Poll: Should Xbox Silver have Multiplayer?

[jimduckie]

gee i pay enough just to have the net ...bout $80 a month and get dinged xtra for going over bandwidth limit and thanks to the crtc(canadas fcc) regulate to shit out of the net and geo-blocking too plus games being expensive ...yeah it should be
gee i wonder if mr.gates and m$ executives get gold for free?

 

[Woodsey]

OK it loses video chat (as far as I'm aware, although why you'd want that whilst you're playing a game...?), but you can have as many as you like in a conversation ala MSN.

The video chatting is via the dashboard

MSn isn't voice chat is it?

the xboxlive video chat is between 2 people, the 8 person party chat is all voice chat

It's voice or typed. And MSN has voice, typed and video chat. And if you have to video chat from the dashboard anyway then use MSN or Skype - same thing, but free(ish).

thats pretty cool, I like the fact xbox live is in a package as a whole though. for about £2 a month you really can't beat it

And yet we've just shown that you can, with an entirely free service with a better online store and cloud gaming.

 

[TPiddy]

Actually, the Slim models are produced at a level that Microsoft doesn't lose money. Sony, on the other hand, is losing it's shirt with every PS3 sold. SCEA lost $400 million last year. If anything, Sony SHOULD charge for PSN, and not the other way around. Microsoft, on the other hand, are just being dicks by raising the price $10.

 

[Woodsey]

Actually, the Slim models are produced at a level that Microsoft doesn't lose money. Sony, on the other hand, is losing it's shirt with every PS3 sold. SCEA lost $400 million last year. If anything, Sony SHOULD charge for PSN, and not the other way around. Microsoft, on the other hand, are just being dicks by raising the price $10.

I'm pretty sure Sony are nearly breaking even on each machine (and that was a few months back when I read it).

 

[lostzombies.com]

NO, that's what Gold is for.

In life you get what you pay for.

Paying for an online service = tech support, regular updates, improving service, server upkeep etc


Imagine if WOW was free to play, no updates, no fixes of bugs, no online support, no large servers, no dedicated servers (if there was they would be small and laggy/unstable) etc etc..


Sorry but I have both a PS3 and 360. XBox live is far, far better that PS online. There is simply no comparison in terms of quality of service.

It's why in the real world you don't hear people complaining about their rolls royce/bentley but talk to someone with a trebant/skoda and they can give you a list of faults.

I was not really giving a shit until your post.

See I see it like this. Its a fiver a month I never miss it, its nothing to me. But saying you get what you pay for. Paying for multiplayer should get us some dedicated servers. Xbox multiplayer is rife with lag and its annoying.

I dont think its reall paying for multiplayer. Your paying for an online gaming hub and access to online multiplayer is just a part of it.

 

[mjc0961]

Well, let's just look at the console space. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Playstation Network are lacking in tons of features Xbox Live has that I use so much I wonder what the hell Sony's thinking by not launching with them and still not adding them to the service (NWC is beyond hope).

Where is cross game group voice chat? Where is automatically syncing trophies? Where is the "avoid douchebag player" button? Where is the "report obviously cheating player" button? Why does it take 3-5 seconds to get a full list of games when comparing achievements but 1-2 minutes to get a full list of games when comparing trophies? Why is it that when I get done comparing trophies, my controller is disabled in the games list for another minute before I can leave? Why doesn't pressing the PS button when it tells me I received a message take me to the message? And my biggest complaint of all: Why the hell doesn't the Playstation Store update at the same time every week? That's just terrible customer service right there, and if you try to defend it updating at 4PM one week, 7PM the next, 11PM the week after that and so on, you are without a doubt a fanboy and I find anything you have to say on this whole subject to be irrelevant. Microsoft doesn't do that to customers. Nintendo doesn't even do that to customers. There is no excuse for Sony to give its customers a stiff one up the ass every week like this.

