Annual Xbox Live 360 Subs Still Just $49.99

[lowlevel]

According to this Gaming Age story (http://gaming-age.com/news/2005/9/8-16), Xbox Live 360 Gold annual subscriptions will still be the usual $49.99 annual rate that Live subscribers have always paid. This should silence the grumbles that recently surfaced when early Live retail packaging shots seemed to indicate a $59.99 pricepoint.

I'm happy to see that there won't be an increase in the yearly subscription rate after all.

[Justin_McElroy]

I'd pay an extra $10 for a pass to the special "Over 12" Xbox Live I wish they'd invent.

[joruussuun]

The $59.99 discovered earlier was canadian. 1UP has the story (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3143537).

[Heretic Machine]

Ya, I'm glad it hasn't increased too, since it's a friggin scam and all.

[bapenguin]

And there was much rejoicing.

[dragonstomp]

I was curious to know if the old xbox live kits will work on the 360. I have had a live kit laying around (since wow came out actually). I don't want to activate it on my xbox to have it not work with 360.

[Twigz'N'Berries]

It will. You info is transported over to the 360.

[Phades]

Ya, I'm glad it hasn't increased too, since it's a friggin scam and all.

I suppose you think all online services that aren't free are scams huh? I love Xbox Live, worth every cent.

[netcraazzy]

I suppose you think all online services that aren't free are scams huh? I love Xbox Live, worth every cent.

I sometimes question if it really is worth the $50 since they are not hosting the servers or anything. But, it IS the best thing going for online console gaming so I pay for it.

[Kelegacy]

Hopefully Nintendo makes a fucking incredible service to compete with Live. Hell, I hope Sony makes a good service.

Can you still play games online via the free Silver package? What is the difference between owning the gold and silver?

[netcraazzy]

Hopefully Nintendo makes a fucking incredible service to compete with Live. Hell, I hope Sony makes a good service.

Can you still play games online via the free Silver package? What is the difference between owning the gold and silver?

As far as I know you need the gold package to play online. The silver package gives you access to the online store and I think gamer profiles, text messaging and a few other things.

[Heretic Machine]

I suppose you think all online services that aren't free are scams huh? I love Xbox Live, worth every cent.

When you host the games on your own damn connection, with your own damn equipment... Yes, yes they are. A matchmaking service does -not- justify a $50 a year price tag. Would you pay that much for Gamespy? Because that's what you're getting.

[Dirty Harry]

When you host the games on your own damn connection, with your own damn equipment... Yes, yes they are. A matchmaking service does -not- justify a $50 a year price tag. Would you pay that much for Gamespy? Because that's what you're getting.
maybe for a one time life time fee, too bad MS didnt buy up IGN and fileplanet. I can see a good bundle like xbox live gold and an fileplanet subcription.

[endrom]

Sony should get a simluar service, heck maybe microsoft should create a multi console online service, just call systemLIVE, or LinkLIVE or something.

[Adam Blue]

Would you pay that much for Gamespy? Because that's what you're getting.

HAHAHAHA. I'm getting Gamespy?!?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHA! Man, you know there's a difference. Seriously.

[Dragos]

When you host the games on your own damn connection, with your own damn equipment... Yes, yes they are. A matchmaking service does -not- justify a $50 a year price tag. Would you pay that much for Gamespy? Because that's what you're getting.

Yeah, matchmaking wouldn't be worth $50 a year... But what Live actually does is worth it by FAR, but since you obviously have more interest in making angry tirades I wouldn't expect you to take the 5 minutes to look it up.

[Heretic Machine]

Yeah, matchmaking wouldn't be worth $50 a year... But what Live actually does is worth it by FAR, but since you obviously have more interest in making angry tirades I wouldn't expect you to take the 5 minutes to look it up.

I've had Live, fucktard. If you knew anything about me at all, it'd be that I'm a huge XBOX supporter. Live is -not- a good deal. All it does is perform a matchmaking service and occassionally keep track of stats. On the 360 it's just going to expand upon the stat keeping, that's the only significant new feature. This is Gamespy kids, it's not worth $50, it's not woth $30, it's not even worth $20.

[Wonka]

Did Gamespy force all the supported PC games to patch in a convenient way, run out of the box, have a common set of desirable features, and then implement voice support? Do Gamespy games always run on a standard PC that costs a few hundred bucks to purchase and can be simply used without installing any software?

Because that's what my Xbox does. And that's great, because it means that my friends who now live far away and cannot afford expensive PCs can get together and play games with me online once a week. And thats worth more that $50 a year to me. But please don't tell MS this...

[bapenguin]

When you host the games on your own damn connection, with your own damn equipment... Yes, yes they are. A matchmaking service does -not- justify a $50 a year price tag. Would you pay that much for Gamespy? Because that's what you're getting.

What about the global friends list, voice mail, inter-game invites, daily contests, and free downloads?

[Zeal]

What about the global friends list, voice mail, inter-game invites, daily contests, and free downloads?

Which all should be offered for free. There's no way around it, Live is nothing more than a Gamespy-like matching service. It does not host players.

As for the pricetag, I'm glad to see it is only $50 a year, which is a good price (actually, it's not, considering you're paying Microsoft just to connect you to other players. It might as well be a royalty fee). Oh, and the reason they can offer Live for only $50 a year? NO DEDICATED SERVERS.

Lets hope this changes with 360, but don't bet on it. The best thing they could do is allow the option for users to host their own dedicated servers through Live.

What upsets me is that Microsoft takes credit for creating the world's first broadband-only gaming network, which is technically untrue. In order to claim such, your servers would have to host every single user. The only reason it's broadband-only is because the users are broadband-only.

[Paltry]

I for one am OUTRAGED that the price was not raised by 10 dollars

[Liquidize105]

I've had Live, fucktard. If you knew anything about me at all, it'd be that I'm a huge XBOX supporter. Live is -not- a good deal. All it does is perform a matchmaking service and occassionally keep track of stats. On the 360 it's just going to expand upon the stat keeping, that's the only significant new feature. This is Gamespy kids, it's not worth $50, it's not woth $30, it's not even worth $20.
Simmer down, hot shot.

MS must've done a lot of research to find the acceptable price point. On one hand, it's a MS first, of course they'd charge for it, plus you have to appear respectable by charging a price that's not too low. Understandably it's not providing the service equivalent of a Franklin, but enterprise is not about logic - it's about money.

[Liquidize105]

I for one am OUTRAGED that the price was not raised by 10 dollars
Give it to the homeless.

Yeah, not so "outraged" anymore are ya? :D