Deus Ex Dolphin
Pro Bowler
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2004
- Messages
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calmlikeabomb said:You're right. I haven't.
So tell me, what makes XBox Live so much better than PS2 online that it is worth paying $50 a year for when PS2 online is free?
Because I say so? :D
Not good enough? Okay, you know that expression about "you get what you pay for"? Not always true, but as a general rule it is accurate.
With Xbox Live you get a Gamertag, unique to you, that with your Friends List allows you to know which of your friends is online, what game they are playing, and you can invite them into another game or join them. You can voice message them as part of your invite. Say you play a great game of online football and want to play the guy again, you send an invite and they can accept it and be on your list. It is very easy to meet up online and play. This applies to EVERY Live game on the Xbox. Not just say, the EA sports games.
There are other featurest Microsoft is adding all the time. Right now you can jump on your Xbox and just go to Chat and talk away to your friends. Later you will be able to buy an optional camera to allow video chat (I've got mixed feelings about that :D )
Everyone on Xbox Live is broadband only. This cuts the laggy games down to a minimum. Remember you can talk back and forth too. I played a lot on the old Dreamcast on a 56K modem, and it worked well at times, and other times it was unplayable due to lag. Lost connections are rare on the Xbox too.
Then there are the extra game levels, updated rosters, new vehicles, and yes, even patches that Xbox Live provides. The Xbox hard drive makes all that possible. Most of it is free, some costs about $5 if you want it. Downloads give new life to older games, and keep the sports rosters accurate.
Cheaters and cheezers got you down? You can avoid those punks by reporting back on every guy you play against. A few people have been banned for racial slurs and other things like that. No one can ruin a game and not get negative feedback on their Gamertag. This always catches up to the guy. The only way they can do it again is to buy another year of Xbox Live and cheeze away again, but that gets pretty expensive. Again, if a game has some glitch, the developer can usually patch it to correct it.
For the money, which comes out to less than $6/month even if you are buying the starter kit and barely more than $4/month if you just renew your Gamertag, it is well worth it. Xbox Live has hit 1 million subscribers and growing everyday. Buy an Xbox Live game, and most come with a coupon for two FREE months of Xbox Live. So you can get 14 months of Xbox Live for the price of 12.
Now, EA supporting Live is HUGE. EA put a lot of money and effort into their own servers and online service (especially on the PS2) but seeing how Xbox Live has taken off, they bowed to consumer pressure. I would probably have bought Madden last year, if it had been playable on Live. I will get ESPN 2K5 for sure, and maybe Madden after the price drops to $30 or so.
Whether a game is playable online is usually a big factor in my buying it or not. Online play adds a lot of replay value to most games. Certainly in the sports games, where there is no substitute for a human opponent. Every system needs online play. You listening Nintendo?
Oh, just for the record, if you have to buy the PS2 modem/Ethernet adaptor, which is $40? That alone pays for most of your Xbox Live service. The Xbox comes with everything you need, not to mention a hard drive, right out of the box. The PS2 HD will cost you about $90? Add in the cost of memory cards versus the Xbox HD and you are saving another $15 or more?
Xbox + Xbox Live is cheaper than PS2 + HD + Network Adaptor + memory card.