# Why does xbox live gold cost money?



## Zealex

Seriously, what is so special about it that it costs money? All my friends have xbox and for that reason I want to get one and play cod with them =P. But, I have a hard time spending money on something that I am not 100% sure on. PC has free online play as does Playstation 3. I've asked them whats so special and they just went it's "better", which... doesn't help at all...

So, how is xbox live worth the cost? Also, how is it 'better' than PSN? From what I understand both play online and have VOIP, all I need. Ones free, one isn't.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Microsoft is greedy thats why, you don't have an option when it comes to the 360 if you want to play online you pay them


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## GZ

No offense to PS3, but I have tried playing online with it and the experience is horrible. Each of these games requires dedicated servers for online gameplay, not to mention, hosting for DLC. For the PC it is up to the Game company to host and upkeep the servers, which requires a lot of money. Some games offer online for free, others offer online for a monthly premium, just like xBox. I believe Microsoft hosts the gameplay servers, or at least pays to keep them moving, hence for online play they charge for the service. I have owned an xBox 360 and a live account for the past 4 years without, ever a server issue. All network issues and lags were my ISP and network fault. 

Please, correct me if I am wrong, but I would rather pay a small yearly fee to be able to play online without issue than not pay a small fee and encounter issues, glitches, server down-time and everything else I have been hearing PS3 players complaining about since it was released.


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## Zealex

I thought xbox 360 and ps3 both used a peer-to-peer system to play games, I thought only PC's used dedicated servers.

I've heard people complain about ps3 not having some features but I never heard 'major' complaints.


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## GZ

I am probably wrong. I am trying to research it, I am not in the business of disinformation... Unfortunately I am at work so there are a lot of sites that contain valuable information that I cannot access due to network restrictions. I thought about what I had posted before and now I regret posting without thingking (open mouth insert foot syndrome :grin

I believe you are right about the P2P system, but IMHO, M$'s Live Gold feature set is still superior to that of PS3. I don't know exactly how the PS3 online gaming experience is, but I used it once a while back at a friends house (I don't own a PS3) and was playing Guitar Hero 3 online and the game had serious connectivity issues. My buddy was on a rock solild RCN 8Mb line at the time and the server kept dropping the connection. I couldn't get through a song. My 1Mb Verizon DSL has never had an issue when I was playing online with my 360, even on high load days.

And, correct me if I am wrong, but even P2P connections need to be hosted by a central server for connectivity reasons, right?

Either way, I apologize for my ignorance in my first post. 

Microsoft will continue to charge for Live Gold until nobody is willing to pay, and I honestly don't see that happening anytime soon. 

Regards,
GZ


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## Zealex

I am honestly not to sure how networks work so I couldn't really answer that question. I do hear PS3 issues, but if it's something once in a while it wouldn't really bother me. 

How xbox live gold a superior setup to psn? They are also increasing the price for live, if it wasn't expensive already.


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## GZ

I haven't renewed my Gold membership yet for this year, so I am unaware of a price markup. Lol. 

I am not trying to be a Microsoft advocate here. I, personally, think that the marketplace layout and dlc is set up quite well. As stated before, I have no real experience with PSN, and didn't realize they added a store for DLC. It sucks to be behind the times... lol. Regardless. I don't own a PS3, and probably won't for a while (if ever). From what I read PSN is on it's way to Live Gold levels (if not surpassed already). Maybe this price increase is just a way for M$ to rake in some more money before they have to re-think the whole Live pay membership. I just read that PS3 has internet functionality built in? Is it decent? If so, that just moved PSN up a notch in my book. Still, the only thing I have to go on is my experience, which is now nil because things have apparently changed in the PSN world quite a bit since I was last exposed. 

As of right now I only own a 360 and most of my friends are on Live. I could drop my live account and save $50 a year, but I enjoy the occasional online bout with my buddies. So I guess my answer to this question is... It cost's money because I own an Xbox and M$ charges for online play.


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## Zealex

I actually don't own a ps3 either =P. X_x..

I was looking forward to get a xbox 360, because my friends have it but being 15 money is bit hard to obtain and I don't have time for a job. My parents don't really like paying for my stuff either >_<. With a ps3, I wouldn't have to fork out 60 bucks for online play, but with an xbox I would. With an xbox, I would play with more people I know. However I like the ps3 exclusives more -_-...


