PS3 fans: Ha! My online is free! Neener neener neener!
360 fans: Ha! My online comes with goodies! Neener neener neener!
Wii fans: Ha! What's an online?

Thank you, I'll be here all night (trying to add to comedy in this thread).

Anywho, four people banned from this one thread... there's a lot of pent up frustration 'round here it seems. Why can't we all get along?

$50 a year was never a big deal for me (it's one trip to the gas station), so $60 isn't that big of a deal either. *shrugs*

I feel the vocal ones against this see the bigger picture of how this industry is intertwined. Some of us see beyond the breakdown of cost per day, etc. and see the bigger picture of the industry.

MSFT is very influential in terms of online gameplay because of Live. If they can get away with increasing the costs on a section of their Entertainment and Games division which is already in the black and offering bonus things (Last fm, netflix, facebooks) that people use for free elseware and things like ESPN (ESPN3.com allows a lot of free over the web viewing of major events) then companies can/will follow suit.

I suppose my (cant speak fo rthe rest) frustration is equally split between MSFT for knowing this and doing this and the gamers here who dont give a shit because of bias and refuse to see the precedent being set by this.

It was one thing for charging for online play but the fact they have ads already, make nearly 1 billion a year on this section and the features they claim to add are FREE everywhere else, the fact that some people truly have no sense of the bigger picture as consumers is really sad for me.

I wouldnt give a shit if this industry wasnt special and completely dependent on one another. There isnt much differentiation anymore, 3rd party exclusives go the way of the do-do, this gen there are very few differences and things like this dont bode well for the future, imo.

Now, queue up the tinfoil hat comments, i dont own a 360, its only X amount per day, but if we could step back and see whats actually happening......... its not good for any video game fan.

59.99$ a year for my canadian plan currency conversion  last year~

Dear Omegas.,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership. This renewal goes into effect on November 8, 2009. Here is a description of the service:

Funny but being in canada I don't have all the features as the US but I still pay the same amount... I'm still trying to understand that part, as in Canada we don't get anything special but a dam FU.

Sorry but I'm not going to renew this year, I just seem to be paying for a service that clearly is limited to one thing I want... online play because let's face it I don't have much else to do.

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $59.99 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

SOOOOO now canadians have to pay $70.00 for this shit? when the US dollar and CAD are about the same...Yeah Fuck You Microsoft

Yes, amazingly both Nintendo and Sony (neither of which makes a browser for anything else) have a browser for their consoles, but Microsoft which makes their own browser couldn't provide one for the 360, instead opting for stupid custom interfaces to some websites...

For better or worse MS strategy for Live is clearly to create a closed community with all access points controlled by MS.  You pay them a fee that is presented as covering online gaming, but in fact that fee is also required to be at all active in the community and to get all the extended access Facebook, etc.  Essentially for MS if you want any real online capability via their console you pay for it.

I don't particularly like it - one reason I don't have a 360 - but you've got to admire the beauty of it from a commercial point of view.

If there are 20 million Gold Live accounts then MS has a community of that size willing to pay it to arrange access to online gaming plus the broader aspects of internet social networks, as an additional surcharge and controlling layer between themselves and the content - for example you need to pay MS for Live then Netflix or Hula, or you use MS matchmaking servers and chat services.

Pretty amazing and TBH I'd do it myself if I could.  As a consumer I'll vote against it - I want a more Google, ad and advertising but free to the gamer, driven environment.

I'm dissapointed Sony went with PSN instead of considering a strong alliance with Google for online access driven using Google's method of generating revenue and keep it 100% free, but hey, I don't call those shots!

No you didn't.  Xfire doesn't offer full game downloads, user created games, facebook, netflix, last.fm, ESPN, matchmaking, etc.

I'm not trolling at all.

truer words have never been spoken.

and I seriously don't get the people saying Sony and Nintendo will do this next gen, do they really believe this or is it just their way of justifying paying for xbl. Shit fine me the service that was once offered for free and then got hit with a fee and the consumers just accepted it???

that's why psn users didn't raise hell over ps plus, simply because  the online we know is still free. which is what will happen next gen, psn will remain free and plus will be better than ever for all those that want it. The key there is choice, the thing M$ won't give  and it's consumers don't want. 

and to think I consider buying the halo reach bundle........

matchmaking is horrible compared to dedicated servers

More importantly, will this affect 360 sales?  Anybody think that this will push the 360 down to 185K weekly?