If you think XBL Gold isn't worth it...

... one look at the Xbox Engineering Blog should (hopefully) change your mind. It'll give you a glimpse of just how complicated and feature-rich Xbox Live truly is.

Of course, some people will dismiss it out of hand. Those people are fanboys and should be ignored. ;)

"Worth" is based on your personal preference and desires.

"Worth" is based on your personal preference and desires.

Blue-Sky

Yes.

Unfortunately, most of those features don't mean anything to me when I just want to play some online games.

As an owner of both a XBOX 360 and a PS3, I find it hard to accept that MS is charging $50 a year for basically the same thing Sony offers with PSN, but for FREE. I dont see any difference in quality of connection and honestly, the features of each service are pretty much a wash!!

If you think XBL Gold isn't worth it... You have no friends! :P Hahadouken

I have 15 friends that are always on PSN! What does that mean!? :o

Golf club that's just a public field with holes - complete with aclubhouse that sells you the balls, clubs, booze etc. vs. a Golf club that charges you and it's groomed, manicured, has a nice bar, carts for rent etc - complete with a clubhouse that sells you the balls, clubs, booze etc...But SOMEHOW all the smacktards are still able to join both Golf Clubs.

This is why I hate Golf. :)

It would be worth $200 a year if they would raise the age cap to 21.

[QUOTE="Hahadouken"]If you think XBL Gold isn't worth it... You have no friends! :P SwagSurf

I have 15 friends that are always on PSN! What does that mean!? :o

[QUOTE="Blue-Sky"]

"Worth" is based on your personal preference and desires.

SpinoRaptor24

Yes.

Unfortunately, most of those features don't mean anything to me when I just want to play some online games.

same here... i wish they had an option for cheaper xbl fees if you just wanna play online... not of that other stuff

I don't think XBOX LIVE is worth it. In fact I think Microsoft is slapping XBOX LIVE users in their face when they offer the same like services for free on the PC and then turn around and charge XBOX 360 users.

For that reason, I wouldn't buy XBOX LIVE on general principle.

Seriously though, the fact that all my friends are on it is what makes it worth the money.Hahadouken

Strangely enough, this is why I DON'T want Xbox Live(and the fact that PSN is cheaper and has just as many features that actually matter to me)

[QUOTE="Hahadouken"]Seriously though, the fact that all my friends are on it is what makes it worth the money.Phoenix534

Strangely enough, this is why I DON'T want Xbox Live.

[QUOTE="Hahadouken"]Seriously though, the fact that all my friends are on it is what makes it worth the money.Phoenix534

Strangely enough, this is why I DON'T want Xbox Live(and the fact that PSN is cheaper and has just as many features that actually matter to me)

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

[QUOTE="Hahadouken"]Seriously though, the fact that all my friends are on it is what makes it worth the money.TBoogy

Strangely enough, this is why I DON'T want Xbox Live(and the fact that PSN is cheaper and has just as many features that actually matter to me)

If only you knew my friends.

So I'm guessing none of you actually read the engineering blog.

yah but they ruined it with MS pointes, right now i'm sitting here looking at lost in nightmares for RE5, 400 ms points, i have 391... so thats about 4.87, the DLC cost 5.00, i need about 13 points which is 1.25 pennies per point so i need only 15 cents right??? WRONG!!! i need to spend $6.50 to get 13 points and have enough to buy this twice...savagetwinkie

It's cool and all, but that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't be forced to pay to play with your friends online. I can understand charging for everything else, but I think the core online gaming should be free... Still, I've been subscribing. :P

"Just want to play games online." is a common argument. Still stands i believe.

Xbox Live is my favorite 7th gen feature. I wouldnt even compare to the tab that is PSN. Xbox Live IS the Xbox.

It's well worth it but I wish they would charge me more, I feel I'm ripping them off.

I had xbl for 2years a couple of months. I still dont think its worth my 50 bones. I dont care how much text you put in my face.

i like both the PSN and Xbox Live. I think that online gaming should be free on Xbox Live likeon the PSN. However, Xbox Live is a much better experience IMO. They have a ton of features PSN doesnt have and that makes it worth the price IMO. A lot of times you can renew your Live membership from Amazon for like 35 bucks. I did and thats pretty cheap IMO. PSN is pretty bare bones, but you cant argue with free. It will be interesting to see what this new premium PSN service will be in the future and how it stacks up against Xbox Live.

It would be worth it but PC offers better and for free so sorry

"Just want to play games online." is a common argument. Still stands i believe.

KungfuKitten

People don't "just want to play games online." If they did, well Nintendo Wi-Fi would satisfy them just fine. What people really want is to play games with rich online community and robust online features. They are just too cheap and/or whiny to accept that such things--when properly done, not the half-baked way some services do it--easily justify a modest subscription fee, so they latch onto any argument they can think of to avoid that fact.

[QUOTE="KungfuKitten"]

"Just want to play games online." is a common argument. Still stands i believe.

UnnDunn

People don't "just want to play games online." If they did, well Nintendo Wi-Fi would satisfy them just fine. What people really want is to play games with rich online community and robust online features. They are just too cheap and/or whiny to accept that such things--when properly done--easily justify a modest subscription fee, so they latch onto any argument they can think of to avoid that fact.