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## GZ

My 12 year old son is getting a 360 for X-mas, and it will be up to me to give him a Gold membership for the year! How can I say no, when I have my own (and he knows it!) lol.


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## Zealex

You have to pay separate fees for live accounts?  You cannot make two accounts and share the subscription?


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## Elvenleader3

Zealex said:


> You have to pay separate fees for live accounts?  You cannot make two accounts and share the subscription?


Any subscription for any game has it set up so only one account can use it. I don't know of any games that do that.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Zealex said:


> You have to pay separate fees for live accounts?  You cannot make two accounts and share the subscription?


Yeah each account is separate. That being said is i were to use my account on your xbox i would still have live. If you could just make more than one account on a single subscription you would have a bunch of different people mooching off each other.


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## GoSuNi

$4.17 a month isn't that bad. Sure, on the long run, it's expensive, but that's what it is: on the long run. Xbox Live is superior to the PSN mainly due to the extra features, which I would probably never use. I think Xbox Live has better connection as well, but that's debatable and complicated to know for sure.


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## Niram

IMO I would never pay to play games,online or not, I just can't afford it and it's definitely not worth it :normal:

if I get rich and stop working at like 30 then I'll think about it :laugh:


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## resiguy15

Well when Microsoft announced the price increase on subscriptions I am sure they mentioned a family LIVE package type thing. Something along the lines of getting a discount on memberships if you buy them for multiple accounts (as if every family member plays on xbox live ¬¬)

I'm not sure if this has come into effect yet though. I haven't heard anything about it in months.

Also a thing to note is that on the rare occasion that LIVE goes down for a day or two we usually get compensated with a free LIVE acrade game 
I remember getting Carcassonne and Undertow on two seperate occasions.


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## evildead789

I had live on my x360 before i bought my new pc. I have a friend who has a ps3 and he uses psn. About live yeah it cost money but ...

You have a lot of content on xbox live even if you don't pay you can download everything you want but you just can't play online. Since last year you have games on demand and you can just buy games with a credit card. Weekly new games are added. Older games come cheaper. I bought gta Iv a couple of months ago for 30 bucks. Fight night round 3 for 20 bucks. Round 4 for 30 bucks.
Arcade games you could download from the beginning of xbox live (2005) on x360.
You can also watch movies with your x360 (yes like in a videostore). Live has a movie database and prices are pretty cheap and you can watch instantly.

Everything works all the time. The service of live is more than excellent. It has fast download speeds, no downtime. Updates on your system don't take long (max 2 minutes). 

Achievements are cool, do you have standard voice communication on ps3?

What i saw with my friend. I saw him play gta IV online and it seemed ok allthough i've heard of psn connection issues in the past I think this could be solved. 
Downloading goes reall slow in comparisin to xbox live this goes for demo's too and i've downloade a lot of demo's.
If a game or the system needs an update it takes ages. We were going to play fifa, the system asked for an update (and you couldn't decline) and we waited for a halfhour.

At that time you couldn't buy games online with your system (like games on demand on xbox live). Allthough this could have changed now. I've heard of ps3 last year making plans for this (don't know if it came through already) and i'm not talking about arcade games.

It did bug me i had to pay for it, glad i'm having a good pc again but something you pay for is mostly better and until now xbox live has proven this. Psn could come on the same level (or already is). 

These are differences but in my opinion not so important 
These are more important differences to me

Ps3 cost more than the x360, (1 reason why i bought an x360)

The x360 is noisier than the ps3. PS3 is pretty silent. The x360 tends to break more easily but i never had a problem with mine in two years. Putting your x360 in an open space probably helps (that's why it's so noisy, because of the fans spinning to cool your system). 
Ps3 has superior hardware but hasn't really proven this (games look mostly the same in quality). Systems are 5 years old
The ps3 and x360 controllers are different. X360 controllers are a lot better imo (2nd reason why i bought an x360)
ps3 and x360 have a lot of the same games but some are only console specific like gears of war and god of war. If there are some games you want to play for sure then make sure you have the right system.

Both consoles are dated in comparison to pc. If I was you I would buy a PC


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## Redeye3323

Fantastic post Evil.

