Sony announcing PS4 20th Feb 13

[X-13]

It's clear which side of that fence you sit on!

I don't have a PS3, if that's what you're implying.

PC, DS/3DS, 360, Wii. I have neither the space nor the money for ALL the current gen consoles.

I own a PS3 and a 360 and XBL is without a doubt the better service for me.

Yet, I'm hit with LOADS of lag. It's the downside of it being P2P.

If someone has a bad connection, they ruin it for everyone else.

[LosOjos]

I don't have a PS3, if that's what you're implying.

PC, DS/3DS, 360, Wii. I have neither the space nor the money for ALL the current gen consoles.

You said: "eigons of children assuming XBL is better because you have to pay for it.

For every one person who rufuses to support it, they will be 100 fanboys that do."

which seems pretty obvious that you're against paying for online services.

Whilst I wouldn't say I'm for it, I will say my experience of XBL has been much more enjoyable than PSN. Perhaps it's just better managed, although that would of course be helped by the membership fee...

Much as I'd love to live in an open source, everything is free universe, we don't. We live in a predominantly capitalist world where companies main (only?) aim is to make money. And it certainly won't be gamers that change that!

[tmcd35]

From what I remember from owning a 360, and an XBox1, their online experience was better then (5-6 years ago) than the PSN is now, but I prefer the PSN experience. I think it comes down to what you are after. MS is the natural home for online games, Sony seems slightly better for solo gamers like me. It'd be interesting to see if Sony announces anything to redress that balance. I agree though, if you want a quality online experience you've probably got pay for it's up keep.

[X-13]

which seems pretty obvious that you're against paying for online services.

Oh, of course.

PS3, Wii, PC = pay for your internet, that's it. [Not including MMO games.]

Xbox = Pay for your internet... and give MORE money to Microsoft.

PC ports of Xbox games don't even have to pay extra.

[LosOjos]

Oh, of course.

PS3, Wii, PC = pay for your internet, that's it. [Not including MMO games.]

Xbox = Pay for your internet... and give MORE money to Microsoft.

PC ports of Xbox games don't even have to pay extra.

I see where you're coming from, but look at it from another angle; why is it that you're happy to pay to play an MMO but not to use XBL? For most people, they see that the MMO costs money to maintain so they'll happily pay membership to help that - why is that any different to any other kind of online service, such as XBL?

@tmcd35 - I totally agree.

All this said, I'm rooting for Sony deep down. I've always been impressed with their consoles, which are more like a complete home entertainment centre than just a games console. The PS3 disappointed me; PSN always felt very slow, the update system is crippling and the fact you have to install every game a major irritation. When I want to play a game, I just want to drop the disk in and play - otherwise why not just play on my PC?

I realise that the whole update/install system is probably going to be an integral part of the next gen, which is one of the reasons I'm already in the position that unless they do something truly awesome with one of the new systems, I'm ready to jump out of the console market and stick to my PC.

[tmcd35]

I switched to PS3 when HD-DVD died a death. At first I hated it as the MS experience, especially online, is so polished. For years it was just an expensive Blu-Ray player. Now though, I've fallen in love with it and rediscovered console gaming. The only thing that really annoys me are the game updates. I really hope they move to delta updates, like on the 360, for the next release.

[X-13]

I see where you're coming from, but look at it from another angle; why is it that you're happy to pay to play an MMO but not to use XBL? For most people, they see that the MMO costs money to maintain so they'll happily pay membership to help that - why is that any different to any other kind of online service, such as XBL?

Because, I know MMOs have dedicated servers and get patches/new content.

XBL is P2P [I think all they do is match people up, which the games could do] and games getting patches are down to the devs, not Microsoft. Plus to get patches sent out on XBL, if any are available, a substantial fee has to be paid to Microsoft.

Extra content on XBL is paid DLC [if it adds achievements, which MOST do] which, again, Microsoft charges a substantial fee for. PLUS they get a cut of the DLC cost.

It's just charges, on top of charges, on top of even more charges.

I don't mind paying for DLC, too much... IF it's good. A lot of the time I've paid for it, and found out it wasn't worth the money. Not even a little bit.

[CAM]

Got to agree here with @X-13, the charge used to make sense but as more and more paid for content crept on to XBL it's perceived value dropped. Originally it was "OK, some optional DLC here but for the most part I am happy paying to play." Now it's "Err...I am paying to use this network but I am still getting adverts and invoices shoved in my face."

The latest dashboard update to make it tiled was the worst. So many adverts...

[SYNACK]

You still get updates through the free silver service.

[themightymrp]

Updates yes, but no ability to play games online

[LosOjos]

You still get updates through the free silver service.

Yeah I was going to say that, I've never once paid for an update/patch - if you mean the devs pay, not my problem! That's a business model they bought in to...

As for crappy expansion packs - again, devs fault, not Microsoft.

I do agree the advertising is getting ridiculous though.

I blame COD for both those problems... they certainly haven't helped by releasing progressively smaller games, smaller expansion packs (which get dearer every time) and now even pestering you to pay yet another set of fess every time you turn the damn game on.

Unfortunately, if a money making business model succeeds to the level COD has, the rest of the world follows.

None of which is the fault of XBL!

EDIT: apart from the advertising of course (before someone calls me on it)

[X-13]

Yeah I was going to say that, I've never once paid for an update/patch - if you mean the devs pay, not my problem! That's a business model they bought in to...

Indeed. Devs get screwed hard on Xbox.

It also ends up with gamers getting screwed because of bugs not being fixed as it's too expensive to pay all the MS fees for patches.

As for crappy expansion packs - again, devs fault, not Microsoft.

I know, I'm just commenting on how MS take a cut of EVERYTHING. They could easily drop the XBL Gold fee and still make money.

But they wont, why charge less than the absolute maximum you can get away with?

[SYNACK]

Indeed. Devs get screwed hard on Xbox.

It also ends up with gamers getting screwed because of bugs not being fixed as it's too expensive to pay all the MS fees for patches.




I know, I'm just commenting on how MS take a cut of EVERYTHING. They could easily drop the XBL Gold fee and still make money.

But they wont, why charge less than the absolute maximum you can get away with?

They take less of a cut than Apple, it could be worse.

[LosOjos]

But they wont, why charge less than the absolute maximum you can get away with?

Because they're a business, that's how business works. You don't make money by giving away what you can charge for...

Again, not saying I agree with it, but it's the world we live in.

[X-13]

Because they're a business, that's how business works. You don't make money by giving away what you can charge for...

Again, not saying I agree with it, but it's the world we live in.

I know... macro/microeconomics says it's better business to make less profit per item, have a lower price and make more in the long run than it is to maximise profit per item and have higher prices.

Long term profits > short term profits

But, shareholders don't care about the long term. They want to see big profits per quarter.