Games With Gold: Too little, too late

[hooksashands]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/games-with-gold

Recently the Xbox 360 has implemented a reward system suspiciously similar to Playstation Plus, where it has promised to give Gold subscribers "Free Games".

Firstly, let's put aside for a moment that both Playstation and Xbox premium members (like yours truly) are already paying a fee. In the case of the 360, you HAVE to pay to play. Think "Multiplayer Tax". Until a year ago, you couldn't even watch muthafuckin' Youtube unless you were a financial masochist and bought your way in.

The 360's service began as $50 per year, then inexplicably became $60. This ten dollar price change was never explained, ever. Nothing. There was some brief muttering about "server upkeep" or something vague, but no official statement was heard and, well, me I just assumed they wouldn't ask for the money if they didn't need it, so grudgingly I shelled out the extra $10.

And I guess the ultimate point being led to is that this has been a chore. All in all, I have spent over 500 dollars just to keep my gamertag and play online with my friends, year after year. I know what PC-exclusive gamers mean now when they write us off as 'console peasants', because while we may be wealthy enough to afford video games we are spiritual paupers; soulless drones licking Microsoft's (and to a lesser extent Sony's) golden demon hooves.

The fact that I am -just now- receiving some kind of recompense for years of patronage is sort of insulting, not the least of which because you fools stole the idea from Playstation Network. Nay, it is because only now at the end of this current console's life cycle do you feel the need to hand out items you aren't charging up front for. It's also because you assume your entire user base is flat-out stupid by making the first "freebie" Fable III... a game that's been packaged with the 360 bundle for well over 2 years now, along with Halo Reach. C'mon, seriously?

While this promotional thing is meant to be a kind gesture on Microsoft's part, I'm still wondering where my other game is for June.

And if it's Halo Reach, I swear I'm gonna start a death cult.

 

[tippy2k2]

Don't forget the ads!

Oh, also some fine print:

*?Games with Gold? free games offer available 6/10/13-12/31/13 for qualified paid Gold members only.

Unless they plan on doing something else special too, this stuff ends at the end of the year.

Along with that, unless there is a super secret spot that I don't know of, the announced games have been Fable III, Assassins Creed II, and Halo III...

Give me a second for I need to pick my jaw off of the floor with this banquet of generosity on Microsoft's part for giving us free games that came out in 2010, 2009, and 2007 respectively. Microsoft better be careful or they're going to bankrupt themselves with their lavish gifts to us.

 

[hooksashands]

We've still got 6 months to go, so presumably 12 more games are on the way.

 

[Jinxzy]

I'm a little disappointed with this games with gold because lets face it the games that they are going to give us for free are not going to be anything amazing. Sure these were popular titles back in the day but the prices for them now are low.

The prices for the used games are: Fable III: $6.99 Halo 3: $7.99 Assassin Creed II: $14.99 (these are just a rough estaminet from gamestop, I didn't look for the absolute lowest prices) Which leaves us with a grand total of $29.97, almost half of what a 12 month gold membership would cost. That is if you partake in getting these free games. Which I am unfortunately not, since I already have these games.

It's a good deal for people that are just getting a 360 but other then that it seems like a project they pushed out to soon before thinking what they should give us. Just like there rewards system and there gamer score discount. Which I think the most I got from rewards was 160 microsoft points. The gamer score discount I never seen any affect from it.

 

[Zeh Don]

I wouldn't mind the free games, if they weren't the biggest sellers on the console. On face value it looks generous, but realistically most Xbox 360 owners are going to already have or had most of these titles so they're not really giving away a lot here. If someone was going to have bought Halo 3, they've done it already. No loss to Microsoft here, but they get a shit-tonne of free brand exposure.

Free is free, so I can't really complain. But I'd like to have seen them giving away under-appreciated gems to help build those brands, franchises or developers potentially customers for future installments. Put Condemned up there, for example.

 

[omegaweopon]

The 360's service began as $50 per year, then inexplicably became $60. This ten dollar price change was never explained, ever. Nothing. There was some brief muttering about "server upkeep" or something vague, but no official statement was heard and, well, me I just assumed they wouldn't ask for the money if they didn't need it, so grudgingly I shelled out the extra $10.

