I see this guy's point. Other services I use are "catching up," if you will, and making it harder and harder to justify the soon-to-be $60 price of live. Just like the author, the bulk of the features I use most on Live as a Gold subscriber are available on PSN or Steam for free.
i am actually second guessing my renewal in november. I like the service but was mostly using it for the netflix. I would play a few games online but nothing to the point of it being a needed thing.
I just got an LG bluray BD570 and it has netflix and youtube and pandora in it. I has the same interface as the ps3 and wii as far as netflix goes. I have both the wii and ps3 versions of netflix and could have used them instead but something about that slick 360 interface I really liked.
I may actually cancel my renewal this time around. 5 years of gold membership is a tough thing to walk away from.
so the games might make you renew again and not the features the service offers? Cause Thats how I think. I renew to play a few exclusives online. I dnt even think about cross game chat and crap. Its all about the games but I hate paying to play online especially when I also have a ps3 with free online.
I just need the basic features so LIVE is pretty useless to me if I don't have to play online. I also do most of my gaming on my PS3 and keep the 360 for the exclusives. I don't need any of the extra fluff. As long as I can chat with those i'm playing with i'm good. I rarely have my mic on anyhow.
I can definitely see someone's gripe in having to pay a mandatory fee just to enjoy the online portion of their games. I can also see the argument against Live fees to use things like Netflix which is free for PS3 and Wii owners to use.
Having been a 360 owner for about two weeks now, I gotta say some of the cooler features of Live are the whole party chat system and the ability to go into a private chat. I got my Live card for about 20 bucks after an Amazon.com videogame promo. Point being if you shop around you can probably do better than the 60 MS charges. Whether you should have to do that is something different altogether.
It's not like I couldn't afford to pay for XBL gold anymore, but I can also flush $50 down the toilet and not really get anything out of that either, which is why I don't do it.
I had XBL of my original Xbox, then for 2 years on my 360 right around the time Halo 3 came out. I was having hardware issues yet again with my 360 (which also played into my decision), but popping in Halo 3 for a online match, I quickly found myself having to mute 6 people at the start of every single match. I also had a PS3 at the time but didn't really go online with it, not because I didn't like it but I was paying for XBL, I might as well use it. I never bothered with the video store (which was severely gimped in Canada anyway) and I found cross game chat an annoyance. None of my friends gamed on the 360 so I didn't have a personal connection with anyone I played against online. I just asked myself the question while some 12 year old screamed racist obscenities at me, "Why am I paying for this again?"
I cancelled my XBL Gold and never looked back. Strangely, I play more online now and find it more enjoyable then I ever did when I was paying for it. That I can't really explain, but it's true.
I wish there was option JUST for online, no netflix, no fecebook, no twitter for ~$30. Then I might actually buy an Xbox, but since I play multiplat games on PS3, paying for Live the way it is now for a 2-3 games a year is a bit too much for me.
Played Halo Reach, but once the next month is over, I won't be renewing live. There is literally ZERO reason to have XBL when I can get everything I get on XBL for free on PSN. In fact, I'd rather continue my PS+ Subscription. I've gotten around $80 worth of games in the last three months and only paid $17. Now THAT'S value right there.
My little nephew wanted to show me his MW2 that I was shocked his parents let him have.
Liked the single player, and then I wanted to make a new account so I could play online, so I wouldn't interfere with his main. As I'm doing it, I discovered that Microsoft wanted to charge me for a brand new subscription.
I was like, WTF? I mean, even AOL used to allow you side accounts when they were ripping people off in the 90's. WTF?
Anyways, I discovered that XBOX LIVE isn't for me, so there's probably little reason for me to get a 360 at this point.
Btw, I made free game playing accounts for my Nephew and niece on the PS3/PSN because they seem to really like FAT PRINCESS alot. :)
I have 3 kids and there is no way I was paying for 3 subs...plus mine. I realize now that MS has a 'family plan' but $100 a year is still steep in my books.
but why do people keep saying PSN is free why pay for live. News flash for you slow minded people in the room, PSN SUCKS! its not even close to live.
Its dull dead and always late to the game, perhaps because its so slow. Not to mention it does NOT have as much content and no one has mics.
It sucks to play multiplayer on PSN, hardly anyone I know owns a PS3. People forget, PS3 is still dead last in sales, especially where I live in the USA.
someone only wants to just play games (just like a few users above you), without all the other extras? Is it still worth it then?
You must either live in some small hic town or only know less than 50 people that game in your neighborhood. Because of my business dealings, I literally know thousands of gamers in my area and it's about a 60(PSN)/40(360) split. It's means nothing in the end because the world is bigger than both of our towns/cites.
I still like PSN for the fact I can play online for free. Mics aren't an issue as I just find people with mics to play with. There's that nice feeling that there's no sub attached to PSN. Least, that's how I feel. Only reason I pay for XBL is for online play and party chat. Those 2 features are the only ones I ever use and I don't think $30-60 is worth the price of admission, even if it's just cents a day.
which i'm really grateful for. if those few that have them would stop using them my online experience would go way up.
i can chat with people in my real life, i play games for fun not to listen some child being insulting just because i killed him, nor do i consider muting chore as fun. i'd be enormously happy if PS firmware update would allow me to hide my presence from "Players met". I stopped playing all games using mics (was playing MGO and UC2 beta, then back to MGO) and went to demons souls which has no voice/text chat, beside being best damn online experience ever (but, since i mostly invade in demons souls my inbox is constantly full of insults)
My advice... get some real friends and get a life.
for over 2 yrs i think.. and yesterday i got 3 months sub just to try online.... specially gears n splinter cell.. i dont give a flying rats ass for other features...
MS picked the WRONG time to be increasing price. They should be at a point where they should find other avenues for cash and make it free instead they got cash signs in there eyes. Bad games (not saying it's got bad games just a point) nor RROD won't kill the 360 in the end MS will do it all by itself.
or you can stock up on 30-40 Live cards while you can and not have to worry for a few years I was up in august but i went and got one in july and I'll probally pick one up next month that way I'm good till atleast 2012
I see this guy's point. Other services I use are "catching up," if you will, and making it harder and harder to justify the soon-to-be $60 price of live. Just like the author, the bulk of the features I use most on Live as a Gold subscriber are available on PSN or Steam for free.
Oh well...loving Halo Reach
already pay 60 dollars so it's nothing new for us. I wish i can say no more Xbox live, but you know how it is....
$60 a month for live? hell I could get cable TV for a month or even pay my internet/phone bill with that...
WHO CARES YOU WON'T BE MISSED. XBL IS BIGGER AND BETTER.