Xbox Live What's so great about it?

sad.def_mode

so his opinion means less than yours? why do you feel the need to directly insult someone because they don't agree with you?

Party chat certainly isn't the ONLY feature that I think justifies the fee. There's others that really don't make it onto the PR features list.

A couple have already been brought up here: convenience and ease-of-use. My gaming time is very finite, so I put a premium on those two things alone.

Then there are things like easily seen and easily accessible community events. There's a Game with Fame and a Community Playdate this week alone. No need to launch Home and wait for the Plaza to open up before I can even see community-focused events. No need to pull open the browser and navigate to the page that lists them. Community events on the 360 are seen right from the dash.

Then there's the staff. People like Stepto and e openly blog and interact with the end-users. Major Nelson's podcast for example... the one released yesterday, StepTo, XBL's banhammer, dispels one of the myths of the latest rash of bannings. Maj was at the Geekend in Savannah and the MW2 launch here in NYC representing the XBL community and meeting with users. Trixie manages a safe haven for girls on the service. Makes me feel very well-tended to.

That's the kind of stuff I like seeing.

[QUOTE="wayne_kar"]

[QUOTE="def_mode"] Yep, we can also donate but we are not forced to. No monthly or annual fees. There are also voice chat programs that does not require to rent a server.def_mode

none are as good as live for chat. none allow seperation of voice and game audio. ie voice through h/s game audio through speakers

playing mw2 on psn i drop games all the time and when i try to invite somebody that gets screwed up, the other day when it just came out the servers were down all day

xbl just keeps things alot smoother

Yeah. I have a major problem with voice chat on the PC. It just does not work for me. For example. If i play GRID on the 360, i can openly chat to everyone in the game. On the pc version ( through STEAM ) i can not voice chat to anyone, at least i have not figured outhow to yet. I dont even know where to begin. I suppose i could if i had a friend playing the game and using the same pc voice chat program i was using, but that is not the same easily voice chatting openly with everyone at the same time, plus i have virtually no friends who game on the pc anyway. I did manage to get a microphone working on COD:MW but it was horrible listening to all the audio coming out of my speakers, its not personal like with the xbox360 headset. If i could get voice chat on pc at the same level i can get it on my 360, i would cancel my LIVE account immediatly. On a similar note, if PSN ever gets cross game and party chat, i will cancel Live. Party and cross game voice chat are worth $50 a year until then.

Yep, we can also donate but we are not forced to. No monthly or annual fees. There are also voice chat programs that does not require to rent a server.def_mode

none are as good as live for chat. none allow seperation of voice and game audio. ie voice through h/s game audio through speakers

Yeah. I have a major problem with voice chat on the PC. It just does not work for me. For example. If i play GRID on the 360, i can openly chat to everyone in the game. On the pc version ( through STEAM ) i can not voice chat to anyone, at least i have not figured out out to yet. I dont even know where to begin. I suppose i could if i had a friend playing the game and using the same pc voice chat program i was using, but that is not the same easily voice chatting openly with everyone at the same time, plus i have virtually no friends who game on the pc anyway. I did manage to get a microphone working on COD:MW but it was horrible listening to all the audio coming out of my speakers, its not personal like with the xbox360 headset. If i could get voice chat on pc at the same level i can get it on my 360, i would cancel my LIVE account immediatly. On a similar note, if PSN ever gets cross game and party chat, i will cancel Live. Party and cross game voice chat are worth $50 a year until then.

Videodogg

[QUOTE="Videodogg"]

Yeah. I have a major problem with voice chat on the PC. It just does not work for me. For example. If i play GRID on the 360, i can openly chat to everyone in the game. On the pc version ( through STEAM ) i can not voice chat to anyone, at least i have not figured out out to yet. I dont even know where to begin. I suppose i could if i had a friend playing the game and using the same pc voice chat program i was using, but that is not the same easily voice chatting openly with everyone at the same time, plus i have virtually no friends who game on the pc anyway. I did manage to get a microphone working on COD:MW but it was horrible listening to all the audio coming out of my speakers, its not personal like with the xbox360 headset. If i could get voice chat on pc at the same level i can get it on my 360, i would cancel my LIVE account immediatly. On a similar note, if PSN ever gets cross game and party chat, i will cancel Live. Party and cross game voice chat are worth $50 a year until then.

donalbane

Steam, Ventrilo, Teamspeak... what else is out there? Which of my friends is using what? This just illustrates the strength of having a single solution across a whole platform.

But that's just the nature of the PC platform, and you have to take the bad with the good. With the freedom of choosing whatever solution's out there on PC, you also have to accept the fact that there is no standard.

On the flipside, the standards enjoyed by PSN and XBL users comes with the lack of freedom.

At the end of the day, it all depends on which balance best suits your gaming preferences.

Party chat certainly isn't the ONLY feature that I think justifies the fee. There's others that really don't make it onto the PR features list.

A couple have already been brought up here: convenience and ease-of-use. My gaming time is very finite, so I put a premium on those two things alone.

