XBox Live Memberships

[Joe DeFuria]

OK, so I had just enough time the other night to plug in the 360, set up a few accounts, and played all of about 3 minutes of Halo 3 to make sure things were working right...I won't really be able to touch it again until X-Mas. Somebody please clue me in on the general nature of how the accounts / gamer tags work.

* I set up 4 accounts so far: 3 local ones (wife and 2 kids) and one with X-Box Live Gold membership. (Mine.)

The most basic question: do I need to pay for and have a separate Gold membership for each ID that may want to game on-line?

 

[AlNom]

That is correct. Gold membership is tied to the ID, not the console.

 

[valioso]

Yes, but some games allow for "guests" online

 

[Joe DeFuria]

OK...that's what I thought...but I wanted to make sure.

 

[AlNom]

Yes, but some games allow for "guests" online

To clarify, the account with gold membership must be signed in, and other people who want to play as well (split-screen) will have to sign in as a guest instead of the individual account that you've created. As a guest, none of the profile perks are tracked.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

To clarify, the account with gold membership must be signed in, and other people who want to play as well (split-screen) will have to sign in as a guest instead of the individual account that you've created. As a guest, none of the profile perks are tracked.

OK...I do assume though, that if (for example) two people are playing split-screen on the same physical machine, they can both be signed in to separate individual live accounts and thus have all the stats tracked.

 

[AlNom]

Yup. The guest option is really there for people who only have one gold account on the machine and they want to play online.

 

[PARANOiA]

I have an XBL Gold question which hopefully sits nicely in this thread.

My 12-month Membership card is expiring very shortly, and bumping me on to monthly credit card payments. Can I buy another 12 month card and apply it to my account? These cards are cheaper than the credit card option, plus I get a headset, which I can hopefully sell for a few bucks.

 

[AlNom]

Yup, just input the new code from the card.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I have an XBL Gold question which hopefully sits nicely in this thread.

My 12-month Membership card is expiring very shortly, and bumping me on to monthly credit card payments. Can I buy another 12 month card and apply it to my account? These cards are cheaper than the credit card option, plus I get a headset, which I can hopefully sell for a few bucks.

That should work yes. Can't you buy a live card without a headset where you are?

 

[PARANOiA]

Yup, just input the new code from the card.

That should work yes. Can't you buy a live card without a headset where you are?

Thanks, will pick one up shortly. Not sure why I thought the 12-month cards were for new accounts only. I haven't noticed 12-month cards without headsets, but I'll have a look.

 

[AlNom]

Thanks, will pick one up shortly. Not sure why I thought the 12-month cards were for new accounts only. I haven't noticed 12-month cards without headsets, but I'll have a look.

I think there are some cards that are actually "12+1" too, but I can't recall if they were stand-alone cards or part of a starter kit. But yeah, kinda odd that they would charge more for online renewal versus the card renewal.

 

[AzBat]

that's awesome

Yeah, I bout fell out of my chair laughing.

Joe, if you set up a new free Silver account I think they still give you 1 free month of Gold service. Might be worth it for you since you amd your family have never had a 360. It gets your feet wet with online play and it might at least convince your wife about getting her a Gold account.

Tommy McClain

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Yeah, once I get a better feel for how Live works (the kinds of content, Parental controls, etc.) I'll likely be setting up Silver accounts for the kids and the wife.

I'm sure in the next year or two my son will be asking about Gold...but my wife probably doesn't need it.

 

[AzBat]

Yeah, once I get a better feel for how Live works (the kinds of content, Parental controls, etc.) I'll likely be setting up Silver accounts for the kids and the wife.

I'm sure in the next year or two my son will be asking about Gold...but my wife probably doesn't need it.

Check out Dig's parent's 360 thread for my suggestion of games for the family. I highly suggest the OXM magazine/disk subscription for your boy. Might be enough to satisfy him so you don't have to buy full version games. That's how I did it.

Tommy McClain

 

[AlphaWolf]

Check out Dig's parent's 360 thread for my suggestion of games for the family. I highly suggest the OXM magazine/disk subscription for your boy. Might be enough to satisfy him so you don't have to buy full version games. That's how I did it.

Tommy McClain

Actually that was Joshua's thread.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Actually that was Joshua's thread.

Thanks for the link.

I'm still waking up after the shock of the released DNF teaser video...

 

[Rangers]

I have an XBL Gold question which hopefully sits nicely in this thread.

My 12-month Membership card is expiring very shortly, and bumping me on to monthly credit card payments. Can I buy another 12 month card and apply it to my account? These cards are cheaper than the credit card option, plus I get a headset, which I can hopefully sell for a few bucks.

Why not just use CC to buy a new years subscription?

 

[Tap In]

Yeah, once I get a better feel for how Live works (the kinds of content, Parental controls, etc.) I'll likely be setting up Silver accounts for the kids and the wife.

I'm sure in the next year or two my son will be asking about Gold...but my wife probably doesn't need it.

check out the new Family Timer option.... has potential to bring balance to the game play time of the kids (if that ever poses a problem as it does in some houses).

Of course, I'm usually the one who can't turn the damned CoD4 multiplayer off.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

check out the new Family Timer option.... has potential to bring balance to the game play time of the kids (if that ever poses a problem as it does in some houses).

Of course, I'm usually the one who can't turn the damned CoD4 multiplayer off.

I was just going to say...it's not going to be the kids that need the timer.

I've got Gears, Halo3, BioShock, Viva Pinata, Assassin's Creed, Forza...a few games I need to "catch up" on.