Msoft will continue to charge for pretty much EVERYTHING. superfans get on here and argue, but miss the big picture. MS is in the games arena for MONEY, not the love of video games, fans, or something cool to create. (AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT)

I prefer the Playstation brand and don't have a problem going on record and saying that the Ps3 offers way more than it's competitors. Furthermore, I will say that the 360 has good marketing strategies. Msoft prefers to make profits off short term successful systems, something that I don't like...but it's not MY company or money. The 1ST Xbox was a great system, which I believed MS got into a panic and dumped it, worrying about the Ps2 and Nintendo handheld sales. MS does not want to take losses up front and grow off new IP's...instead, MS wants to win big (wether taking other people's idea's or copying) and fold up the tent. although I don't agree with MS video game business strategies, ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND BUSINESS.

As long as people pay, Microsoft will keep charging.
That's the way it is.

As many I dont mind paying, but there should be an additional service, free online for all, then a charge for a more premium experience, maybe free arcade game a month, plus server based online gaming for those who pay.

gold should be free, the fact is we only pay to play online, everything else cost money, arcade games cost, tv shows cost , movies cost, dlc costs, so make gold free since they make money form every other purchase, then give us the option to pay for a true platinum service.

The amount of users that would subscribe would double instantly, andthats a good thing.

Yes psn is free but with live you do get a easier to use more complete package, i rather not pay so in that aspect psn is just fine for what it does and its free.

But, the offerings that XBLA specifically offers over PSn does not justify the premium price, when you get no premiums.

XBLA/PSN Both have:

GameDemos
Video
Netflix\Streaming Media(playon)

PSN Has:

Free Online gameplay.
Full Game downloads(Burnout/Football Manager)
Ability to buy full movies online and save them to HDD.
Web Browser

XBL has:
Excellent Gamertag system/Online Intergration.
Better communication options. Voice Message/MovieChat/etc.

But when most people are buying and just, playing online games. I cant see the $ being worth it. Especially if you are feining budgetary reasons for buying a 360.

LIVE is only $50/yr.....that aint much. it costs $60+ for some new games. think about it like that

Why?
Principle.

Live
Single + multiplayer game: $60 + Gold fee = $60 for half a game.

PSN
$60 for the WHOLE game.

No contest.

"B-b-b-but it's only like $4 a month"
.. and a PS3 is only like $33 a month.

When live went...live, it was a premium service for a console who had no real online competition (other than pc) so basically anyone who wanted to game on xbox got live.

Fast forward and you can see that MS has refined live into something so much better than what it originated. We have video service and demo and live arcade downloads as well as video/audio chat, community games and more.

You also have to realize that even though MS charges to play, they did make the other 90% of live FREE to everyone. So basically if you are not a multiplayer gamer then you can still take advantage of the other points of live. I pay because I play and I am an original live member so I am used to the $50 a year. I see that as the cost of a single game once a year.

What sony is offering is a fine service too and it will continue to evolve as well. Some rough edges but it is FREE so no sense in complaining.

If people want to question whether or not MS should charge for live then they should basically question Blizzard and why they charge to play WoW or any other MMO type of game community. You could also see it as being a paid member gets you more perks like early access to content and special promos.

Paid or not, live is very enjoyable to me and that is all that matters (to me).

It is all very simple... If you've already bought a 360, then your going to pay. If you bought a PS3 then you are not. All this arguing back-and-forth isn't doing anything but entertaining trolls and fanatics.

The above claims of "lag issue" are just plain bullsh*t. There is little to no lag at any given time and any lag is usually to the fact that your playing a person across the ocean (ie Japan). I always have a low ping when playing a person from England, so it's not a big deal at all. Trolls like Jason are just lying, period.

You don't want to pay 50 dollars for the rest of your online gaming days then don't buy a 360. If you want to spend more time chatting then buy a 360.

