Yes, it does also depend on the game and developer. But that makes it a PSN issue for me. There should be a more unified, de facto standard quality for a lot of features but it's a lot like SegaNet on the Dreamcast or the PS2 where developers fend for themselves.

In case no one else has laid it out for you yet in the simplest terms possible so that ANYONE could understand:

Nothing on the disc is "locked". You can still play ALL the mulitplayer content on the disc if you want WITHOUT Xbox Live Gold. You simply have to play local multiplayer on the same console, LAN, or other free xbox live service emulators that turn LAN matches into online matches (I used to do this for Halo 1 on original Xbox via Xbox Connect).

You pay for playing the multiplayer content online because Microsoft hosts and provides all the servers, matchmaking, achievement framework, etc for all developers on Xbox Live. This means that every developer has equal share to the wonderful Trueskill ranking system and Microsofts online services for their games without having to devote their own servers or resources.

On PSN, the DEVELOPERS have to foot the bill for all matchmaking, servers, etc. That is the main reason why PSN was free this generation, but even going forward I see it much more likely that PS4 will no longer offer a free service and just make PSN+ the default. There is a reason Sony lost billions this generation with Playstation and the vast majority of it was from online expenses that they could not recover because they decided to have a free service.

And again, these articles are so incredibly stupid because their titles and information are all focused on one aspect. Price. They claim Xbox Live is no longer the best service, which is an outright fallacy. It is still the best online service/community for gamers and the price is fully justified. If you don't feel it is justified and want to use a competitor's service for free and get slightly less quality/services, that is perfectly fine!

There, hopefully we can end this thread with some good ole' fashioned knowledge for so many ignorant Xbox Live haters :)

Yeah right. You can explain to these guys who don't even use XBLG why it is superior to PSN and they will just stick their fingers in their ears and tell you it's irrelevant. Some people simply cannot wrap their heads around the idea that other people value things differently than they do themselves.

Yeah, you for example can't seem to wrap your head around the idea why people would value a slightly less better service for free more than one they have to pay for :D

Yeah except that's entirely wrong. Unless you can point me to a thread where I crapped on someone for believing what you typed or told them they are wrong. In fact in the couple of PSN vs XBL threads I have commented in, I have never done either of those.

But fiction can be fun I guess :D

Dude, you even wrote it yourself o.O. They value the few things XBL does better not as much as you and you can't understand it.

You seem confused. I can understand that some people don't agree Live is worth paying for and are fine with PSN or other platforms on PC. Nothing you bolded says otherwise.

When I start going into PC/PSN threads and telling people that they are wrong for settling for those inferior services and calling them moronic and that their reasons for their opinions are irrelevant, then you'll have a point. I'll be on pins and needles waiting for that day.

what's funny is we are more than likely to move into model than XBL on everything..... on the long run you'll get the hardware for dirt cheap you'll get the game engine for dirt cheap but you'll have to pay for services, subscriptions, apps, extra content/DLC, accessories.... a model free like sony can't last with the ever growing demand in security and bandwidth/hardware requirement.... sooner or later the infrastructure of the virtual world will be the only thing they can monetize on.... or yeah it will be free but heavily ad supported and you'll get the ad free version at a premium..... but one way or the other, money won't be on the hardware for much more....

Gold is one of the reasons why I'm switching to PS4 for the next gen. I rarely use the multiplayer features of games.

Also, it should be criminal to charge for something like that; we're already forced to pay for internet.

Funnily enough, the first game I ever played online was a Microsoft published title; Age of Empires. And personally, I think saying it's comparing apples to oranges is a bit of a cop out. The reason people are willing to pay is because they want to play online and that basic feature is the core of what I've been doing on PC for the last 15 years. All the extra features are simply that, extras. Steam and Origin are also very similar and have largely the same costs (servers) as Live does.

Anyway, I think Microsoft can find alternative revenue streams to suplement subscriptions to the point they could give casual/Silver players a few hours of free online play per month. A lot of MMOs give players free play up to a certain level (if not entirely). That may even increase subscriptions, lol.