Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? (Live Gold subs figures P2)

In terms of being the best online service for consoles.
I dont know what PSN is like but I know that its behind Live in a few different areas.

I'll list what for me makes Live so intuitive and flawless to use since the NXE which in itself showed what Live can do.

- Friends Lists.
Up to 100 friends can be on your list and also up to 50 of players you recently played with and you know what they are playing and when they where last on. Genius.

- Windows Live Messenger intigration
Now you can chat with people who dont even play games. This is a handy tool for me when my mates pop onto messenger.

- Voice chat
Chatting through your headset with up to 8 people while they can be all playing different games is very impressive in my book.

- Video chat
True, you do need to buy a vision cam but viewing my mate in Australia's new baby over the cam was great!

- Marketplace
The main hub of all your financial and download transactions, DLC, Themes, Movies, Music Videos, Demo's, Gamer Pictures and Arcade games all stored in an easy place to sift through at your leisure.

Add in the Avatars and the Exclusive Fallout3/TR Underworld/GTA IV DLC and you have a pretty persuasive argument that it wont be beaten anytime soon.

I don't have a PSN so I dont know for sure how far its behind but I dont think it will ever catch Live.

Last edited by Cuttooth on Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I still don't think £40 a year for peer-to-peer networking is great value for money.

EDIT - Wait, it's peer-to-peer right?

You could argue that it's bettered by Microsoft every major update as they just constantly update the existing service.

As long as Sony and Nintendo offer free services it will probably always stay that way.

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Minto** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:17 pm

I much refer Live to be honest. I had a ps3 for 6 months when they first came out and wasn't too impressed with the PSN.

Live is the bread and butter of 360 and always has been and thats why i think it is the better of the 2. The messenger chat and being able to see what everyone else is playing is quite well done and the instant invite to games is nifty. The PS3 probs has all that stuff now so don't blast me!

I guess that's why smart folks look online and get it for at least £10 less than that, Cuttooth.

Cuttooth wrote:I still don't think £40 a year for peer-to-peer networking is great value for money.

Not when it's free on Microsoft's PC service.

Still I don't mind paying as I get a lot from it but I don't understand why it costs money on console and costs nothing for the same service on PC.

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Garth** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:18 pm

Cuttooth wrote:EDIT - Wait, it's peer-to-peer right?

Most games are, some aren't.

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **HSH28** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm

suzzopher wrote:Still I don't mind paying as I get a lot from it but I don't understand why it costs money on console and costs nothing for the same service on PC.

Two reasons...

1. Its not the same service (theres hardly anything on it on PC for starters).
2. They already tried charging and no one was having it.

HSH28 wrote:
suzzopher wrote:Still I don't mind paying as I get a lot from it but I don't understand why it costs money on console and costs nothing for the same service on PC.

Two reasons...

1. Its not the same service (theres hardly anything on it on PC for starters).
2. They already tried charging and no one was having it.

What you are thinking of is the stuff that is built into the 360's functionality not the Live service. They are different things. You pay for online functions like gaming and video chat etc you don't pay for everything else inside the 360. The things you pay for you get on Windows Live for free.

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Qikz** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:24 pm

I don't see why you have to pay as i've recently got my Xbox, considering you've got Live Messanger on your PC and Steam does all the matchmaking with a server browser.

Although I'll admit now I'll happily pay that for it since I know I'll be making good use of it.

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Raide** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:24 pm

I don't really mind the price for Xbox Live. Since many of my friends are on there, I have not problems paying for it just because its so easy to use. I wish they would sort out the Dashboard lag on the NXE update though. It can get very annoying.

I am very loyal to xbox live, but it will never beat the PC community, anyone who thinks otherwise is clearly wrong, think about it, no monthly fee, free official updates (for most games) free community mods (for most games) better controls for some games.

Before you all read the above and flame the strawberry float out of me, remember that I am as of current not a pc gamer, but I am not ignorant.

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Photek** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:27 pm

Raide wrote:I don't really mind the price for Xbox Live. Since many of my friends are on there, I have not problems paying for it just because its so easy to use. I wish they would sort out the Dashboard lag on the NXE update though. It can get very annoying.

Its not that bad is it? I only have a lil bit of lag on the 'friends' part which is kind of understandable as it has to collate all the avatars and the little box shots of what they are playing!

EDIT: Jigger, Why are you mentioning a PC at all?

PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Raide** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:33 pm

Photek wrote:
Raide wrote:I don't really mind the price for Xbox Live. Since many of my friends are on there, I have not problems paying for it just because its so easy to use. I wish they would sort out the Dashboard lag on the NXE update though. It can get very annoying.

Its not that bad is it? I only have a lil bit of lag on the 'friends' part which is kind of understandable as it has to collate all the avatars and the little box shots of what they are playing!

EDIT: Jigger, Why are you mentioning a PC at all?

It tends to freeze when I send a message while doing something else. Its almost like it does not want to multitask at all. :lol:

Maybe I should go a bit slower for the old NXE and let it catch up. Getting to and from certain dashboard menus seems to take ages as well. Maybe its just me being impatient. :shifty:

I think XBL will just be constantly updated and refined but I don't see it being beaten outright any time in the future.

Sarge · PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Sarge** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:36 pm

Overall, I prefer Live.

PSN is decent, but the fact that MS have perfected nearly everything from in game messaging to inviting friends from one game to another with just a few button presses means they win it.

The PS Store is much better than the Marketplace though, but that's down to personal preference. (it loads faster & content is easier to find...because there's hardly any content on there... :lol:

)

One thing I absolutely hate about PSN/PS3, you have to download & install each patch for a game...so if a game (Super Stardust) has 5 updates/patches, you have to download & install all patches before you can play the game.

Some of the patch sizes are a joke as well.

Choosing between XBL and PSN is like choosing which shite you'd prefer to step in.

Pc Suprema.......

Website · PostRe: Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? by **Venom** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:46 pm

Considering there are more 360 owners then PS3 owners on this forum this should be interesting.

Comparing Xbox Live & the PSN there are really 2 things to look at: the gameplaying features & non-gameplaying features.With the non-gameplaying stuff the PSN has a nice looking store, so does Live. I actually find it easier to navigate the PSN, and browsing on Live to be a bit fiddly but that is just a preference. They are both in the same league.

With gameplaying features the PSN strength is when you are playing a multiplayer game like Motorstorm or Resistance, there is NO lag or freezes. If you play something like Halo 3, and I use this as an example of the best of MS engineering, there are freezes. BUT with PSN I hate that you have to find a game, I prefer the automatic matchmaking of Halo. My personal bugbear about the PSN, no one has a strawberry floating headset. Live has a better party/ friends list options, and is faster when patching games. With the PS3 I love that you can browse the internet, watch flash videos, youtube, gametrailers etc. Last night I was watching the Oscars via a feed on my PS3?! brilliant.

Sony were slow to recognise the importance of online gaming but the rumours are that Sony will deliver an increased feature set this year. Then maybe we can look again.

suzzopher wrote:
Cuttooth wrote:I still don't think £40 a year for peer-to-peer networking is great value for money.

Not when it's free on Microsoft's PC service.

Still I don't mind paying as I get a lot from it but I don't understand why it costs money on console and costs nothing for the same service on PC.

Because consolers will cave and pay, whereas PC users just laughed.

NickSCFC

PSN is pretty much where Live was in 2005, plus it has Store!

Will Xbox Live ever be beaten? (Live Gold subs figures P2)

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