If you want a Bluray player, free wi-fi, a wireless battery free controller, larger HDD, and more exlusives then (save up, get a better job, credit card) buy a PS3 or just get over it.

Xbox Live > PSN Live Clone.

Xbox Live is worth the cash unlike Suckstation 3 that isn't worth a dime.

Live is a good service so if you don't have a problem paying then its not an issue. There's just 2 reasons i don't think microsoft should charge for it:

1) It uses Peer-2-Peer networking. Which sucks because its laggy, and is the reason why pretty much all Live games can't surpass the 16 player limit. Sony's 1st party titles use servers. Resistance 2 - 60 players, no lag. Warhawk - 32 players, no lag. MAG - 265 players. PSN is free. Go figure.

2) Apart from about 1 bell and 1 whistle, the experience is the same on both LIVE and PSN (with the exception that you don't have to mute racist bigots in psn every game). I can play COD4 online for free and get exactly the same experience as someone playing COD4 on Live. So go figure. If you're paying for Live, then thats your choice. But i've got no reason to change my network gaming to LIVE and pay for the beautiful peer-2-peer experience

when I first got live.....years ago... The way I justified it was that hey Im spending around the same price it costs to buy a game and this "live" is letting me enjoy my games more...and extending the life of my current games because now im playing online.....

Now that other services are around I do think there should be a price cut...but in now way will they get rid of price all together....first off it would be extremly hard because they would have to figure out how much to pay millions of subscribers back...based on when they renewed their live etc....and to go from around $50-60 to $0 would be unheard of....what company in their right minds would erase something that generates over a half a billion dollars per year.

But hopfully they will cut the price over time...but it wont happen until sony becomes a stronger online competitor.

the rrod....there's no way they can afford to lose that income, considering that they aren't making much money from their gaming division...

How is all of this going to work with all the MMOs coming out? Will Silver members just pay a seperate account for the MMOs or will they have to get a Gold account to access the MMO?

And, does that mean that Gold members will not only be paying for the XBL subscription, but the MMO too, how does that work out if people spend most the time in the MMO games on XBL?

Will the fee of XBL seem fair then in comparion to just the fee on PS3 and PC on their MMOs, will they technically be 'short changed'?

Before you ask; 'APB'

LMAO..XBOX LIVE is the best console online experience..period! By a mile and half..it doesn't matter if 20 Australian blogs come out every day. You can scream RROD..and PS3 has great exlusives...but nah..nobody can touch that service...17 million served and still counting...

If PS2, PS3, PC, and Wii owners don't have to pay to use their games fully, why do Xbox owners have to? I know the current argument is "You get what you pay for", but PSN is just as good as Xbox Live. And we don't pay a dime for Sony's service.

If you pay $60 for a videogame, every mode and piece of content should work straight out of the box. What Microsoft is doing is no different than EA and Namco charging additional money for content that's already on the disc.

If i was Microsoft I would charge an extra $10 a month to have halo players play on dedicated servers. The bad thing about it, the Halo community will pay for this while paying X amount to game online.

Last fiscal year MS games division posted their first ever profit of $400 million for the year. If they have 14 million gold subscribers as they've claimed, that's $700 million a year in revenue coming in. Take that away and it's not too much of a stretch to say they'd be in the red again. Last I checked, MS was in this to make money. It could be argued that free online might move more 360's and thus increase software revenue - but I don't know if MS would be willing to take that risk with things as tight as they are right now.

psn

until psn is about equal to xbox live i dont care about paying $50 a year for online...plus psn is very unstable...its laggy when i play mlb08 and HOME and warhawk is just decent...waiting to get killzone2

in my opinion xbox live is the best online service to date and its way better than steam. I use it all the time and it just works and its easy to manage/communicate with friends.

50$ a year for a better chat ingame chat system than psn's????? NOOOO thaaaank u. psn is stable free, easy to use and if one game server crashes the whole system wont go down unlike live.

come on lives video store isnt even close to as robust either. *probly cuz sony owns columbia studios lol* but still no they shudnt charge for live.

hmmm owning a 360 for 4 years = 200$ for live alone. wtf i cud buy an arcade 360 for that!!!!!