Okay, so not all of those things above have to do with playing online, but they all have to do with the online components of the consoles and they go a long way towards showing why I think Xbox Live easily beats the competition in terms of user friendliness and features. And if Xbox Live Free accounts (remember they aren't silver anymore) getting online play too would mean that the service has to start being as bad as what Nintendo or Sony are offering, I'd rather just keep paying the yearly fee thank you very much. Personally I think compared to PS+ it's a better deal anyway (Oh boy, one free game a month picked from a pile of games almost nobody wanted in the first place, free avatars and themes, and some discounts? The only thing that interests me is the discounts and Xbox Live Gold does that too).

Yeah, considering quite a lot of people fork out extra money for that £40 wireless adapter, then having to pay more for online is ridiculous.

E3 2010 called, it says the 360 slim has built in wireless that's better than what the Wii and PS3 are packing.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

NO, that's what Gold is for.

In life you get what you pay for.

Paying for an online service = tech support, regular updates, improving service, server upkeep etc


Imagine if WOW was free to play, no updates, no fixes of bugs, no online support, no large servers, no dedicated servers (if there was they would be small and laggy/unstable) etc etc..


Sorry but I have both a PS3 and 360. XBox live is far, far better that PS online. There is simply no comparison in terms of quality of service.

It's why in the real world you don't hear people complaining about their rolls royce/bentley but talk to someone with a trebant/skoda and they can give you a list of faults.

soo how about the pc games never pay for multiplayer XD? according to me, the price of multiplayer is already in the price of your game ( roughly 60 bucks times ohh maybe a few million does that for a person.. )

well, unlike with PCs, for consoles you don't have to worry as much about another player having an unfair advantage because they have a "better system" with "higher specs"

but you SHOULD have to pay for Gold since the console itself is making microsoft lose money (they sell it cheaper than it costs to produce)

and if you dont like it? invest in single-player games (that works just fine)

I agree with that statement^

And really? i didn't know the system was losing Microsoft money :O

If anything, they are being kind of generous selling it cheaper than it is to produce, although it's probably because of their rivals (Nintendo and Sony etc)

it's because they assume that people will buy a minimum of 6 games or pay for Xbox Live Gold to make a profit

kind of explains Xbox Live Gold's stupider features

 

[Kouen]

NO, that's what Gold is for.

In life you get what you pay for.

Paying for an online service = tech support, regular updates, improving service, server upkeep etc

Steam is free and does all of that and more - much of it better, too.

OT: Yes, of course. I've bought the game, I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to play the other half of it.

My only experience with steam was trying to get the latest total war, the whole thing crashed and was down for over 24 hours.

XBox live has never crashed out for me when a game/update has been released in nearly 6 years of use.

Steam doesnt also include video chat, 8 person party chat either as far as I know.

OK it loses video chat (as far as I'm aware, although why you'd want that whilst you're playing a game...?), but you can have as many as you like in a conversation ala MSN.

you can chat room steam in text... but ya thats why things like Ventrilo and ingame free Voice (Left 4 Dead for instance)

 

[lostzombies.com]

thats pretty cool, I like the fact xbox live is in a package as a whole though. for about £2 a month you really can't beat it

And yet we've just shown that you can, with an entirely free service with a better online store and cloud gaming.

I dont think its beating it at all. It's like calling your car fixed if you have duct taped together loads of pieces of other cars. Sure it runs but its not exactly a complete car.

You can just turn on your xbox and have the whole service rolled out infront of you. As opposed to having a pc next to you so you can have msn running for comms, a console infront of you for the actual game, and skype for downloading updates.

 

[Woodsey]

thats pretty cool, I like the fact xbox live is in a package as a whole though. for about £2 a month you really can't beat it

And yet we've just shown that you can, with an entirely free service with a better online store and cloud gaming.

As opposed to having a pc next to you so you can have msn running for comms, a console infront of you for the actual game, and skype for downloading updates.

What are you talking about?

If this is somehow a reference to Steam you might want to try using it again.

E3 2010 called, it says the 360 slim has built in wireless that's better than what the Wii and PS3 are packing.

Your answer to not having to pay for a £40 adapter is to buy the same console again with it built in (5 years after the original was released)?

