How much longer can Xbox Live charge consumers?

[Raptor]

From joystiq.com:

As Xbox ... Live for Windows starts to bubble up as a topic of conversation, we begin to recognize the absurdity of paying for Xbox Live. Live for Windows will charge the same fees as Xbox Live, but since when did we ever have to pay for easy-to-use matchmaking service on a PC?

Australian site Screen Play asks the same question, "Microsoft has realized that most PC owners certainly won't pay for features they have become accustomed to getting for free, even with the sweeteners of a single Gamertag, Gamerscore and common Friends list. But they are still asking PC owners to pay $80 (Australian) a year just for cross-platform play and match-matching, surely the height of optimism."

Full Story: joystiq.com | theage.com.au

[DB]

Two words sum this up "greedy bastards"

Its shocking that they think they can charge for a service people have always had for free

[BOYYAKKA]

I AGREE---shocking--but i can,t live without my live--sad yes but live rules

[{{909}}]

its hardly comparable to "free" pc online services, many PC games operate through monthy fees per game and dont offer anything close to the service MS do with online gaming, the marketplace, xbox arcade and so on. All done very simply with a single yearly payment. Its not like its free for MS to run the servers for literally millions of players. Its £40 per year isnt it? less than £1 per week. WoW is £9 a month alone.

[Latic]

its worth every penny as well.

Much much better online experience than i've ever had before for online gaming.

[drunkn_munky]

I'd pay twice as much if I had to. Xbox Live is not comparable with the free crap.

[BBK]

I'm still on my first month free with the 360 Premium, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist for me to see after day 1 how the Live subscription is going to be great value for money. The PS3 may offer free (for now), but then, Virtua Tennis 3 comes out this week and the PS3 version has no online features at all, and the 360 version is chock full of them. Which version would you rather play? PC gamers - quite frankly, I don't give a shit about them, don't give a shit about playing online against them. They are a different - and weird - breed IMO.

[DB]

I think you are all missing the point of the article, nobody is disputing the amazing value for money on xbox live!!! Everyone agrees with that?

Its the fact that they want to start charging for it on the PC !!!

[B.I.G.]

It'd be a good idea if your subscription to live on your 360 carried over onto your pc but to charge 2 separate amounts for the 2 is taking it a bit far...The least they could do would be to offer you your pc subscription for an extra fiver on top of the £40 you've paid for your 360 subscription even then i can't really see the benefits it offers.

[lithho]

i think if you already have a live account then you dont need to buy live subs again, it does carry accross to your pc

[B.I.G.]

i think if you already have a live account then you dont need to buy live subs again, it does carry accross to your pc

Good..then i don't care.

[DB]

If thats the case jobs a good un !!!

[drunkn_munky]

I think you are all missing the point of the article, nobody is disputing the amazing value for money on xbox live!!! Everyone agrees with that?

Its the fact that they want to start charging for it on the PC !!!

But you're not just paying for the use of games online, you're paying for the service, the inter usability and... the life style

[rIKmAN]

If the sub carroes over both formats then thats the way it should be.
I can`t see anybody, apart from those that don`t have a 360 paying for the service, but then maybe that`s the market they are goin for.

Live is ace

[Latic]

Also after reading it you've all missed a massive point.

Apart from the fact that if you have an xbox live subscription you can use it on Windows Live Gaming, but also PC to PC gaming can be done using the free Silver Profile. The Gold will simply allow people to play PC vs Xbox and also have a few better features like Optimatch etc.

[DB]

Also after reading it you've all missed a massive point.

PC vs Xbox

Is that possible ?? if so wooohoooo

[drunkn_munky]

Is that possible ?? if so wooohoooo

Or booohooo if you agree that mice are superior to controllers. Also there may be the possibilities of cheating.

Latic, if that's the case then that's awesome and well worth the money.

[evilsatan]

I can't remember where but I heard it would be PC v Xbox compatability eventually, not sure if this makes it better or not though... Already are sufficient (if not excessive) amounts of players online so no pro there, and as said opens games up to more exploits.

[drunkn_munky]

Yeah but generally speaking the quality of gamers will go up, since PC gamers tend to be more 'hardcode'. Not to mention you can play friends who are PC gamers.

[rIKmAN]

That will give PC gamers a massive advantage over 360 players though due to the control method (pad V mouse/kb).
Haven`t M$ already blocked the use of that gizmo that allowed you to use a mouse/kb on the 360?
Probably gonna be an "official" version which isn`t blocked...more money for M$ yet again!

There`s also the possibility of cheating - they are gonna have to police it and make it pretty much impossible to hack - which in itself is impossible - so I don`t know how that`s gonna work.

Interesting times ahead...