You managed to back up your opinions with some fact and I congratulate you for that.

It could do with some more facts and sources, but it isn't a proper review so it doesn't matter  (I mean you could structure that into a proper review if you wanted to)


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## toma2598

hi zealex thanks for your help on my fallout 3 problem. evil doesnt psn have most of that?


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## toma2598

evildead789 said:


> I had live on my x360 before i bought my new pc. I have a friend who has a ps3 and he uses psn. About live yeah it cost money but ...
> 
> You have a lot of content on xbox live even if you don't pay you can download everything you want but you just can't play online. Since last year you have games on demand and you can just buy games with a credit card. Weekly new games are added. Older games come cheaper. I bought gta Iv a couple of months ago for 30 bucks. Fight night round 3 for 20 bucks. Round 4 for 30 bucks.
> Arcade games you could download from the beginning of xbox live (2005) on x360.
> You can also watch movies with your x360 (yes like in a videostore). Live has a movie database and prices are pretty cheap and you can watch instantly.
> 
> Everything works all the time. The service of live is more than excellent. It has fast download speeds, no downtime. Updates on your system don't take long (max 2 minutes).
> 
> Achievements are cool, do you have standard voice communication on ps3?
> 
> What i saw with my friend. I saw him play gta IV online and it seemed ok allthough i've heard of psn connection issues in the past I think this could be solved.
> Downloading goes reall slow in comparisin to xbox live this goes for demo's too and i've downloade a lot of demo's.
> If a game or the system needs an update it takes ages. We were going to play fifa, the system asked for an update (and you couldn't decline) and we waited for a halfhour.
> 
> At that time you couldn't buy games online with your system (like games on demand on xbox live). Allthough this could have changed now. I've heard of ps3 last year making plans for this (don't know if it came through already) and i'm not talking about arcade games.
> 
> It did bug me i had to pay for it, glad i'm having a good pc again but something you pay for is mostly better and until now xbox live has proven this. Psn could come on the same level (or already is).
> 
> These are differences but in my opinion not so important
> These are more important differences to me
> 
> Ps3 cost more than the x360, (1 reason why i bought an x360)
> 
> The x360 is noisier than the ps3. PS3 is pretty silent. The x360 tends to break more easily but i never had a problem with mine in two years. Putting your x360 in an open space probably helps (that's why it's so noisy, because of the fans spinning to cool your system).
> Ps3 has superior hardware but hasn't really proven this (games look mostly the same in quality). Systems are 5 years old
> The ps3 and x360 controllers are different. X360 controllers are a lot better imo (2nd reason why i bought an x360)
> ps3 and x360 have a lot of the same games but some are only console specific like gears of war and god of war. If there are some games you want to play for sure then make sure you have the right system.
> 
> Both consoles are dated in comparison to pc. If I was you I would buy a PC


by the way doesnt ps3 have most of things in paragraph 1to 3


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## GoSuNi

No, the PS3 lacks the cross-game party chat that PS3 owners demand. It lacks decent arcade exclusive support and downloading is pretty slow. The PS3 game updates are so ungodly slow that I could eat dinner and read until I came back and saw that it was half finished. Despite these, it's decent for a "free" online service, but it leaves gamers albeit unsatisfied.


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## Zealex

I've used a PS3 before and the game update wasn't 'ungodly' slow. Took a couple of minutes, might want to look into your internet.


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## GoSuNi

My internet is entirely fine thank you very much. Metal Gear Solid 4 took about half an hour to download for the first time and that was offline for crying out loud. LittleBigPlanet was horrendous, 15 minutes to update. Resistance updates took a few minutes but compared to updates on the Xbox 360, it's too slow. I wonder what the reason is. And yes, I have a PS3.

Even though Xbox Live is vastly superior, that ugly white box of a system shouldn't get too smug. Avatars are entirely pointless along with some pointless clothes that cost money for unknown reasons. Xbox Live interface is like pulling your teeth out. Too many things cost money (including cards) due to Microsoft's excessive greed, oh I mean too many things cost "*Microsoft points*". Microsoft points can dig its own grave.

PC is the only thing that got it right. Oh wait.


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## Elvenleader3

GoSuNi said:


> ... "*Microsoft points*". Microsoft points can dig its own grave.
> 
> PC is the only thing that got it right. Oh wait.


