360 versus PS3

[bobman37]

Sweet. In all honesty, the two of us really only play Gears 2 anymore when it's a super-XP weekend, which is also the time when we're looking for other people to play with. But I'd be down, and I'm sure LD would too, to play some sometime. We should also kinda be planning for Gears 3, considering its four-player co-op nature.

[TEM]

I resubscribed to gold like 5 months ago and haven't played 360 online EVER. I'm seriously considering selling mine, the only thing holding me back is when I did that with my Wii and bought another one later.

[Lizard Dude]

Not my fault you bailed on Crackdown 2. :)

[Lizard Dude]

As part of the fall update, Microsoft is upgrading the codec for 360 voicechat. The dulcet tones of my true voice shall soon be heard by all.

[bobman37]

Assuming you get a headset that actually works.

[Lizard Dude]

?

[bobman37]

You're always cutting out, I don't hear some of the stuff you say sometimes.

[Lizard Dude]

What? Then how come no one ever mentions this to me? And how do you know that's not just the way I

[bobman37]

I thought you were aware of it. Perhaps that was my other friend with the same problem (Beamy).

[Trainman]

Xbox Live Gets a Price Hike

"The annual fee will go up by $10 in the United States, with one and three month subscriptions also going up in price. Starting November 1, a one month subscription in the US will cost $9.99 and a three month subscription will carry a price tag of $24.99."

Analyst - Activision Must Begin Multiplayer Fees

"We think that it is incumbent upon Activision, with the most popular multiplayer game, to take the first step to address monetization of multiplayer," said Pachter.

"...we expect to see the company take some action by year-end, when Call of Duty Black Ops launches."

what is this i dont even.


How much do you wanna bet Activision doesn't do something like that when Black Ops releases, and how much do you want to bet other publishers don't try and copy the same plan off Activision?

Basically, instead of paying $65 game + $7.99/$19.99/$49.99 it'll be: $65 game + $9.99/$24.99/$59.99 + whatever the hell Activision wants to charge for their monthly subscription to their games if something like that goes through... and if the whole $15 dollar glitchy map pack for Modern Warfare 2 fiasco is any indicator (and the fact that Activision is continually *****ing and moaning about how they're not tapping into some income stream produced by someone else regardless of the fact that they're making lots of money), then basically, online multiplayer for the Xbox will probably take a hideous turn.

[bobman37]

I sure hope people don't start charging extra for multiplayer. Having said that, I hope Activision starts charging for Call of Duty multiplayer, because ha ha ha to the Call of Duty fans.

[bobman37]

mmm I changed my mind. I hope Activision doesn't charge for CoD because then the players will stay out of the good games I play.

[Trainman]

No, that's probably a bad thing, bobman, because Activision won't want to stop at charging for Call of Duty only, I imagine. They'll want to try and push this under all generically popular products they publish (CoD, Guitar Hero, Band Hero, DJ Hero, etc.) and, since Bungie is teaming up with Activision now, all of you Halo fans can say bye-bye to any future creations from the developer after the Halo series is put to rest because I can guarantee you that Activision will definitely want a stake in all the people who will be playing Bungie's future games online.

This is ridiculous, man. Pay $55 for a friggin' masterpiece (Galaxy 2) and that's the deal. You get all the features from the start. If all this goes through, expect to be paying the new LIVE prices happening in November, then fork out additional money for the entire online lifespan of a game via "monthly subscriptions, tournament entry fees, microtransaction fees, or a combination of all three" [source in second link] just to keep it up.

Oh, and I doubt it stops there. Expect Activision, on top of all the [darn] fees you'd have to pay, to have the balls to still charge ridiculous amounts for DLC such as map packs, weapons sets, in-game clothing/armor/etc. sets, songs/albums (for "_____ Hero" games), etc.

[Chupperson Weird]

There's also the option of just saving yourself the trouble and not getting involved with the games that are going to have this happen.

[bobman37]

Yeah, see, that's the action I'd take. Not only will I be saving money by not playing Activision games, I'd also be avoiding more of the moronic prepubescent people that play those massively popular games like CoD and Halo. I wouldn't stop playing Guitar Hero because I don't play that online. Besides, I doubt Activision would charge for online in their rhythm games, it's not the selling point like it is in Halo and CoD.

What I'm saying is, I hope other companies like Epic and Valve don't start charging for their multiplayer, because I play Gears and Left 4 Dead and would miss those dearly.