Then there are things like easily seen and easily accessible community events. There's a Game with Fame and a Community Playdate this week alone. No need to launch Home and wait for the Plaza to open up before I can even see community-focused events. No need to pull open the browser and navigate to the page that lists them. Community events on the 360 are seen right from the dash.

Then there's the staff. People like Stepto and e openly blog and interact with the end-users. Major Nelson's podcast for example... the one released yesterday, StepTo, XBL's banhammer, dispels one of the myths of the latest rash of bannings. Maj was at the Geekend in Savannah and the MW2 launch here in NYC representing the XBL community and meeting with users. Trixie manages a safe haven for girls on the service. Makes me feel very well-tended to.

That's the kind of stuff I like seeing.

VoodooHak

no the question being asked here should be what is not great about live, other then it being 50.00

[QUOTE="VoodooHak"]

Party chat certainly isn't the ONLY feature that I think justifies the fee. There's others that really don't make it onto the PR features list.

A couple have already been brought up here: convenience and ease-of-use. My gaming time is very finite, so I put a premium on those two things alone.

Then there are things like easily seen and easily accessible community events. There's a Game with Fame and a Community Playdate this week alone. No need to launch Home and wait for the Plaza to open up before I can even see community-focused events. No need to pull open the browser and navigate to the page that lists them. Community events on the 360 are seen right from the dash.

Then there's the staff. People like Stepto and e openly blog and interact with the end-users. Major Nelson's podcast for example... the one released yesterday, StepTo, XBL's banhammer, dispels one of the myths of the latest rash of bannings. Maj was at the Geekend in Savannah and the MW2 launch here in NYC representing the XBL community and meeting with users. Trixie manages a safe haven for girls on the service. Makes me feel very well-tended to.

That's the kind of stuff I like seeing.

Brownesque

[QUOTE="VoodooHak"]

[QUOTE="donalbane"] I'm guessing you need to forward the STEAM ports. Check out www.portforward.com for instuctions on how to do this. Brownesque

Steam, Ventrilo, Teamspeak... what else is out there? Which of my friends is using what? This just illustrates the strength of having a single solution across a whole platform.

But that's just the nature of the PC platform, and you have to take the bad with the good. With the freedom of choosing whatever solution's out there on PC, you also have to accept the fact that there is no standard.

On the flipside, the standards enjoyed by PSN and XBL users comes with the lack of freedom.

At the end of the day, it all depends on which balance best suits your gaming preferences.

my friends are on it

A lot of the features of Live that PSN doesn't have can be remedied by going outside and making real friends.

Uh...because it's the best service ever of course. :D

(*whispers*

Actually, I'm paying for it to live. You see, when I subscribed I learned exactly why it is called *LIVE*; it makes you pay for it to stay alive. :shock:

HELP ME!)

its good i just hate paying for it

nothing, one you pay for the other you dont. one has tons of lag and 10 year olds(live) and the other has dedicated severs and maturity (psn)InfiniteBlak

I'm guessing you need to forward the STEAM ports. Check out www.portforward.com for instuctions on how to do this. donalbane

Steam, Ventrilo, Teamspeak... what else is out there? Which of my friends is using what? This just illustrates the strength of having a single solution across a whole platform.

But that's just the nature of the PC platform, and you have to take the bad with the good. With the freedom of choosing whatever solution's out there on PC, you also have to accept the fact that there is no standard.

On the flipside, the standards enjoyed by PSN and XBL users comes with the lack of freedom.

At the end of the day, it all depends on which balance best suits your gaming preferences.

Party chat certainly isn't the ONLY feature that I think justifies the fee. There's others that really don't make it onto the PR features list.

A couple have already been brought up here: convenience and ease-of-use. My gaming time is very finite, so I put a premium on those two things alone.

Then there are things like easily seen and easily accessible community events. There's a Game with Fame and a Community Playdate this week alone. No need to launch Home and wait for the Plaza to open up before I can even see community-focused events. No need to pull open the browser and navigate to the page that lists them. Community events on the 360 are seen right from the dash.

Then there's the staff. People like Stepto and e openly blog and interact with the end-users. Major Nelson's podcast for example... the one released yesterday, StepTo, XBL's banhammer, dispels one of the myths of the latest rash of bannings. Maj was at the Geekend in Savannah and the MW2 launch here in NYC representing the XBL community and meeting with users. Trixie manages a safe haven for girls on the service. Makes me feel very well-tended to.

That's the kind of stuff I like seeing.

[QUOTE="VoodooHak"]

[QUOTE="donalbane"] I'm guessing you need to forward the STEAM ports. Check out www.portforward.com for instuctions on how to do this. Brownesque

Steam, Ventrilo, Teamspeak... what else is out there? Which of my friends is using what? This just illustrates the strength of having a single solution across a whole platform.

But that's just the nature of the PC platform, and you have to take the bad with the good. With the freedom of choosing whatever solution's out there on PC, you also have to accept the fact that there is no standard.

On the flipside, the standards enjoyed by PSN and XBL users comes with the lack of freedom.

At the end of the day, it all depends on which balance best suits your gaming preferences.

