Xbox Live Price Hike

I still find it incredible that microsoft, one of the worlds richest corporations, has to charge for a fecking peer to peer service!
Something which much smaller companies gladly give away.
 
LOL, Jvd! A very astute observation, and so true too...

I didn't think they'd do this, I know people SAID they'd do this, and other people who liked the Box more than the aforementioned people said the aforementioned people were nothing but a bunch of fanbois pi**ing on the Box. I didn't know what to believe really, on one hand they sunk an ENORMOUS amount of money into the Live infrastructure ($1.4bn? Some rediculous figure anyway), but on the other hand it didn't make much sense I thought. It would be like a bait and switch in disguise and I didn't think MS would actually do that to their customers.

Well, they did. I probably shouldn't be surprised, but I am.
 
Guys, What's the problem???? Your still willing to pay for the service and there is no reduction in it's quality right?
 
I don't understand the problem here?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/about/subscription-offers.htm

From what I can tell, you can either choose an Annual Subscription, (renews automatically at annual rate) or a monthly subscription. It looks like you can also choose a "12 month subscription", which has the initial annual rate, renewed at the monthly rate.

It's called having a choice. Don't want to be locked into a year subscription? Then go monthly and pay a higher monthly rate.
 
notAFanB said:
Guys, What's the problem???? Your still willing to pay for the service and there is no reduction in it's quality right?

What quality? your paying for Peer to Peer, MS does nothing more than Matchmake you with other players.. I dont get why they charge in the first place, much less why they need to ask for more money...
 
LisaJoy said:
notAFanB said:
Guys, What's the problem???? Your still willing to pay for the service and there is no reduction in it's quality right?

What quality? your paying for Peer to Peer, MS does nothing more than Matchmake you with other players.. I dont get why they charge in the first place, much less why they need to ask for more money...

because it works, little issues and brings an simple straightforwartd online platform into the home with minimal fuss?
 
Yes, but how much is it reasonable to charge for something like that? Just like how much should an OS cost? Well that´s purely up to ms to decide :devilish:

And it's not like it works flawlessly. There have been plenty of issues with cheating, and users that suddenly couldn’t logon for some reason.
So what are live-customers really paying for, if they get roughly the same or less benefits than PC or PS2 online gamers?
 
Yes, but how much is it reasonable to charge for something like that? Just like how much should an OS cost? Well that´s that’s purely up to ms to decide

Use Linux if you feel so strongly about it (for desktop users this is actually an alternative imo).


There have been plenty of issues with cheating, and users that suddenly couldn’t lock on for some reason.
So what are live-customers really paying for, if they get roughly the same or less benefits than PC or PS2 online gamers?

an platform which is cooersive for online games. and a lot less f the problems which plague PC space a little too much
 
Squeak said:
Yes, but how much is it reasonable to charge for something like that? Just like how much should an OS cost? Well that´s that’s purely up to ms to decide :devilish:

Actually, it's reasonable for MS to charge whatever "enough" people are willing to pay. The only thing MS really decides is "how many people are enough."
 
notAFanB said:
Yes, but how much is it reasonable to charge for something like that? Just like how much should an OS cost? Well that´s that’s purely up to ms to decide

Use Linux if you feel so strongly about it (for desktop users this is actually an alternative imo).


There have been plenty of issues with cheating, and users that suddenly couldn’t lock on for some reason.
So what are live-customers really paying for, if they get roughly the same or less benefits than PC or PS2 online gamers?

an platform which is cooersive for online games. and a lot less f the problems which plague PC space a little too much

Actually, it has more problems.

PC- we can get about 50-64 players in a game, and no lag...
Xbox- you get about 8-10, and your lagging

PC- we get a constant barrage of fresh content, and the ability to make our own
Xbox- you get very little, and when you do, they usually charge you a fee for it(Mech Assault anyone?)

PC has no problems, with All seeing Eye, you have the buddy lists, you can find games quickly and painlessly(with more filtering options than XBL), most servers offer voicechat painlessly. So why again are they paying more?
 
LisaJoy said:
So why again are they paying more?

Test:

Ask your mom, on her own, to buy, set-up, and configure a PC (and then the individual games) so that it's rigged for internet play.

Then ask her to do the same with X-Box.

Which one is

1) Easier
2) Cheaper up-front costs

You have your answer.

The PC is obviously a better choice for hard-core internet gaming in terms of flexibility. It also has a completely different business model.
 
PC- we get a constant barrage of fresh content, and the ability to make our own
Xbox- you get very little, and when you do, they usually charge you a fee for it(Mech Assault anyone?)

I think you are confusing elitism with as good product.

Joe:

Ask your mom, on her own, to buy, set-up, and configure a PC (and then the individual games) so that it's rigged for internet play.

You pretty much caught my line of thought here, the above also captures 'gimmicks' like Eyetoy to an extent.
 
Guys, What's the problem???? Your still willing to pay for the service and there is no reduction in it's quality right?

The price is going up by 50%, do you expect people to be happy about that or something? People are always annoyed by sudden massive price hikes, especially when it comes totally out of the blue. I know I'd be annoyed if my Sky TV bill suddenly went up by 50%.

Aside from that this smells of MS trying to hook as many people as possible and then milk them as much as possible. Its perfectly legal obviously, but that doesn't mean people can't be pissed at MS for doing it.
 
Teasy said:
Its perfectly legal obviously, but that doesn't mean people can't be pissed at MS for doing it.

But of course...no one is "thankful" to MS for taking (IIRC) the largest loss per console sold...right?

It doesn't actually matter if people are pissed off or not. What matters is will enough people not be so pissed off that they won't pay for it.
 
But of course...no one is "thankful" to MS for taking (IIRC) the largest loss per console sold...right?

It doesn't actually matter if people are pissed off or not. What matters is will enough people not be so pissed off that they won't pay for it.

Just creep it up slowly, people don't noticed that way.
 
I really don't see what hte big fuss is over here. You have the same basic options in america... Btw, thanks for filling in for me Joe :D
 
For me, the PC offers what the Xbox does and more and the only fees I have to pay are from the developer (as it should be IMO).

That said, I don't see a company offering a service for a price to be some kind of immoral act. Hello, these people are in business. Obviously, there is a market for Xbox live. If people are willing to pay for it, where's the beef?

The notion that MS charges too much for thier os is silly IMO aswell. I spend 50 bucks on games I may play as little as 8 hours (see prince of persia), yet somehow, software I use every day for hours on end, both at home and work, isn't of value. Most of the people that complain buy prebuilt machines with windows already on them for like $399 from dell anyway.
 
Er... how is that a 50% price hike...?

It was £40 a year when you first signed up, and it's £40 a year to renew...

Or if you fancy being cunning, you can get a new starter pack from amazon for the bargain price of £30, and use the subscription code contained in that to renew, saving yourself £10, and getting another headset as a nice little bonus.

To put it bluntly, The Inquirer are spouting shite again.
 
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