Microsoft explains Xbox Live Gold price increase

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

as usual, this turns out to be another lame fanboy war over who's got the bigger ....aaarrrrgh!

COME ON, i thought we were adults !!!

1st we are talking about MS pushing the XBL subscription, i understand but don't agree with the reasons put forward, why!? ... well because i've tried both, XBL & PSN & all i can say is that i don't see anything a PSN (free) user would have to envy over an XBL 1, anyone saying so is either a fanboy or never tried the other service.

OT:

Playing MP on PC is free, just get a legal software & voila!

I love Steam

Gaming on any platform is expensive; I may buy a lot of games for less 10$ on steamy site & alike, i also pay 15$ for my fav MMO & will add 2 more someday.

When i'll build my PC, it will cost @ least 800$ with all the components i want. I pre-ordered Diablo III & waiting to download @ least 10 games off steam that doesn't run on my actual old machine.

I paid my console (PS3) 545$ 2 years ago & i can still build a decent PC (in MU) for a bit less than that, but then how will i play also God of War, Gran Turismo 5 or Demon's Souls !!? Oh & most of my games (35 to date) costs around 10 - 60$

Would have buy an Xbox (mostly for games like Alan Wake) if it was reliable right at the beginning, now it's too late, i don't have enough time to play all the games i own on PC/PS3, who knows maybe someday.

When i play, whether it be on PC or PS3, i spend hours & my electricity bills reflects it, without counting my fixed Internet bill & maybe some visit to the doctors for lack of sleep ....

No people, PC isn't more expensive than console & vice versa, GAMING is !!! & I can afford it so won't whine about it with cheap arguments.

BOT:

I'm really sorry for Xbox owners, they never had it free & it is now more expensive (even if i don't feel it's too much for the service offered).
But MS, Like SONY or any other PC game developers are 1st businesses that are here to make profit, as long as they can entertain us in the process....

to this, sorry for long post..

cheers!

 

[JudaZ]

lawfer said:

JudaZ said:

you are joking right?

$500 for an average gaming rig that will last 4-5 years ????

moke like $1500 - $2000 for an above average gaming rig that last for maybe 1 -2 years.

and you still cant play the high end games on full quaility

The amount of ignorance in this comment makes me want to puke.

Seems like you are rather ignorant .

.It all depends on where you live but here for $100 you get one 1TB hard drive ... for $300 a decent graphics card , that you need a $100 PSU to drive... what are you gonna play with a gfx card a harddrive and a PSU? ... analog pong?

 

[JMMD]

Marketing translation:
"We'd appreciate more of your money so we can give it to our executives, they're struggling as it is".

 

[JudaZ]

DjKraid said:
#JudaZ - Varifrån tar du dina delar om allt är så dyrt..? -kanske det skulle löna sig att beställa från finland?

I payed 355€ for my rig but then again I reused a old PSU, CD drive and case...and then again if you want a cheap ~decent computer you can get a case and cd drive for free if you just ask around a bit...anyway I can play for ex. Mafia II and Fallout New Vegas @ 1920x1080 and have all the settings at high and still have 38-56fps and for me that's good enough...(even if I'm soon going to buy more ram and a slightly better gpu)

Kanske det .

examples
Asus Radeon EAH5970/2DIS/2GD5 2GB - cheapest price 5 595 SEK about $848
Asus GeForce EN9800GX2 TOP/G/2DI 1GB - cheapest price 4 833 SEK about $732
EVGA GeForce GTX 480 Mini HDMI Dual-DVI 1536MB - cheapest price 3890 SEK about $589
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 285 Dual-DVI 1GB - cheapest price 3799 SEK about $575

In sweden we have taxes *lol*

...yeah but sure I'm a noob.. or maybe I'm not just looking aware of prices local to me.

by the way
Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim 250GB - cheapest price 2280 SEK about $345

I have never said that you wont get alot better graphics and resolution on a PC, but it will cost you

personally belive console gaming is a lot cheaper because you buy one conole, and you can play alomst every game... some guitar, controlelr or accessory, but you leave the hardware race of the PC world.. you buy a console , they you play... and here the games cost the same if you buy it on PC or on console, so that makes no diffrence

...sure there are superprices and discounts on steam sometimes..but Games on demand on Xbox is slowly moving towards the same solution....and possible drop in prices.