 

[mjc0961]

Of course most people are going to say it should have multiplayer. $200 for the 360, $40 for the wireless adapter, $40 for the router, and $80 for a year of Live. I'm regretting my purchase of a 360 over a PS3 at this point, I really am.

You should regret your inability to do research before purchasing. Whoever sold you a year of Xbox Live for $80 ripped you off and it's your own fault for not doing price comparisons and discovering this before putting down $80.

Also you can't factor in the router as part of the cost to owning a 360. If you would have needed a router to get your 360 online, you would have also needed it to get your PS3 online, or even your Wii if you had bought that instead.

 

[J3llo]

they will have to make it free sooner or l8r

 

[lostzombies.com]

thats pretty cool, I like the fact xbox live is in a package as a whole though. for about £2 a month you really can't beat it

And yet we've just shown that you can, with an entirely free service with a better online store and cloud gaming.

As opposed to having a pc next to you so you can have msn running for comms, a console infront of you for the actual game, and skype for downloading updates.

What are you talking about?

If this is somehow a reference to Steam you might want to try using it again.

Should xbox silver have multiplayer?

You just said that you can technically get most of the features of gold for free. I just said that the way to get them for free is not nearly as easy or straightforward as just paying £2 a month and getting them all in one place at the same time

 

[Mastern56]

The real reason I think they charge for live is because they lose money whenever they make Xboxs (I believe that was mentioned in Extra Credits). So to make up for the losses, they charge for online to get that money back and are able to make new consoles.

 

[omega 616]

I was thinking about this the other day actually.

I doubt it will happen, but I think old titles should be made free for multiplayer, games like Shadowrun, Halo 3, etc.

This would allow people to enjoy titles that would encourage them to buy the updated titles of the series (Reach, Black Ops etc) and also to buy Gold so they can play the newer titles online.

It's not perfect but I like it.

Considering there going to/have already jacked up the price it will never happen.

I think they should, I have never owned an 360 but it sounds like you guys get ripped off something fierce. High percentage of it going wrong, paying for adapters etc.

Although it would mean the end of such comments like "XBL shits on PSN 'cos we pay for it".

 

[Woodsey]

thats pretty cool, I like the fact xbox live is in a package as a whole though. for about £2 a month you really can't beat it

And yet we've just shown that you can, with an entirely free service with a better online store and cloud gaming.

As opposed to having a pc next to you so you can have msn running for comms, a console infront of you for the actual game, and skype for downloading updates.

What are you talking about?

If this is somehow a reference to Steam you might want to try using it again.

Should xbox silver have multiplayer?

You just said that you can technically get most of the features of gold for free. I just said that the way to get them for free is not nearly as easy or straightforward as just paying £2 a month and getting them all in one place at the same time

Yes it is if you own a PC or a PS3 (I don't know what PSN's like but at least they let you play your games).

It's more hassle to put in my debit card details then it is to just download Steam for free and boot up CSS or TF2. Even if it doesn't use Steamworks then all I've got to do is turn the game on and voila, I actually get what I've already paid for (i.e. my game).

 

[RabbiiFrystofsk]

Ofcourse Silver shouldn't have multiplayer, that would just defeat the whole point. Even PS3 has a pay service now (granted they get access to more free content and betas) but i've used the PSN system and it's no where near as user friendly as XBL's. It's £40 a YEAR people, for all the online gaming time you want and after the latest news that a BILLION hours are spent every month on XBL i don't think many people give a shit. There are phone contracts out there that charge that per month and im sure as hell some of you out there are paying that.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Considering there going to/have already jacked up the price it will never happen.

I think they should, I have never owned an 360 but it sounds like you guys get ripped off something fierce. High percentage of it going wrong, paying for adapters etc.

Although it would mean the end of such comments like "XBL shits on PSN 'cos we pay for it".

Meh I don't feel ripped off, I have great titles, a great online service. I don't always use the other applications but I quite like having Last.fm and Twitter on there.

But most importantly I can basically socialize, I sometimes just sit there on the PC with my headset plugged in talking to people in party.

I find £40 a year for all these services to be a damn good deal.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

I say yes. Gold should be for the useless crap like Zune, Netflix and Lost.fm