Of course I can't communicate with you on PC if I'm on Xbox. When did I say that? They're totally separate platforms.... which was my point.

You're just oversimplifying the scale of standardization. Of course there are difference with 360s, just as there are with the PS3. But it comes nowhere near the different combinations found in PC gaming. Do we want to go into how many video card brands there are or their versions? It's things like this that require a label on every single PC game box to tell you what OSs and hardware's supported and which configuration is optimal. For the most part, with console games, you just pop a new disc into the tray and play. The conversation about what 360 to buy is much shorter than the conversation where I'd advise someone on what PC components to buy for a gaming rig.

Here's how voice works on the 360: Play game. That's it.

Any game on the whole platform. Automatically synched to my friends list. No need to call anyone on a totally separate piece of hardware using a totaly separate service. Heaven forbid their user names are different from Teamspeak to Ventrilo to the one actually used in the game. Steam is definitely a step in the right direction, but it's still not a de jure standard on all PCs.

On the 360, it's not even a second thought. I just works out of the box.

another one of these?.. pretty redundant..

Xbox fanboys are going to say that PSN doesnt have any players in their online games and noone has mics.. false..

Playstation fanboys are going to say that XBL is full of whiny 12yrs olds with a dictionary full of racial slurs on hand and $50 a year is going to break the bank.. false..

the people in the middle will actually be the ones to put things in perspectie by saying that both are pretty much on even ground at this point.. sure, PSN is playing "catch up" in a couple areas but at the same time XBL is a paid service and PSN is free.. there's the balance.. $50 a year isnt alot of money but the difference in service quality is quite minimal at this point.. 'nuff said.. both offer essentially the same features and most of the differences are trivial at best.. in terms of the average gamer, the playing feild is definitely even..

until PSN gets cross-game chat (and maybe party chat) and/or XBL drops the mandatory subscription fees to something closer to "free", these debates arent even worth having anymore....

Party chat certainly isn't the ONLY feature that I think justifies the fee. There's others that really don't make it onto the PR features list.

A couple have already been brought up here: convenience and ease-of-use. My gaming time is very finite, so I put a premium on those two things alone.

Then there are things like easily seen and easily accessible community events. There's a Game with Fame and a Community Playdate this week alone. No need to launch Home and wait for the Plaza to open up before I can even see community-focused events. No need to pull open the browser and navigate to the page that lists them. Community events on the 360 are seen right from the dash.

Then there's the staff. People like Stepto and e openly blog and interact with the end-users. Major Nelson's podcast for example... the one released yesterday, StepTo, XBL's banhammer, dispels one of the myths of the latest rash of bannings. Maj was at the Geekend in Savannah and the MW2 launch here in NYC representing the XBL community and meeting with users. Trixie manages a safe haven for girls on the service. Makes me feel very well-tended to.

That's the kind of stuff I like seeing.

A lot of the features of Live that PSN doesn't have can be remedied by going outside and making real friends.

p2250

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="VoodooHak"]

Steam, Ventrilo, Teamspeak... what else is out there? Which of my friends is using what? This just illustrates the strength of having a single solution across a whole platform.

But that's just the nature of the PC platform, and you have to take the bad with the good. With the freedom of choosing whatever solution's out there on PC, you also have to accept the fact that there is no standard.

On the flipside, the standards enjoyed by PSN and XBL users comes with the lack of freedom.

At the end of the day, it all depends on which balance best suits your gaming preferences.

VoodooHak

Of course I can't communicate with you on PC if I'm on Xbox. When did I say that? They're totally separate platforms.... which was my point.

You're just oversimplifying the scale of standardization. Of course there are difference with 360s, just as there are with the PS3. But it comes nowhere near the different combinations found in PC gaming. Do we want to go into how many video card brands there are or their versions? It's things like this that require a label on every single PC game box to tell you what OSs and hardware's supported and which configuration is optimal. For the most part, with console games, you just pop a new disc into the tray and play. The conversation about what 360 to buy is much shorter than the conversation where I'd advise someone on what PC components to buy for a gaming rig.

Here's how voice works on the 360: Play game. That's it.

Any game on the whole platform. Automatically synched to my friends list. No need to call anyone on a totally separate piece of hardware using a totaly separate service. Heaven forbid their user names are different from Teamspeak to Ventrilo to the one actually used in the game. Steam is definitely a step in the right direction, but it's still not a de jure standard on all PCs.

On the 360, it's not even a second thought. I just works out of the box.

PSN > Live. Less Lag.Jone_Z

Actually, as I said before, you can. Works with most Games for Windows titles. But whatever...

donalbane

I was being generous, but I do undertand you point.

it's the only way i can play online with my friends. that's what.

if you put aside the features, then psn>>>>>live.... why you ask? because most if not all ps3 exclusive games have dedicated servers, one great plus of those......NO LAG........warhawk, r1, r2, kz2, mgs4, uc2.even mag beta 256 ppl no lag....... 360 exclusive games, hmmm gears 1 and 2 dont have dedicated servers so there is lag when u even play 5 vs 5....and the 360 owners know the rest of games....

so for me psn>>>>>>live