 

[viperpfl]

How many people care about the extra crap like ESPN? The Xbox is a game console, plain and simple. They are trying to turn the Xbox into a all around entertainment machine and it's not going to work. If it was a choice of watching ESPN or playing Halo, I would spend my time paying Halo.

 

[JudaZ]

viperpfl said:
How many people care about the extra crap like ESPN? The Xbox is a game console, plain and simple. They are trying to turn the Xbox into a all around entertainment machine and it's not going to work. If it was a choice of watching ESPN or playing Halo, I would spend my time paying Halo.

besides ESPN and Netflix is services only availible for America (and possibly Canada) would live ot have Netflix ... ESPN they can keep.

 

[JudaZ]

Just had to comment on the comparison people seem to do as well ... they build a decent gaming Pc , but they use an old case they had, or an old PSU and other bits and bobs...

but really .. can you build a console fron an old case you had availible? .. no you cant .. so you need to count all the parts it takes to build the gaming PC from scratch..otherwise the compaision is flawed.

...the increase in price is really nothing though .. i spend about $10 on cigaretts a day .. so i dont really care about the small increase in price ...

a night out I can easy spend $100 - 200 or more on just beer..at a cheap bar so co'mon .. who cares.

 

[Jetatt23]

The only service that I'm aware of that Xbox Live is superior in over the PS3 is the multiplayer gaming, and it depends on what you want to play. I personally prefer to play RPGs, so the multiplayer aspect of Live is null and void, making it a joke compared to the PS3s free service, which has all of the other features that Live does, if not more. Making something that was pointless to pay for in the first place more expensive is ridiculous, but at the same time that's $250million more a year for Microsoft. Follow the money...

 

[techjunkie]

Jeez my blood boils every time I see this. It's obvious they're doing this just because they can and Xbox Live is even more frustrating than the free PS3 network. Not a thing will change about it, no fixes will be made, and I'll probably end up paying for it anyway ...... goddamn capitalism

 

[crazyboy88]

TomSEA said:
Assuming you already have an old case, keyboard, mouse and monitor:

GTX460 - $170
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - $160
GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H - $85
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB - $75

There ya go - a gaming PC that will last you 4 years for $500 bucks and run any game out today at the highest settings or close to it. Not to mention upgradeable at any point. Something you can't do with a console.

Lets make things simple lets compare the price of a Xbox 360, 1 year live subscription, Black Ops, 42" HDTV, Sound System versus The Enthusiast's PC, WOW, 1 year WOW subscription

Xbox 360 250GB - $299 (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1288863639&sr=8-3)
1 year Live Subscription - $60
Black Ops - $60 (let's say you bought it ASAP)
VIZIO 42-Inch 1080p HDTV- $567 (http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-E420VO-42-Inch-1080p-Black/dp/B003VQQVDK/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1288863777&sr=8-13)
Sound System - $250 (i got lazy so this is just a figure. correct me if I estimated too far)

Total: $1176

Versus
The Enthusiast's PC - $1,828 (this is from TechSpot check their guide section)
WOW full set - $140 (WOW battle chest, Frozen Throne, Cataclysm)
1 year WOW subscription - $180

Total: $2,148

This is just a very rough breakdown of the cost. If you want to say that if PC gamers buy Black Ops they don't have to pay any subscription cost, just the cost of buying a PC that can play games at max settings is already more expensive that the total package of a console.
BTW a console is supposed to play the games at max settings.