:lol:


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## Darkhelmet95

well i heard that you could plug the internet cable into the xbox360 elite


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## ebackhus

You can, it has a 10/100Mbps ethernet port built-in.


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## pharoah

GoSuNi said:


> No, the PS3 lacks the cross-game party chat that PS3 owners demand. .


well if i ever buy a console which is highly unlikely.i know which one im getting i hate mouths on mics in games.


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## Redeye3323

You can disable hearing others speak in Xbox settings I believe


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## evildead789

yes you can you can mute any player you want, and it's fairly obvious which ones are annoying because you can see an icon flashing next to the players gamertag when he speaks.


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## Dr.Freeman

pc is best for online gaming coz its free its easy and its the one with the most functions (in my oppinion)

xbox is good but im not paying for it

ps3 idk but i dont here good things

and the wii...nvm


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## Mr. Random

I have a ps3 and xbl, and the psn is by far the superieor server. Althoughthere is little to no difference on download time or server issues(excludg the time pan was hacked(this also could have happened to xbl btw)). 

The main reason psn is better is because it has better functions (and it's free). On the psn you can stream the web, and watch videos from online web sights, while xbl doesn't even let us Acces YouTube any more. Psn also has free social games where users interact with eachother.


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## Will Watts

Xbox live - is unfortunately connected strongly to Games for Windows Live. You log into GFW - it logs you out your Xbox. (Article mainly about GFW)
Editorial: Games for Windows Live is a broken mess and I hate it

I don't have an Xbox - so I can't comment any more on that. (Although if it's anything like GFW then I hate it with passion and want it dead. :laugh


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## Elvenleader3

I own and love Xbox Live. GFWL makes fun of online computer gaming. Much rather have Steam over it.


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## bwsealirl

I use xbox live, PSN and Steam on a pretty regular basis.

I do find that both system and game updating on PSN is quite slow especially compared to XBL and cross game chat is really really cool when playing team games or single player games. I believe cross game chat is exclusive to the 360 because of how its RAM is handled more so than the subscription (well that is according to sony). 

I Have not noticed any extra Lag in any games that was not caused by a bad host or local network issues (on my end). Then again I have never played a 360 game with dedicated servers (Killzone for example has them on the PS3) so I am not sure if it is possible (I hear MS is very strict on maintaining XBL as a closed system)

The playstation store and xbox live market place both do their job fine in terms of functionality. It is pretty easy to find what you are looking for and both have a good amount of exclusive content. PS+ does make the XBL subscription seem a bit unnecessary but If you do have friends on xbl you will appreciate the features offered by gold membership specifically cross game chat. 

As the Xbox has been hacked it does mean that some games on xbox live have been more or less ruined by hackers. Call of duty 4 suffers terribly from people who use wallhack. 

The only other differences I noticed is that people generally dont use mics in game on psn, whereas quite a good number of people do talk on Xbox (for better or worse). 
I suppose this comes down to the community and their participation in game more so than a complaint of a function that is present. 

If I was to pick my favorite service it would be steam (it offers everything a player would want along with a superb marketplace). I would pick PSN as my second favorite as I tend to stick to single player games and therefore cross game chat is unnecessary and sometimes annoying, PSN + which costs around the same as xbox live does offer some of the same services and over 200$ of free content.. Xbox live is a great service and anyone with an xbox is missing out by not being a gold member.


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## -WOLF-

I've used everything. PSN is better hands down. Or almost. The mouse and keyboard controls for PS3 are terrible and don't even work in-game. Oh the PS3 has a browser you know, it goes to a whooping four places! Half of which don't work and the rest take forever.

Other then that PS3's home menu system is better, IS FREE and is very simple to understand how to use the various accounts, profiles etc. 

Xbox 360 on the other hand has a bleh interface and although has superior customer support (Their Policy Enforcement Team is superb) the system is terrible overall. I never heard a disc drive so loud in my entire life, I literally covered that thing in sound-absorbing foam and put it in a sound-reducing box then put that box in another part of the room, I'm not joking.

Anyway other than online, the only reason I'd get a console is for exclusive games and racing/platformers. Microsoft looses here because they don't publish their own games on all of their own platforms so I'm not going to support stupidity like that.


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