Oh no. They explained it. They explained lavishly that the reason that Xbox live gold went up by ten dollars a year was.. and this is just fantastic. Because gold now had increased functionality because they added Internet Explorer to the system. Yup. You pay 10 dollars a year for Internet Explorer[footnote]I'm sorry, I tried digging around for the article to back this up, but apparently it's been buried for a while. Couldn't Google-fu it well enough.[/footnote]They argued that it gave the system increased value and could therefor charge you more for the functionality. Classy.

 

[SirDeadly]

They're free games, if I haven't played it before I will download it and I might enjoy it. People really need to stop complaining about shit...

 

[idarkphoenixi]

They're only "giving away" games nobody wants anyway.

At least Sony puts up some really good games

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

 

[JEBWrench]

They're only "giving away" games nobody wants anyway.

At least Sony puts up some really good games

I dunno. I've had more fun playing the one game from Games With Gold than I have in getting the free stuff from PSN Plus.

And hey, if I cancel my XBox Live Gold, I still get to keep Fable 3. Sounds alright enough to me.

 

[BartyMae]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

Totally free. Yep. Except for the part where you have to subscribe to the service to receive them - i.e. pay.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

Totally free. Yep. Except for the part where you have to subscribe to the service to receive them - i.e. pay.

You mean the service I was going to pay for anyway, and as a paying customer am very satisfied with?

Yeah I'm totally getting fleeced, bro.

 

[BartyMae]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

Totally free. Yep. Except for the part where you have to subscribe to the service to receive them - i.e. pay.

You mean the service I was going to pay for anyway, and as a paying customer am very satisfied with?

Yeah I'm totally getting fleeced, bro.

Nonetheless, it is something people are paying for...and consequently, at least I and others believe, therefore have the right to complain about.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

Totally free. Yep. Except for the part where you have to subscribe to the service to receive them - i.e. pay.

You mean the service I was going to pay for anyway, and as a paying customer am very satisfied with?

Yeah I'm totally getting fleeced, bro.

Nonetheless, it is something people are paying for...and consequently, at least I and others believe, therefore have the right to complain about.

...No, we pay for Gold for the Multiplayer primarily. This is just a silly little promotion that only benefits those of us that choose to pay for the service.

And it's fucking free. It's like when people complain to Kevin Smith about the ads on Smodcast.

 

[BartyMae]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

Totally free. Yep. Except for the part where you have to subscribe to the service to receive them - i.e. pay.

You mean the service I was going to pay for anyway, and as a paying customer am very satisfied with?

Yeah I'm totally getting fleeced, bro.

Nonetheless, it is something people are paying for...and consequently, at least I and others believe, therefore have the right to complain about.

...No, we pay for Gold for the Multiplayer primarily. This is just a silly little promotion that only benefits those of us that choose to pay for the service.

And it's fucking free. It's like when people complain to Kevin Smith about the ads on Smodcast.

Because *you* primarily have multiplayer in mind does not mean that everybody else is the same, nor does it necessitate that people be unable to complain about even if it is just a temporary "promotion" - which has not even been stated explicitly to be. Unless I'm mistaken, the OP, for example, seems to have ALREADY been unhappy with the level of service provided by Gold, and consequently does not view this "promotion" as a valuable addition - as not having it make Gold worth the value. They are *paying* for a service. It is not free and nor does the service meet their expectations, so, consequently, they are complaining about it.

 

[JEBWrench]

Well, if someone's going to be signing up for Gold just for Games With Gold, then I would assume they didn't already have one or more of those games anyways; if they were already subscribing, there's no downside. Hell, I'll probably grab all of them just to have digital versions rather than physical.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Gold benefits for me are better servers than PS3, sorry folks but I own both and have to say the multiplayer servers on xbox just seem to work a lot better. Less lag, less downtime between matches. PS+, all you get is a free library that disappears when you stop paying.
Seems to me MS is giving a bonus on top of an already decent service I don't mind paying for. Hell, there are times where renewing gold only cost me $1. PS+ on the flipside hasn't gone on sale as far as I can see, and the only benefit is "automatic updates", which xbox does regardless of gold or silver, cloud saves which I don't use and free games for vita and PS3, which I'm lucky to own both. The downside is they stopped giving away free PSX games when the vita games started. Oh and multiplayer is still full of bots and hackers wheras Xbox at least makes an effort to keep it fair.
But as if you haters need a reason to hate microsoft. Do something constructive with your time, you aren't going to change the minds of people who genuinely enjoy the service as it is just because you have some nebulous beef with the company.