 

[DryIce]

crazyboy88 said:

Lets make things simple lets compare the price of a Xbox 360, 1 year live subscription, Black Ops, 42" HDTV, Sound System versus The Enthusiast's PC, WOW, 1 year WOW subscription

Xbox 360 250GB - $299 (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1288863639&sr=8-3)
1 year Live Subscription - $60
Black Ops - $60 (let's say you bought it ASAP)
VIZIO 42-Inch 1080p HDTV- $567 (http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-E420VO-42-Inch-1080p-Black/dp/B003VQQVDK/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1288863777&sr=8-13)
Sound System - $250 (i got lazy so this is just a figure. correct me if I estimated too far)

Total: $1176

Versus
The Enthusiast's PC - $1,828 (this is from TechSpot check their guide section)
WOW full set - $140 (WOW battle chest, Frozen Throne, Cataclysm)
1 year WOW subscription - $180

Total: $2,148

This is just a very rough breakdown of the cost. If you want to say that if PC gamers buy Black Ops they don't have to pay any subscription cost, just the cost of buying a PC that can play games at max settings is already more expensive that the total package of a console.
BTW a console is supposed to play the games at max settings.

Personally I wouldn't pay $1828 for a computer. The last $300 to $700 doesn't usually add enough increase the performance to be worth the cost. And of course any self respecting techspot reader knows the joy of recycling older computers.

-$$$ = +

 

[hitech0101]

First the current topic Microsoft explains price rise but does this make a difference how many care that microsoft explained a raise all they care is that they have to shelve out more.

Now since i can see people fighting PC vs console which is expensive i say it depends it only depends.Some people settle for a console & others build a gaming PC but the expenses are really come down to individual how many services does he pay for or how many games he buys.The thing with consoles the average will only buy it for pure gaming purposes.My friends will laugh at me if i say i am gonna buy a console their immediate reply is like why buy new console just buy a nvidia card.The kind of myth they have is consoles in only for pure gaming.the current versions of consoles here justifies it.When you have a gaming PC you gonna use it for a lot more than games & not just games.PC gaming is cheap if people settle for the minimum requirements the games have.I have seen people beg for games from friends just because they just won't pay for it.They want everything free & cheap & when its free they don't care if the game has a less fps.Besides here very few own a console they only for the rich guys.Imagine asking your dad i want a 'gaming console' or the other way I want a PC for educational purpose but in a bit more of cash for a graphics card just to improve video performance.hence the answer is PC.But there are drawbacks a lot of them, many tittles never reach the PC or a lot later than their console counterparts.Some Games are played better on console while a few are better on PC.So the expenses really come down to the user but i still feel the console is expensive to a guy like me because I am not a hardcore gamer I can settle for lower graphics.

 

[crazyboy88]

DryIce said:

Personally I wouldn't pay $1828 for a computer. The last $300 to $700 doesn't usually add enough increase the performance to be worth the cost. And of course any self respecting techspot reader knows the joy of recycling older computers.

-$$$ = +

yes but we are comparing a new set of console vs a new set of pc. It's very hard to compare console vs pc if you are going to use 2nd hand parts since price is irregular and you still have to cost in service problems from old units.

 

[xcelofjkl]

I will never concede PC gaming as more expensive than Console gaming. At the same price point, eventually PC's will deliver the same performance and experience as console gaming and eventually exceed it due to the PC offering more capabilities than just gaming.

But since console gaming is more expensive and is in very high demand, Microsoft is taking it by storm in order to milk it. Good job. Lol

 

[MrAnderson]

I would not call it greed. I'm sure it takes a lot of resources to keep a network like theirs up and running. Also, the exclusives they are paying for don't pay themselves.

I just wish we had more choice. Some of us don't care about the exclusives and don't want to pay for them. If I could pay a smaller fee to play multiplayer (which the idea of sucks) I would be happy. The settop box aspect, just charge 99 cents for the app. And charge for add ons like the watch with your friends etc. Why do I need a monthly fee for something I payfor already. Oh excuse me, you are giving me the ability to stream it to my systems which I paid in full, pay my Internet bill, pay my Netflix, and MS still wants a cut and continued one at that... ESPN bah! I doubt I'll ever use it, or the other services I don't know even exists that adds 10 bucks more.

I'm not complain because I cannot aford it, I'm complaining because it is not necessary for me, and there is no flexability for people that do not play as much or use all the services that are tacked on. I want teired services.