[QUOTE="UnnDunn"]

[QUOTE="KungfuKitten"]

"Just want to play games online." is a common argument. Still stands i believe.

stiggy321

People don't "just want to play games online." If they did, well Nintendo Wi-Fi would satisfy them just fine. What people really want is to play games with rich online community and robust online features. They are just too cheap and/or whiny to accept that such things--when properly done--easily justify a modest subscription fee, so they latch onto any argument they can think of to avoid that fact.

It would be worth $200 a year if they would raise the age cap to 21.

Nugtoka

[QUOTE="KungfuKitten"]

"Just want to play games online." is a common argument. Still stands i believe.

UnnDunn

People don't "just want to play games online." If they did, well Nintendo Wi-Fi would satisfy them just fine. What people really want is to play games with rich online community and robust online features. They are just too cheap and/or whiny to accept that such things--when properly done--easily justify a modest subscription fee, so they latch onto any argument they can think of to avoid that fact.

... one look at the Xbox Engineering Blog should (hopefully) change your mind. It'll give you a glimpse of just how complicated and feature-rich Xbox Live truly is.

Of course, some people will dismiss it out of hand. Those people are fanboys and should be ignored. ;)

UnnDunn

why is it because i don't think it's worth $50 a year im a fanboy?

[QUOTE="KungfuKitten"]

"Just want to play games online." is a common argument. Still stands i believe.

UnnDunn

People don't "just want to play games online." If they did, well Nintendo Wi-Fi would satisfy them just fine. What people really want is to play games with rich online community and robust online features. They are just too cheap and/or whiny to accept that such things--when properly done--easily justify a modest subscription fee, so they latch onto any argument they can think of to avoid that fact.

So how do PC gamers get all this and more for free? how do you justify a Live fee when there is something better for free. You say nobody believes in the "just want to play games" argument, sorry but thats BS, i personally have no interest in what Live offers over PSN and im a former Live Gold member. I put a game in and play multiplayer, as long as the games community is alive then im happy, i dont want or need online friends when i have real life ones and trying to use things you can do with online friends to justify why M$ have brainwashed you fools into giving them money for what can be done for free is lolworthy.

If the 1st thing you worry about when you start an online game is what your friends are doing then maybe go out more, i go online to play not to socialise with pre pubescent teens and people i'll never meet in my lifetime.

[QUOTE="stiggy321"][QUOTE="UnnDunn"]It's also a disingenuous argument. Nobody actually believes in that argument; they just say it as a justification for a "free" Xbox Live service. Nobody wants to type in IP Addresses for their friends, or deal with laggy connections, or negotiate VOIP connections. People like the convenience of the friends list, of being able to invite their friends to a room with one click, of automatic bandwidth monitoring, of automatic and seamless VOIP, and of a consistency across games that makes it easy to immediately figure out how a game's multiplayer matchmaking works and jump right with zero hassles.

People don't "just want to play games online." If they did, well Nintendo Wi-Fi would satisfy them just fine. What people really want is to play games with rich online community and robust online features. They are just too cheap and/or whiny to accept that such things--when properly done--easily justify a modest subscription fee, so they latch onto any argument they can think of to avoid that fact.

UnnDunn

Or he can hit up PSN with voice chat and no need for friend codes, dont use the worst service to try and justify spending money on a free service.

Know what?

I'd rather have a free version that lets me play online and doesn't have all those cool features I won't be using anyway. I just want to do the thing every other platform does for free.

to bad most of the features are supported in Asia :( I'd love to rent movies and some tv shows that i loved back home to watch here. I know there are ways of doing so( :twisted: ) but it'd be cool if I can just click and watch them on my tv with the xbox. they need to get on that :evil:

... one look at the Xbox Engineering Blog should (hopefully) change your mind. It'll give you a glimpse of just how complicated and feature-rich Xbox Live truly is.

Of course, some people will dismiss it out of hand. Those people are fanboys and should be ignored. ;)

UnnDunn

why should an engineering blog change my mind on what its worth :S im being honest i base whats worth it in comparrasin to a massive amount of things if XBL integrated Spotify then i would be extremely intrigued as i mean they already have Last.FM but the kicker for that for me is i would expect them to give me Spotify ig then i would maybe just maybe think about it.I base what its worth off of things like how much will i use it,will i get bored of it,will i get my moneys worth out it etc.

On the other end XBL doesnt support a lot of countries for example i see they dont support poland, hell im sure Greece is still unsupported which is a shame imho.I mean they claim they are the most advanced in terms of features but the countries that support all of these are small so its a double edge.

Also kudo's to the golf course analogy, the PSN is like the cooncil course that offers you basic features but gets the job done :P

So where exactly in those walls of text will I find something that differentiates XBL from PSN sufficiently enough to justify the $50 yearly fee? As a consumer, I experience no difference between the end products. When I compare XBL to PSN, I find that I get nothing more from XBL to justify the price I pay for it. The fact is that the only reason I would consider paying is to play with friends and family who game on XBL.

[QUOTE="Blue-Sky"]

"Worth" is based on your personal preference and desires.

SpinoRaptor24

Yes.

Unfortunately, most of those features don't mean anything to me when I just want to play some online games.

Exactly...How about MS throw out all the junk and offer just online play for free? Since giving my kids my 360 and me getting a PS3 they are jeleous of me getting to play for free when their GOLD runs out..I just sit and laugh at them lol...Yea, im a mean parent..:)