Why do people pay for Xbox Live?

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

we can use FB,what are you under the impression we can't?

If you have a Silver account you can't use Facebook or last.fm or all the other services that are FREE but you have to pay for through a Gold account. If the 360 had a web browser, you could have access to all those services without paying Microsoft. I'm pretty sure Microsoft is a huge PC software company that already has a web browser that can be easily put on the 360. Even the Wii has a web browser. Microsoft only withholds (they get off on withholding; arrested development reference) a web browser so they can add "features" that are free to their PAY service.

 

[mitchell271]

First I'm going to say this. I play games with people on PSN at their house and when they come over to mine we play on XBL. We ALL agree that XBL has 1. A much better interface 2. Better online features and 3. Better security.

So why do we play for it? We get much better content (usually) and it (usually) comes out first on XBL, it's a better service and if you think otherwise, you are part of a very small minority.

If you still disagree, to quote Yahtzee, "Go fuck yourself, you miserable fanboy twat."

Better interface is an opinion, both work just fine. Better online features? Outside of cross-game chat, what do you get on Live that's not on PSN? Really, better security? Before this PSN incident, you and your friends had conversations about how Live was more secure than PSN when Live has gotten hacked before PSN? It's not like Live can't get hacked like PSN. Live may be more secure but PSN was secure enough where nothing bad has happened to PSN users due to this incident outside of having PSN down.

How am I a fanboy? I said both services were about the same in quality. I don't care about cross-game chat as I have never felt the need to talk to a friend when we were playing different games. I also said if PSN had the same fees as Live, I wouldn't pay Sony for PSN, and I'd go to Steam.

Sorry if I came across as a massive dick there. Occasionally I'll come here to vent after a really, really bad day.

Anyways, the main reason my friends and I believe that XBL is better is that we haven't had any problems with it. I'm not saying that XBL is faultless, I'm saying that it has less faults.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Maybe because we don't mind paying for it, and like the little features that come with it. I'd bet that the main reason Microsoft charges for it is that most people will pay for it. Could you imagine if SONY realized some people would pay for PSN? I think they would start charging too, but the way it is now, they need to keep it free because its flaws have been exposed.

All the features are free everywhere else and Microsoft is not providing online gaming, Netflix, last.fm, etc. It's kinda like buying say Assassin's Creed (or any non-EA game) and giving EA a couple bucks just for the hell of it.

 

[Chelsea O'shea]

we can use FB,what are you under the impression we can't?

If you have a Silver account you can't use Facebook or last.fm or all the other services that are FREE but you have to pay for through a Gold account. If the 360 had a web browser, you could have access to all those services without paying Microsoft. I'm pretty sure Microsoft is a huge PC software company that already has a web browser that can be easily put on the 360. Even the Wii has a web browser. Microsoft only withholds (they get off on withholding; arrested development reference) a web browser so they can add "features" that are free to their PAY service.

so i am guessing you believe the 2(PSN & LIVE) are equal? they aren't no matter how much you try to fool your self LIVE is a better service,its worth the 50 bucks a year,we don't get hacked,we get good customer support,and we get a lot of nice features. and silver doesn't matter,PSN is equal only to silver btw,but back to my point,most LIVE user have gold,therefore it doesn't matter what silver does and doesn't get because almost no one uses it.

 

[Justanothergamer300]

I pay so our security is top notch

Gotcha

The only reason I pay is to play with my friends online

 

[duchaked]

you get...what you pay for

 

[TheDudeMan14]

I pay for the cross game chat because games get very boring if I play alone. Competing and playing with my own little group of friends makes it seem like i'm getting my money's worth when I buy a game.

 

[Ben Everitt]

i thought the PS3 had the voice chat option, where you can invite friends to your chatroom while palying games??

 

[king_katchit]

I don't mind paying it, to be fair.

The service is good, the party chat is essential, the matchmaking works 80% of the time, I like the GS and Achievements. On the subject of Facebook, Last.fm etc the integration with the XBL friends is kinda cool, I guess.

And the job Stepto and his team do is worth the £40 on it's own.

 

[Svarox]

Well, we pay to not have our information stolen >.>

<..>

Ditto.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

so i am guessing you believe the 2(PSN & LIVE) are equal? they aren't no matter how much you try to fool your self LIVE is a better service,its worth the 50 bucks a year,we don't get hacked,we get good customer support,and we get a lot of nice features. and silver doesn't matter,PSN is equal only to silver btw,but back to my point,most LIVE user have gold,therefore it doesn't matter what silver does and doesn't get because almost no one uses it.

This is what I use PSN for: playing online multiplayer and using the store (downloading demos, games, themes, etc.). The PSN service is basically the same in this regard and even better for a few Sony games that use dedicated servers (MAG, Killzone, Warhawk, etc.), Microsoft runs ZERO dedicated servers. If Live has faster download speeds than PSN, it doesn't matter to me as PSN download speeds max out my connection, which is slow but my friend has a good cable connection and PSN stuff downloads fast at his place (I bring my PS3 over often on the weekends). I don't have the need to talk to friends when we are not playing the same game online. For multiplatform online games, PSN nor Live has any say in how much lag you get. As you can see, PSN does everything that I use it for at the same quality (sometimes better for games with dedicated servers) as Live. Not to mention, Sony has so many more 1st-party games than Microsoft, the only Xbox exclusive game I would like to play is Tales of Vesperia.

