Quote: "You're right--- it's been at least a year so far. Still waiting for it on the PS3 and Wii."
No actually he isn't.
You've been able to background download while watching things on the 360 from release, what it didn't have though was the streaming option to watch what you're downloading.
There are a number of other background downloading options for when powered-down, in-game, etc..
What I don't like about marketplace though is content seems to only be avaiable for limited periods. Not sure if this is something Microsoft impose, or that companies pay for specific space. As many of the original Red vs Blue content was taken down and replaced by some other RoosterTeeth stuff.
Quote: "Maybe because Microsoft gets $60 a year from the majority of people who use their service?"
Only Microsoft .TV and Online Gaming is covered by the Live Subscription. Everything else is available on the free account, although they claim that sending messages and such isn't possible on the Silver account this is only true when on the xbox.com website.
Silver accounts are completely free, Gold account costs depend on how many months you purchase.
£5/month if you pay for the monthly cards.
£3.3/month if you pay yearly.
While you can say "well the PS3 networking is free", yeah the Playstation Network has always been free for gaming; they honestly couldn't change that without pissing of the 10ppl who used it.
(which btw I was one of them, as I quite liked Killzone and TimeSplitters 2/3 on PSN)
The only real issue with PSN, or rather issues which you don't get on Live.
• If you disconnect, on PSN you have to manually find the game you were previously on; where-as Live will have it as a "temporary" friend in-game.
• The Headset is not game-dependant.
• You can move between servers with games (don't bark Home at me as given it was suppose to be released LAST month, it is surprisingly still in closed beta) with friends or just a temporary group.
• You can talk to people without interupting your game, as in send messages, send voice, send video (not streaming), request as friend, request they join you, etc. The whole social aspect is available without shutting down what you're doing. Oh, and also extends to your friends on Windows Live; either on Messenger or Games for Windows Live.
• Ping rated server listing, as quicker servers are listed first. Some PSN games this is a "login and hope for the best" nature.
• Guarenteed Players ONLINE, sorry but unless it's Warhawk... people just really aren't playing online much, and if they are they've passworded the server or tend to swear at you in Japanese because you can't understand their ridiculous ramblings, or get kicked from a server simply for sounding american being accused of being a team-killer before even sodding playing a single round!
I'm sorry, but frankly console online gaming needs the restrictions and systems that Live employs because unlike the PC.. intelligence generally isn't required to own a console. In-fact most I've played against and with have been quite offensive to everyone else and sound either like they're from the ghetto (despite obvious white accent) or are pre-balls-drop.
You get those same players on Counter-Strike source, and Valve have spent quite a bit and taken 10year to get that player experience close to what it is now. It still is no where near as good as Live though.
I'll get totally pwned on nearly every open server, thrown off when I start owning, there's no skill ranking to make sure that doesn't happen. There's only VAC and Admins, there are no official servers that are up 24-7, unlike Live.
Don't get me wrong there are servers for almost any PC game you can log-in and play at anytime, put up (usually asking for donations rather than subscriptions, but a few like Wireplay and GameSpy still require subscription! and at a damn sight more than Live) but that's really taken years to mature to where it is now.
It certainly isn't the 2years the Xbox took thanks to Halo to establish the popularity, or the 4years they took to get it to basically what it is now; which I don't care what platform you prefer, frankly Live beats everything else. If that means paying £3-5/month for guarenteed play against people of my own skill-level, at any time of the day on stable servers... then frankly I feel it is worth it over the hit'n'miss PSN, Steam, GameSpy (which the Wii uses btw), etc.
Steam and GameSpy (GS in particular as they've just celebrated their 12th birthday) have had that mature time, yet Live still seems better value for money atleast to me. And I barely ever spent money on anything unless I feel it is worth it at the time.
