| WolfpackN64 said:
Am I the only one that just wants to go out, buy a game (physically or digitally), own the game, and not have to bother with paying for the online service? |
I don't know, I cant play any of the VC games i bought on my 3DS, on my WiiU, despite both devices being linked to the same NID, despite the games in question being available on both the 3DS and WiiU stores.
Am i the only one that buys a game that is available across multiple platforms, that expects it to still be there on a different device?, If i upgrade my phone and login to my google play account, i fully expect all my past purchases to be both there and accessible.
PlayStation does this exceptionally, most all of the compatible content is shared, accessible and playable across ps3, psp, ps4 and vita, and ps plus for online play is only required for the PS4, the other devices work fine without.
Nintendos online system is barebones, that is why it is free, if it was as fleshed out and full featured as xbox live or psn, then I fully expect Nintendo to eventually charge for that too.
To sum up, you get what you pay for, XBL has always been paid but has offered a better service for a longer time, first few years of PS3 online were quite barebones too, but eventually they introduced psplus when the service had matured enough to warrant a value in paid online so the natural progression would be to have it be a requirement for most games now the network infrastructure was established and there - PlayStation plus for online offers better value for money than Xbox Live currently, despite extremely similar offerings, because the subscription is active across the entire device family and offers monthly software for each of those devices linked to just one account.
What nintendo has right now is a barebones system that does online play, has only just moved away from friend codes to a consistent ID system, but still bears the hallmarks of a one device one account setup in how content is purchased and owned across multiple devices, beyond the bare essentials Nintendo online offers next to nothing else.
While the competition is enjoying advanced features like cross game video and voice chat and deep integration of social and sharing features, Nintendo's online system is struggling to outdo the PS2 network functionality and is still a long way from catching up to the original Xbox Live on the original Xbox.