How is PSN equal to Live Silver? I can do everything a Gold account can do except cross-game chat.

 

[Chelsea O'shea]

so i am guessing you believe the 2(PSN & LIVE) are equal? they aren't no matter how much you try to fool your self LIVE is a better service,its worth the 50 bucks a year,we don't get hacked,we get good customer support,and we get a lot of nice features. and silver doesn't matter,PSN is equal only to silver btw,but back to my point,most LIVE user have gold,therefore it doesn't matter what silver does and doesn't get because almost no one uses it.

This is what I use PSN for: playing online multiplayer and using the store (downloading demos, games, themes, etc.). The PSN service is basically the same in this regard and even better for a few Sony games that use dedicated servers (MAG, Killzone, Warhawk, etc.), Microsoft runs ZERO dedicated servers. If Live has faster download speeds the PSN, it doesn't matter to me as PSN download speeds max out my connection, which is slow but my friend has a good cable connection and PSN stuff downloads fast at his place. I don't have the need to talk to friends when we are not playing the same game online. For multiplatform online games, PSN nor Live has any say in how much lag you get. As you can see, PSN does everything that I use it for at the same quality (sometimes better for games with dedicated servers) as Live. Not to mention, Sony has so many more 1st-party games than Microsoft, the only Xbox exclusive game I would like to play is Tales of Vesperia.

How is PSN equal to Live Silver? I can do everything a Gold account can do except cross-game chat.

and only 3 worthwhile 1st party games mag doesn't work, killzone is a ripp off, oh..and you get hacked on a regular basis,i don't see how you trolling here debating the facts given to you is gonna do you or anyone else any good.

 

[Deshin]

The deals of the week for Gold members. I more than make up the different of a yearly membership in the discounts I get off arcade titles and dlc. That and I guess the fact it's a pair service means MS is just that little more motivated to make sure things don't go tits up with the service.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

Playstation owners pay for their service in the initial cost for the console

 

[Alphakirby]

I honestly don't know,I guess they pay for a service they should have to begin with...online multiplayer.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Goddammit, why does this topic sill exist? It's been done to death every few weeks for so long I can practically summarize the transcript of the arguments about to be posted:

- XBox 360 owners will rant about "quality service" and "better tech support".

- Playstaion 3 owners will rave that both services are the same except for PSN being available for free, often hinting at some real or imagined superiority PSN exudes like a Mac user in a "Mac vs PC" debate.

- People with enough disposable income to afford both will stop by to remind us of their financial security, accuse both sides of fanboyism, and say that they can't tell the difference between the two to RAEG bait them.

- PC gamers will butt in uninvited to stand on the soap box to set us "poor, unwashed masses" straight, say Steam is a better distributor than LIVE and PSN, and claim superiority over console gaming in general as the "golden haired and golden skinned PC gaming master race" with the infallible logic of a hipster saying "You just wouldn't understand."

Give or take a few (hundred) remarks about PSN getting hacked. The only reason I can think of for you to make this kind of thread at this point is that it's easy post bait. Now hurry up and end this so we can get back to our Portal 2 Cave Johnson jokes and fawning/raging over BioWare releases.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

and only 3 worthwhile 1st party games mag doesn't work, killzone is a ripp off, oh..and you get hacked on a regular basis,i don't see how you trolling here debating the facts given to you is gonna do you or anyone else any good.

So Sony has 3 more worthwhile 1st-party game as Microsoft as Halo and Gears are nothing special. MAG doesn't work? Huh, MAG works great and it's the best online FPS I've played this gen and I only played the beta for about a month. It's just that FPSs aren't my shooter of choice (I'm a 3rd-person shooter guy) and no online shooter has better gameplay than Metal Gear Online (which is only on the PS3) and uses dedicated servers for Survival and Tournaments.

 

[Saltyk]

Pretty much Xbox Live users pay because they will pay. I think Sony realizes that they couldn't get away with it in light of how established Live is. Otherwise I'm sure they would love to charge people a few dollars/euros/pesos/[insert name of your curency here]. They just know they can't get away with it.

Also, it comes down to things like friends and brand loyalty. Microsoft release the 360 earlier then they should have (maybe they could have fixed the RRoD), but it worked to get their foot in the door. That's is pretty much it.

you see i don,t agree with you on that,i think psn is WAY shittier than live.microsoft really cares about xbox live users.they give us good protection,deleteing freind requests is easy as hell.sony really does not care about psn users at all.you guys got hacked because the manager of psn said that becaus it was free they dident have to give you protection.microsoft would never do something like that to us,and no i,am not an "xbox fanboy".i,am just saying that psn really,really does not care about any of its players.my god they dident even care enough to put each continets information into different locked sections,no instead they put it all into one section!so that hacker got the imformation from every psn player world fucking wide! and frankly it will porbily go bankrupt from all the poeple thats going to be sueing them fir this...xbox live..keep up the good work ok...psn is definetly the worst of all the consoles online services end of disscustion.

I had to reply as soon as I read your post. Your post made me laugh so hard. Microsoft cares about you. Lol

No, I'm sure they care about you. And that little wallet you are sitting on. But mostly your wallet.

 

[bluewolf]

Beacause it is better than psn, it does not get hacked to shit and give people your credit card numbers, and it's $50 for the whole year.