XBL Pricing Revealed
- Thread starter zurich
- Start date
Well, your constant harping about kids+parents thing made me think otherwise. Now that we know the average age is much higher, i believe that the !!!50 buck is too costly!!! demographic is much smaller.
Who knows...but experts are expecting to see more growth in that area. I believe all it needs is a killer apps like Halo2 or GTALive or some killer online sports tournment to really kickstart the boom.
Once that gets underway, we know the average gamer is capable of supporting their own online expenditure. MS XBL might even have a good advantage on the network infrastructure.
Does it matter? You pay 70 for a new kit + 12months or renew your old one at 50 bucks. Simple as that imo.
Only the ones that are meant for me.
Yes, i like to see how far Sony is going after E3. If everything expect MMORPGs, remains free. Kudos to them.
MS updates and maintains the server for you, for that easy low price haasle free single source payment. Keeps the cheaters out, keep the place clean, keep you updated on things. All you need to do is to play.
Its like paying for a cheap housekeeper to do your place daily. When you get back home, everything will be nice and lovely and you can just get on with your things.
I will put my head on the line as say, major developers will have pay to play schemes for their lineup, in the near future. 8)
Yes, we will.
But it has to be made known that one major reason EA/Square are holding back on XBL, is because of MS ruling that all payment will have to go through them.
What about EQA then? I know it is a MMORPG.
Or do you mean the game that SCE had to release a newer version asap? Sucky to play a MMORPG without a built in HD ya?
No its not. It shows the trouble of not having a single source of payment for your online addiction. What if every major developers decide to charge for their big titles? Does that mean you be seeing bills from everywhere?
Again, it has to be made known that PSO is not on PS2 is because Naka felt that the lack of a coherant billing system hinders his vision. Ironic considering the GC situation, but thats what he said.
Yup. In the meantime, lets also ponders on why every parents buy their consoles blindly, ponders on MS hidden XBL bills, ponders that casuals dont do online gaming.
You are hardly any less biased.
What if Sony had built in NA on the first ever PS2 from the get go?
I find it pretty hypocritical that some people who were attacking Microsoft for "selling Xbox at a loss to undercut the others and monopolies the market" are now complaining that XBL isn't free. So, do you have a problem with MS giving stuff away to expend its market share, or it just a general policy of complaining about what MS does? Make up your mind.
-"Evil MS! They are practically giving Xbox away to monopolize the market, no fair"
-"What is MS doing? Why aren't they giving XBL away free?"
-"Evil MS! They are practically giving Xbox away to monopolize the market, no fair"
-"What is MS doing? Why aren't they giving XBL away free?"
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Sony will be changing to the MS model, so the point is moot. Poor Vince will have a heart-attack though.
Xbox Live has half the users that Sony online does, even though the Xbox consoles are outnumbered 5:1 by PS2s. Not only that, but these Xbox users have to pay a subscription to do it. It's pretty obvious what the more solid business plan is.
It's funny that despite the userbase advantage, Sony has already ceded leadership in the console marketplace. They were forced to drop price by MS last year and now they will soon be forced to follow the Xbox Live model. They still have the mindshare and momentum, but they need to be more foreward thinking if they expect to keep their lead.
Xbox Live has half the users that Sony online does, even though the Xbox consoles are outnumbered 5:1 by PS2s. Not only that, but these Xbox users have to pay a subscription to do it. It's pretty obvious what the more solid business plan is.
It's funny that despite the userbase advantage, Sony has already ceded leadership in the console marketplace. They were forced to drop price by MS last year and now they will soon be forced to follow the Xbox Live model. They still have the mindshare and momentum, but they need to be more foreward thinking if they expect to keep their lead.
Johnny, it is too early to say which model is the best....this gen is an experimental stage for both MS and SONY to test out their models...online gaming is not a big thing and will continue to be so in next few years...so Sony was justified in not investing $illions in an untested closed XB-Live like model...
Johnny Awesome said:
Oh here we go...
Amazing how a single $60 game like SOCOM alone has surpassed XBox Live! in it's entirety, composed of a plathora of game in active userbase (>300,000).1 Game > MS's entire service combined. I can't wait untill the GT4 community gets going, it alone will probobly rape anything Live! can muster this generation, all by itself. I think E3 will impact this conversation greatly.
Only you Johnny can turn a a route like MS is experiencing into some sort of victory on ANY level. Ceded leadership? Get a grip on reality, Sony is still outselling Xbox by 2:1 without bundling (as MS has been doing) or with a higher price (as in Europe and Japan).
More forward thinking? Get a clue, Kutaragi was off presenting PS as the centre of the digital livingroom before the XBox was even announced... They, wisely, chose to refrain untill PS3 - which in the grand scheme of things was amazingly wise.
Johnny Awesome said:
You mean the 'Butterfly Net' ?
I don't know much about the BFN, but I think it has much the same features as MS LIVE!, but still retains the openness.