 

[BartyMae]

But as if you haters need a reason to hate microsoft. Do something constructive with your time, you aren't going to change the minds of people who genuinely enjoy the service as it is just because you have some nebulous beef with the company.

Because the purpose of every complaint ever is to persuade others to pursue the competition. The competition that was also complained about in the original post. Ye-es, I see your point. The points you already raised before that comment were completely valid - why then argue against something that was never even mentioned?

I don't really understand the anti-complaint attitude going on around here...though, ironically, I think that makes me anti-anti-complaint. Tsk, tsk. I'll just take my own advice and bow out, I guess.

 

[tippy2k2]

But as if you haters need a reason to hate microsoft. Do something constructive with your time, you aren't going to change the minds of people who genuinely enjoy the service as it is just because you have some nebulous beef with the company.

I'm curious as to why we're wasting our times doing something unconstructive by typing our opinions on a service we pay for and you being on here to state for the other side is not a waste of time...

Anyway, if the service is worth it to you, I don't think anyone who's argued how stupid this is has said that you can't get it. If it's worth it in your eyes, I would even encourage you to get it for I've always been a "Vote with your wallet" type of fella.

I've been a member of Xbox Live for over five years and I said it before all the Xbox One cluster-fun (so it's not some nebulous beef I have; I was a big 360 supporter when I said this):

Paying for just internet service these days is not worth it in my eyes; you need to offer more. Sony changed the standard when they started offering PS+. Microsoft's answer when they offered more was...a handful of games that are 3+ years old. To me, that's just not good enough. To a brand new 360 owner I'm sure it's wonderful but I find the offerings pitiful at best. Microsoft still has time to prove me wrong and offer something that's at least relatively new but I'm not going to hold my breath based on what we've seen so far.

And you know, you could be right. I have a PS3 and a 360 but I've never taken my PS3 online (for gaming at least). For all I know, I will hop onto PSN, give it a shot, and see that Xbox Live has been worth the $60 or so that I pay each year. All I see is that Microsoft is offering X service while Sony is offering X + other stuff for a cheaper price.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Really? You people are going to ***** about being given free games now? It's fucking free!!!!

I don't have copies laying around of any of those titles, and even if I did I'd download them anyway. They're fucking free.

Totally free. Yep. Except for the part where you have to subscribe to the service to receive them - i.e. pay.

You mean the service I was going to pay for anyway, and as a paying customer am very satisfied with?

Yeah I'm totally getting fleeced, bro.

Nonetheless, it is something people are paying for...and consequently, at least I and others believe, therefore have the right to complain about.

...No, we pay for Gold for the Multiplayer primarily. This is just a silly little promotion that only benefits those of us that choose to pay for the service.

And it's fucking free. It's like when people complain to Kevin Smith about the ads on Smodcast.

Because *you* primarily have multiplayer in mind does not mean that everybody else is the same, nor does it necessitate that people be unable to complain about even if it is just a temporary "promotion" - which has not even been stated explicitly to be. Unless I'm mistaken, the OP, for example, seems to have ALREADY been unhappy with the level of service provided by Gold, and consequently does not view this "promotion" as a valuable addition - as not having it make Gold worth the value. They are *paying* for a service. It is not free and nor does the service meet their expectations, so, consequently, they are complaining about it.

Yeah okay dude. People buy Xbox Gold for 1st week demos then? For the internet explorer?

It's either for multiplayer and/or video content streaming.

Jesus I wish I could feel that entitled to free shit that I could complain about it! "Fucking Microsoft! They should be giving us Batman: Arkham Origins free!"