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Continue to "Pay-to-Play" or "Free for All?"
By Loonknight 08-05-2009 04:55 AM
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1053 views |
 When Xbox Live started back on the original Xbox in 2002, I was intrigued by the idea and since I already played a few games online I understood the pay-to-play model, in fact it seemed common with a few PC titles at the time. All I knew was that with dial-up I'll not be able to use Xbox Live anytime soon. It was shortly after that we were able to get broadband at the house for a decent price, and things were good for a while. Xbox live did well, generated a bunch of needed income to help boost up the infrastructure of Xbox Live and everyone was happy to pay for a service that they just could not get anywhere else and play with their friends online. Then this generation of consoles blasted onto the scene, and I'm having a bit of trouble when the other consoles give you a free service and I'm presented again with this pay-to-play model. Sure you can argue that they are not the same, and you would be right, they are different systems and they are supposed to be different afterall. What troubles me is that they all allow you to play games online with friends(some much harder than others but the option is there) but they don't all require you to pay-to-play which has me pausing to think once more... Yes, I understand that some of my peers and fellow gamers believe they are getting more with Xbox Live and believe that it is worth the money, but when do we say enough is enough as a community? With the increased costs of Xbox Live titles, and the new ads that Microsoft will have happily added to my dashboard to generate even more revenue for them while still charging a fee to the users is really starting to bother me. Now don't get me wrong, the PSN is also guilty for increasing their prices as well for some games(I'm looking at you FF7 and Resident Evil), as well as adding ads to their games and in Home(I really never go there although it is getting better from what I have been seeing) I'm not sure about the Wii since the last game I downloaded on that was Punch-out. The point being is that I don't mind the increase costs in the games on the PSN or Wii really because 1) I'm a cheap bastard and get the points discounted or free (Thanks Sony Rewards Program) and 2) the online is free if I want to use it. I suppose if #2 was a constant across all consoles I wouldn't have a problem at all. So it all boils down to being either I'm just too damn cheap really when it comes down to it, and just do not want to pay for something that was a last gen idea that has become such an accepted part of the gaming community. Or that I am missing the point and for some reason I should be quite happy with this pay-to-play model and should continue to throw my money at the Gold Membership service that Xbox Live provides and should be jumping for joy at the service it provides for the money. With that being said, for those of you who took the time to read this mess of jumbled thoughts I thank you and I'd value your thoughts on the matter. |
 Comments (Total Comments: 12) |
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tenchi
- 08-05-2009, 08:26 AM
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i've heard a lot of people say tell me about how much better x-box live is compared to PSN but honestly, I don't think it justifies the cost of the gold membership. Like you, I'm a cheapassgamer, no way would I pay for something that I can get elsewhere for free. People are still complaining about the price of the ps3, yet if they add up all the money they paid for x-box live, they've paid far more than the going price for a ps3.
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MSUHitman
- 08-05-2009, 08:58 AM
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Thing is with the PSN the costs of the service are passed onto the developers. The developers/publishers have to pay for all the bandwith their content uses. Another reason why so many downloadable games are either exclusive to XBox or don't release on PSN until a year later.
Also look at Sony's online only games and how they've faired. They've all been glitched and either got fixed within the first month (Warhawk), needed multiple fixes over several months that killed its community (SOCOM), or fate unknown (Fat Princess.) I have both systems and love XBox Live as I have a full friends list on there while I have about 30 friends, a few of them doubles from the XBox, on PSN. It's much easier to get friends on the XBox as people actually talk on there, also there's a universal way to mute people who are jerks on Live while that option is still not available on PSN (it's done by game.) Also the XBox community on CAG is fairly robust. You have the RagTag's that go across all games but really start and end with CoD, n8rocker, matt young, seanAMI and the rest of the sport game CAG's on 360, and you also have wubb and hotshotx with the CAG Halo community. Ever since themanaknight went into self-imposed exile the PS3 CAG community has been nothing but crickets as it's harder to get into games with CAG's as everything on the PSN hosting wise is dependent on the hosts connection and unless you have top tier cable or FIOS, you can only host games of like 6 people for a lot of the top Playstation games online. |
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smiggity
- 08-05-2009, 12:24 PM
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Pay for Play is the biggest crock of shit to ever happen to video games. So we pay full price for a game, but cant use all its features without forking over another $50 bucks a year? Thats bullshit and as an educated consumer something I will never ever do. 3 reasons I have a PS3- Metal Gear, Socom and free online
@MSUHitman I take exception with a few points you incorrectly made. Every game I play on PS3 people have mics. Not every person but some. ManaKnight organized shit but thats it. The CAG community is still strong as ever, we still have ~20 people coming to Socom nights twice a week and other CAGs play the lesser shooters together. And for the "killed" Socom community, another asnine statement considering it puts up more numbers than all of Sonys pet projects. Hosting games you have no idea what you are saying dude. I have mediocre cable internet and can host 22 in Fat Princess and like 24 in Warhawk. You should not talk about stuff that you obviously have very little experience in. But hey, I guess thats what they do on podcasts |
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Monsta Mack
- 08-05-2009, 12:58 PM
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I don't care about mics, but what PSN really needs is Demos. Other then that they do a decent job for something that is free.