Does anybody have more recent info on this?
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
The only reason Sony hasn't already gone the MS route is because the PS2 lacks a hard drive. The technology has forced Sony into a box. Of course, the same people that think Sony losing money keeping SOCOM going are the same people complaining that MS is losing money on Xbox.
Besides Vince, you know that in the long run if MS gets anywhere near the mindshare that Sony has (and they're half way there with new users in NA and a third of the way their in EU), that it then becomes a money battle which Sony can't hope to win.
I agree that a lot will depend on content, but keep one thing in mind: Xbox Live is compelling enough for people buy an Xbox. The same can't really be said for PS2 online. Sure, existing PS2 owners are shelling out $40 for the network adapter and playing some SOCOM, but many people bought an Xbox just for Xbox Live. That says a lot about how good the Xbox Live strategy is - it moves hardware.
Besides, I'm betting that Halo 2 will be more important than GT4. Halo 2 is a game in a genre that is begging for multiplayer online action, whereas GT series has primarily been about the single player experience. Another point to consider - unskilled Halo 2 players will still have fun playing online due to the game's team-based nature, whereas unskilled GT4 players will just get frustrated. That will go along way towards assuring that Halo 2 is the more accessible exprience.
Besides Vince, you know that in the long run if MS gets anywhere near the mindshare that Sony has (and they're half way there with new users in NA and a third of the way their in EU), that it then becomes a money battle which Sony can't hope to win.
I agree that a lot will depend on content, but keep one thing in mind: Xbox Live is compelling enough for people buy an Xbox. The same can't really be said for PS2 online. Sure, existing PS2 owners are shelling out $40 for the network adapter and playing some SOCOM, but many people bought an Xbox just for Xbox Live. That says a lot about how good the Xbox Live strategy is - it moves hardware.
Besides, I'm betting that Halo 2 will be more important than GT4. Halo 2 is a game in a genre that is begging for multiplayer online action, whereas GT series has primarily been about the single player experience. Another point to consider - unskilled Halo 2 players will still have fun playing online due to the game's team-based nature, whereas unskilled GT4 players will just get frustrated. That will go along way towards assuring that Halo 2 is the more accessible exprience.
Johnny Awesome said:
I think Sony realized thats it's wiser to wait 2 years so they can outclass MS's network solution with a pervasive cell-based solution than force the end-user to buy a NA and HDD for short-term usage and further splinter the userbase.
It's hard to imagine they couldn't have fought their way out of your so called box (eg. don't wait so long to release NA/HDD), but it wouldn't have made good buisness sence.
Again, how can anyone argue with pure conjecture? In the long-run if my own console brand can get anywhere near the mindshare of PS2...
And lets look at this: Live! and the NA launched around the same time. And even with the Sony sponcered shortages, there are over 2X the amount of NA's moved in the same time as XBox live. How is this in anyway good for MS?
It's like saying, "we're only getting outsold by 200%, and this rate of change is < the Hardware Gap - thus we're winning!" Give me a break.
HAHAH! This is unbelievable. Let me sum it up:
-PS2 Online is NOT compelling but has outsold Live!
-Live! IS compelling, but isn't outselling PS2O despite equal launch windows.
-PS2O users shelled out $100 to play "some" SOCOM, to play a game.
-Live! users bought an XBox for Live!, obviously not to play a game, just the service.
Also, I love how 300,000 people (which is only the active online userbase) who payed $100 to play 'some' SOCOM online obviously weren't as compelled to play as the Live! users who bought an XBox on blind faith of a future of good games.
Fallacies, it's whats for dinner...
Hehe, I'm saving this statement.
Definatly, since GT4 can't possibly have other unskilled players or keep a running win/loss ratio per player like every other damn game! Who would have thought to have rooms/games based on skill or win/loss? It's an astounding advance you just thought up.
I suppose the plan to have a rating system is one of those groundbreaking gameplay advances that MS put into the XBox's hardware... so thats what that nasty green blob is...
Johnney... an excersise in extreme bias. It all sounds so good in your head, didn't it? heh.
zurich said:In all fairness Vince, you're pretty freaking biased too, so don't think you're the voice of reason or something, more like the voice of counterpoint/check&balance
Believe me, I know
But I atleast think the situation threw from the opposite PoV before posting - this was a work of Neo-Goebbels art. Maybe even Baghdad-Bob quality.
Halo2....any...confirmation that it has online playchaphack said:GT4....any...confirmation that it has online play
Deepak said:
Don't take this the wrong way.. but if you're in India, maybe its just a regional/cultural thing? I mean, broadband is EVERYWHERE in Canada, all the gaming net cafes are always full (virtually 24 hrs/day).. I think its easy for people in the US, some Euro countries, etc. (who dont have widespread access to cheap broadband) to write off online gaming if they haven't been able to immerse themselves in it, big time. And to do that, you need everyone to be online, highspeed, not just the privilaged/lucky.
