I don't turn on the 360 and see a freakin tampon commercial or something.

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G1TR4P3D - 552 days 19 hours ago

360 Doucheboard has no ads. It just has links to FREE stuff I WANT to download. Free themes, new demos, videos, etc. Not stupid TV ads.

you droids are plain DUMB.

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gunnerheadboy - 552 days 16 hours ago

Free, HAHA! You wish!

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TheHater - 552 days 21 hours ago

you are joking right?
Warhawk have dedicated servers for rank games. User can only create server with the amount of players their bandwidth allow. There is lag on xbox live. I experience them playing halo 3. There is also lag on the playstation 3 games also.
The only games that I played without lag was Warhawk, and Resistance fall of man.

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pimpstation - 552 days 17 hours ago

What the hell is this fool talkin about? Live is the laggiest piece of sh1t I've ever seen. It's all P2P and bad P2P at that. I've never experienced a single second of lag on PSN.

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caffman - 552 days 7 hours ago

the lack of intelligence of hardcore $ony $lugs by not being able to 1. spell or 2. press spell check!
Please someone finally pour some salt on him!

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GiantEnemyCrab - 552 days 20 hours ago

If you really want online play and don't want to pay use XLink Kai and it works like a champ. You just don't have all the features of Live but if you use PSN then you won't miss a thing.

LOL@ Playing Gears on your PS3 using what essentially is a remote desktop connection to a PC. You enjoy that now! No wonder you have no problems with PSN if you find that garbage acceptable.

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PoSTedUP - 552 days 18 hours ago

ummmmm no, i can put gears onto an actual disc and play it on my ps3 : P

its called streammygames.com and its easy to do. : Peace know it all

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DarkSniper - 552 days 19 hours ago

The greed will end once Microsoft finally confirms that they will be beaten two years in a row in worldwide sales in comparison to PLAYSTATION®3. While XBox 360 has 19 mln sold, PS3 has rapidly caught pace with an ever increasing 17 mln.

It looks as if Shane Kim and Aaron Greenburg both have their fingers on the panic button.

$niper

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REDZEV - 552 days 17 hours ago

Let me explain to you sony fanboys how things work in the real world. First the PS3 has weakest online setup of all three consoles. I mean its complete crap. second how long has the Ps3 been out??? how long have they been promising you HOME and finally in November your only going to get it in BETA??? I mean its really sad. SONY should of had a solid model with the ps2 but they waited to late and now like always there playing catch-up. But let me just say when reality sets in and Home does come out you will be paying for some kind of service whenever it does come out mark my words. Nothings free. Not even to you fanboys

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REDZEV - 552 days 17 hours ago

God Junken, you really dont have a clue do you??? Online is the wave of the future you should try it on the 360. Hell you might like it so much you just might junk your your Ps3.......junken

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juuken - 552 days 9 hours ago

REDZEV...how much MS is paying you?

I'm curious to know because you sound exactly like Greenburg. Bullying the competition, trying to push Sony to release something so when it bombs, it can be made fun of. It's really sad that MS can't learn how to play nice. If two of the games I wanted on their system was on the PS3, then I would have gladly get a Wii instead. But I really want these two games so I will get a 360.

Funny you should ask about Home. The difference between Sony and MS is that MS is a software company. Of course they would have gotten XBL off the ground, and have all the features PS3 owners want on their system. That's not surprising. Sony is a hardware company, meaning that they specialize in hardware. Sony has been taking time with Home and especially in-game XMB because they know if they screw it up, the media will find something else to HATE them for, and MS will be in the frontlines making fun of them. You see, Sony takes their time with products. They don't rush it out on the market like MS does just for the sake of making it through the door first. Home will be out in the fall and it will open up as a beta. Sony underestimated how long it would take to get this show on the road and that's why Home isn't it. It's like MS underestimating their competition, thinking that they've won the victory because they're first.

Whoever is first shall be last, and whoever is last shall be first.

I have seen screenshots of Home, and it's shaping up excellently. Tell me, does MS have something like that? Because I believe what Sony is doing is completely revolutionary.

You have no idea how long this stuff takes so you take ridiculous cheapshots when they are uncalled for. I feel very sorry for you, because you troll N4G, trying to bash the PS3 whenever you can. If you have so many games on the 360, and online service that is *superior* to PSN, then what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be playing those many, many games?

In reality, you, like any other 360 fanatic is afraid that Sony will take over second place and eventually first when it's all said and done. MS may be first but they're slowly losing steam. I love how many anti-Sony psychopaths were against Metal Gear Solid 4. They know damn well that Sony is making a comeback. They would love to see Sony fail and fall flat on their face.

Go, insult me. See if I care. You're setting yourself up to be an immature sh*thead that needs a foot up the ass. You may have all the games now on the 360, and the *superior* service, but it will change. And then you'll see that MS failed you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do with my time, such as supporting my fellow PS3 owners.

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G1TR4P3D - 552 days 17 hours ago

and u love PSN LOLOL!!!!

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spacetoilet - 552 days 14 hours ago

BUBBLE.

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juuken - 552 days 9 hours ago

Oh really now? So that's your excuse for MS shafting people out of money for online services that should be free? Some people *do* have jobs. When they buy something for entertainment, they expect to have fun, NOT have a headache over it. MS is clearly ripping people off with this service.

Yeah...you continue paying for your service. I'll be surfing the net on PSN for FREE and no headaches.

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caffman - 552 days 7 hours ago

it occurs that some people are as tight as a rats fanny! I pay £25 a year so that is less than 1% of my annual wage! I spend more than that on beer on a night out!
And Juuken, you do pay for the "honour" of the PSN. I take it you pay for an ISP? And also the 360 has more live enabled games so if you do get a 360, take advantage of the free offers (like GTA had 1 month free live) and jump in! If you don't like it you haven't lost anything!

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