I couldn’t even browse the Forza Horizon “skin” marketplace without a Gold membership.
jpinard
3590
Microsoft needs to drop the price of XBox Live Gold for single users by half or de-couple every aspect of mp play from Gold. The value proposition has never been there and it’s even worse now despite the “cloud”… even if they have better matchmaking/mp service vs. Sony PS4. It really irks me I have to pay $60 a year to plau with my nephew once or twice a month. I don’t use my Xbox Live for anything else and it is no doubt a rip-off when I look at what Sony offers.
Trying to be positive about what the Xbox One offers, but Gold membership continues to be a sore spot for those of us that don’t use our Xbox’s for all that media crap. Over 5 years the Xbox One will have cost over $800 if you want to play mp. That is just wrong.
Thongsy
3591
The PS4 is going to require it for MP too so they’re going to be in the same boat. It’s more of the media stuff they stick behind Gold that would bother me. I do agree it should be half the price and I wouldn’t be as bothered as much. When it cost as much as a new game I’ll purchase the new game instead of the paywall to something I may or may not use at all.
jpinard
3592
I did not realize that. Well, both companies need to reduce the price or create a reduced price package tier for MP ONLY. It bothers me I’ve cut the cord to satellite and cable, and now these companies are finding ways to force us into more monthly payments for something the PC can do for free. And it’s not like MS isn’t making reams of money from stuff like avatars and commercials. Sorry, it just looks like no matter what, Xbox One users are going to be forced into monthly payments if they want to do anything productive with their console. If only money wasn’t so tight :(
If Steam can do multiplayer, AND Steam workshop, AND provide gobs of bandwidth for every game it hosts for free (with no outside advertising), why can’t MS/Sony?
Because it is free money for them that gamers seem willing to pay for?
Among other things, many games on Steam use user-run dedicated servers for multiplayer, and they take a larger cut from games sold on their store than what Microsoft and Sony get from retail game sales. That doesn’t even go into the cash cows that are Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, and trading cards. They also only have to worry about making and selling games, as opposed to Microsoft and Sony also having to manufacture and sell several types of hardware.
jpinard
3595
When I buy 20 games from Steam for $3.99 it doesn’t feel like they’re making that much money compared to what MS/Sony make off a mandatory price-point of $60 on a console game. I’ve also heard the opposite, that MS/Sony make a lot more money than the Steam cut both on per software unit sold and as a percentage. I mean, Microsoft made somewhere between $100 million - $200 million on Madden sales alone over the past 3 years and they didn’t even make the game. Furthermore no consoles are being sold at a loss this time around.
To make multiplayer more inclusive they need to do something different with Gold/Plus. The reason 50% of my friends have dropped Gold is because it’s too expensive for what it does and just adding “cloud” doesn’t change that equation. Cut the cost instead of adding media junk and people won’t mind.
You mean like not putting any features aside from online multiplayer behind it, and giving its subscribers free games every month?
jpinard
3597
I was trying to not sound too judgmental towards Xbox One as we don’t know if MS will copy that.
We already know Microsoft’s shoving as many features behind the paywall as possible, though.
Canuck
3599
Because Sony gives me hundreds of dollars ($300+?) every year of games for my $50 I will happily keep paying them even if I don’t (and probably won’t) use multiplayer.
Man, I loved B&W. I think I’m fairly unique in thinking that its biggest problem was trying to shoehorn the vogue for ‘story’ into the game. If it was more like Populous or Power Monger with the dozens of steadily-ramping-up-in-difficulty missions instead of the long, scripted, five or so included, it would’ve been way better.
I install it on any stylus-capable windows tablet I buy- it’s absolutely amazing for that, the whole interface being designed to use the mouse as your hand in the game. I’d love to see it cleaned up for modern tablets with touch- they could certainly run it.
Gold does that at the moment. Has it been revealed if that continues with the Xbox One?
They’ve said the Games for Gold program ends at the end of the year, but haven’t said anything about whether they’ll extend it to the Xbox One later on. I wouldn’t expect it any time soon, though; among other things, the most recent games we’ve gotten from the program have been from all the way back in 2010, and they’re content to give us games from as far back as 2007 (Crackdown and Halo 3).
RE: Games for Gold - absolutely right. That’s not a permanent feature for LIVE
RE: Gold requirement for DVR - I don’t get that at all for any of these items but I definitely don’t understand why the TV channel feature is behind the paywall. If you want to sell the device as an all in one box, at a minimum you make sure that it checks the basics for all users on day one. Without the TV channel feature, what do users do?
RE: B&W… that game and Mechwarrior 2 - why aren’t they available digitally?
JD
3604
Unsurprisingly enough, the PS4 game DVR feature–which lets you record the last 15 minutes of gameplay (Xbox One: 5 minutes)–does not require PS Plus.
red_guy
3605
Apparently, Sony has an Xbox Live Platinum account. Otherwise, why would Microsoft hand them so much live ammunition? And it’s so nicely dosed - just when the previous wave of boneheaded decisions has been revealed, reviled and reverted, they roll out a new set of unnecessary restrictions.
It’s as if someone in the Xbox PR department is actively sabotaging the cloud-based, connected strategy.
LockerK
3606
If only Sony would realize that uStream is a dead service compared to Twitch – that’s the one major misstep that Sony has made so far that I have to give the advantage to Microsoft on. Maybe it won’t matter to the more casual streamers, but Twitch is THE site for streaming game-related media. That said, maybe it won’t matter at all, since any ‘good’ streamer will probably still use a third-party capture device that allows them to alter the presentation on their PC before streaming it out to the internet – not to mention that the majority of the US has such terrible internet upload speeds that it makes HD streaming impossible.
Agreed on Sony’s choice of uStream over Twitch. It’s weaksauce. I’m sure they’ll eventually come around.
Dunno. There is a running thread on GOG with requests that they get specific games, and the people that have replied in the B&W one is quite long. I would so love to have a copy of it and the expansion from GOG. Never played the sequel, though. The overt wargamey aspect turned me off.