M$ should double the charge, its THAT good. Even triple it. They should charge just for pressing the power button.

simple answer is NO. i keep hearing about the advantages of online with LIVE. and yet the only thing i know of is cross game chat. that's worth $50 a year?! people also say: 'you get what you pay for', well yes, that's why PS3 owners are happy to pay more (once not every year) for all the extra features of the PS3.

Well of course id prefere it if i didnt have to pay

but man, it costs like a games worth for a whole year, and there is some superior networking there compared to PSN.

anyone who is for paying for Live and defending it is an idiot...plain and simple
I was a day one Live Gold member, and was off it for a year. This xmas, I got a year of gold as a present, so I am back on live playinig GOW2 and L4D.
The new interface is terrible, as bad as Home and the Miis.
I only use the old Live interface.
Netflix is lame, to me since I have cable and a DVR via the PC and the cable box. The content is old and crusty

I dont think they should NOT charge, however its time they lower their price, I think 29.99 is much more of an entry price for people (casual gamers, parents etc) to swallow.

You can gloat all you want on the features how its so much better, parents dont play, they pay, they care. and casual people make up most of the markey, so they decide the fate of systems and price.

Look if you don't want to pay for it DON"T... It's that simple, I don't care if it's free, I am not gonna take a step backwards in terms of services because it's free. Standard TV does the same thing that cable does, so why arewe paying for cable? For a few extra channels that you and need and those movies eventually come to broadcast tv in a few years, there's no need for cable. The point is I'm not gonna play online on a gimped online services for free or not.

Man I need some bubbles its been a while

All you Sony fans would be here telling us all that its all worth it..
I can bet £100 that Sony will be charging for their online in some way by 2010.
Xbox online is great and Id gladly pay for it. I mainly play Virtual Tennis, an older game but amazing online. Has the PS3 version acually got online on this particular game?
The thing is the way that theres no dedicated servers is a good thing...

haha this is microshaft we're talking about, all they care about is fvcking money. I have never seen a company try to rip its customers of so bad like them, first its paying for online and recently trying to charge people for using their own fvcking computer, how low can you fvcking get?

its SOOOOOOOO funny that ms:
- has hardware issues
- charges for online services when sony doesnt
- doesnt come with blu ray (not that people are buying those things.....)
- changes their skus all the time
- came into this gen with an itty bitty line of exclusives

AND SONY STILL CANT KEEP UP!!!!!

you'd have to be down with down syndrome to buy into a company who keeps getting handed opportunities and ALWAYS screws up. sony fell down coming out of the gate, so they arent gonna win the race

theres nothing wrong with playing for live.I hate everyone who says live is junk becasue u have to pay $3.25 a month for it. Go to blizzard and yell at them for making you buy wow and then pay $15 a month

Ofcourse it should be... what they are charging is a bloody joke! If it meant a true premium service with lag free dedicated servers, i'd definately be up for paying but considering the quality of the service currently and the matchmaking issues that seem to hound certain games (halo 3 and gears over christmas,) i'd say microsoft should definately make their service free.

I'm almost a 360 fanboy (without being delusional) but seriously, I don't know how anyone can justify the cost of the xbl service. Not to mention the annoying adverts we are forced to look at everytime we load our console up or when we quit a game. O and don't even get me started on the overpriced game add ons and xbla games.. gears of war 2 add on *cough cough*

Agree, you get what you pay for in online networking, and i must say XBL is worth every penny. XBL is updated everyday, PSN is updated once a week. With XBL you are paying for a good service as well as content.

8 Man private chat while all playing separate games is worth the yearly subscription alone, not to mention plenty of other XBL features.