That and must of the games I want are on the 360 so the choice for me is clear I'd say if your getting a 360 get Live and hop on to the deals for $30 a year. Thanks to CAG I've never paid more then $34 a year for Live. I just hope in the future MS lowers the price of Live. |
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ackbar7
- 08-05-2009, 01:00 PM
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I have never understood those who defend Xbox Live (granted I have had neither Xbox console). Even if PSN is worse if it is remotely comparable (meaning you can play your games on it) it almost has to be a better choice because it is free. Sure if the only option was the Wiis online capabilities maybe I could see paying (I hate the friend code BS), but PSN v Xbox Live has always seemed like a no brainer.
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metaly
- 08-05-2009, 01:43 PM
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The CAG PS3 community is too busy partying up in Red Faction seven nights a week to post in the forums.
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cloudmd23
- 08-05-2009, 02:00 PM
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As an owner of all three consoles, I will say that the Xbox Live service is the best thus far (at least in my opinion). Whether or not it justifies the price tag is debatable. I guess for me, even though the Wii and PS3 online services are free, I don't have friends and coworkers that go online with those systems so it's irrelevant to me.
However, I do feel that Microsoft should drop the monthly/annual fee altogether. As much as I feel their service is better, it isn't that much better to justify $8 a month or $50 a year. Not to mention it is a pain in the ass to cancel. There is no option either on the console or on their website to cancel the service, you have to call their hotline. |
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PhrostByte
- 08-05-2009, 02:04 PM
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PSN doesn't even have demos? LOL!
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Blackout
- 08-05-2009, 02:53 PM
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The talking points people make about PSN are really outdated. XBL does not justify $20, 30, 50 or however much you pay for it. Pre 2.5 PS3 firmware it would be worth it, but not now. When I play on XBL, not every single person uses a headset. Everyone who is in love with XBL makes it sound like everyone is talking and having great team work and all that. That's all a bunch of bullshit. People on PSN always have headsets.
The PS3 CAG community always has games going on so I'm not sure where the 'crickets" comment comes into play. Most of the PS3 forum is filled with CAG game night threads. The thing I wish PSN had was the group invites and party systen/voice chat. |
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letsgetacid
- 08-05-2009, 03:42 PM
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It really boils down to how much you value playing games online. XBL is still the better service. Until PSN AT LEAST meets it in terms of flexibility, functionality, and services, this debate will come to a logical stalemate.
If all you do is play COD4 online, then you'll get a pretty equivalent experience. XBL is more than that, so if you don't want any additional features, you would logically complain it's not worth it. Bottom line: It's good to have competition and options. I'm glad PSN is free, because it puts pressure on MS to either drop Gold prices, or be more competitive with other pricing. I think it's one of the big reasons we've been seeing more incentives to be a Gold member: DLC sales (as in price cuts) being the most prominent. |
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blissskr
- 08-06-2009, 01:52 AM
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What the heck are you talking about no demos on Psn theres all kinds of demos you can download. And lets not forget that the Psn is being revamped August 18th. Nothing against Live its a nice service my brothers got a 360 in his room, I just dont see having to pay to play games online.
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Loonknight
- 08-06-2009, 04:42 AM
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@Everyone
First off thanks for your comments, most of you have contributed a great deal to my madness. From what I read, I believe that letsgetacid has the right idea when it comes to the future and with the competition it will eventually breed more opportunities to improve our online gaming experiences across all of our consoles. |
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