I have PSN, and I hate it. I've used it once and that's it. The online play is good and all, but the layout of the store and everything looks like an amateur job. PSN doesn't even come close to the unified and easy to use XBL. I'm happy to pay.

Free would be nice, but $4 a month is a joke for such a great experience.

if you play on it now it obviously means that u dont have any particular problem with it, if u dont play on if for that exact reason that u obviously do have a particular problem with it dont you lol.

Eitherway its not going to change anything b!tching over it. Would there even be any articles of this nature if PSN wasn't free? If you dont like paying for it then dont bother, seems fairly simple to me to be honest.

Although id swear that this is like the 100th article iv seen saying this exact thing. (to whomever wrote this and the other 99 or so) - we get it you dont like the live charges! lol

Chat with up to 8 friends while playing.
Can invite my friends while playing and they can instantly come in with the smash of a button.
Can watch Netflix streamed vids on my 120hz XBR4.
Faster downloads then PsN. (Installs ftl)
More rewarding. (ex. Gamer Weekends, Game Nights you can win prizes)
More MLG Tournaments and Sponsored tournaments.
An active community that pulsates 24/7.....Turok and Lost Planet on XBL is still active while on the PsN.....NO. Just 2 examples of many.

Well there you go. 50$ for ALL THAT PLUS more I didn't even bother going into.

For the people that don't enjoy those things its not MSFT's fault.

True it sucks paying for it and I believe it should be free but hey it's only $3 a month:) for more and better features then PSN.
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-...

I cannot believe people are complaining about paying 50$ a year for XBL. If you calculate it, that only comes out to about 4$ a month. A measly 4$!

QQ more.

Edit: Glad to see alot of people agree that it's ludicrous to complain about this.

...but thats up to MS. I dont feel cheated in the slightest however, and they continue to update and refine LIVE all the time. And usually you can find discounts on the subscription...I got 13 months from Amazon for $38.99.

And the package deals arent bad either...you can get the chatpad, headset, year of LIVE, and PGR4 for $70...

EDIT: And speaking of package deals, for those that dont know, if u purchase an Arcade, they will sell u a 20GB drive and 3-months of LIVE for $20 (or is it $30?). I have a feeling they will start just packaging the Arcade with a 20GB drive soon anyhow.

I dont have X360 now and i dont use XLive anymore. problems solved.

$50 a year 4$ a month.....bunch of cry babies...cant afford it...then don't complain you shouldnt be buying 64 dollar games if you cant afford $50 a year....at least its not 15$ a month like wow....$180 a year...

i love the people bitc*ing...that dont even have it LOL

I think Microsoft actually has someone write these articles to see how dumb some of you really are. You know just to see how many of you mindless Microsoft Zombies have actually grown a brain. Sad to say yet again they see that the likes of pp, Keele and a bunch of others still follow the pack. So why charge when you have actual consumers defending the company that charges them for what others get for free.

I'd say game on gamers but i doubt they are gamers anyway. Pathetic!

Why in the world should MS make it free when the xbox live costumers DON'T MIND paying for it?!?

They said they don't mind paying. MS isn't going to saying anything either. MS will continue to stay shut about that topic.

So show me the money!!!!

If they're gonna charge for these 'great features' why not give us all free online gaming, but have us pay for the mentioned features if we want them - since they're so valuable everyone would be buying them right?

It costs me £35 a year, thats it.. It has loads of great things for that money.
At least I can choose wether to have it...
How much did your built in Blu Ray movie player cost you guys?

I love xbox live, it is worth every penny if you love to play online and if you don't play online then you don't need to pay for it. There is always the option to pay for a few months if it is a game you want to play online for awhile and most games come with a trial period. I have a few friends at work that have a ps3 and he knew that a majority of the game players at work where playing on the 360, so he purchased a 360 because most of the people where playing on the 360. They have made comments that the xbox live service and quality of the online feature and on line reliability is much better then the PS3.

which is also nice I get 10percent off Microsoft points and online service when purchased at the store. =o)