Xbox Live Questions

Blasto

Hello PA,

For Christmas this year I recieved a new Xbox360 from my awesome wife! So far I have had a blast with Mass Effect, Gears of War, and Dead Rising. The 360 also comes with a 30day trial of Xbox Live, that is now about to expire (recieved an email from MS).

During the Month of Dec. and Jan., Live has not been working well and I didn't think showed the service correctly. I called up Customer service and tried to see if they would extend my 30day trial as to get a better feel for the service. The rep on the other side of the phone told me about the free title that MS was giving out (soon to be) but I believe that does not apply as I'm not a full paying member yet (nor do I think it should). He did say it was a no-go on the 30 extension of service. Kind of a bummer on that, but I guess I understand.

Now my 30day trial really sucked as I was only able to log on 2ish times and if based on what I have seen so far I do not see a reason for getting the "Gold" membership for Live (Silver is free).

Do you think the Gold Membership is worth it? Why or Why Not?

Thank you for the help

Grizzly_Addams

If you plan to play games online against your friends or other players you must have Live Gold. You cannot play online with Silver. Aside from the occasional rare perk for gold members that is the only reason to subscribe.

Doc

Indeed, the only real difference is online play. If you aren't interested in that, then it's not worth it.

elizabex

When I first got my 360, I wasn't sure if I'd continue to use the Gold membership after my 30-day trial had ended.. by the time the first month was over, I couldn't imagine gaming on the console without it. It's a great service, very reliable (in my experiences ---- apart from the mentioned xmas snafu), and is super-good at making you feel connected to a community of gamers. It's especially nice if you have some friends that are also on Live ---- knowing when they login, and always knowing what they're playing, is great.

As was mentioned: you need gold to play games over Live (which I do all-the-time now). You'll also have quicker access to demos/downloadable content when compared to Silver members (has this been implemented already???).

The main reason to have Gold is, short-and-sweet, online multiplayer.

Lunker

I've noticed that Live seems to be better now than it was over the holiday break, so what you could always do is either pick up a 1-month subscription card or buy it through Live itself -- take it for another monthlong spin and see if you like it for $7. It sucks that they won't feed you another trial, but this way you don't have to commit for a full year. Also, I don't know if it still works, but with 360s if you make a new Gamertag you'll sometimes get a free month trial of Gold for the new tag.

I think that Live Gold is amazingly worth the money, but it's also worth noting that I've paid about $40 for two years of Live. It's pretty easy to find the subscription cards for cheap if you hunt around (check out CheapAssGamer or SlickDeals, or hell, even eBay), and that'll make most people feel a lot better about paying for online multi.

Even at full price, though, I'd say it's worth it. If you want to play online multiplayer it's your only option, but the way Live works across all games on the system, I find myself playing a lot more online multi than I ever did with any other system. You'll get invites and see your friends playing even if you're playing a single-player game, so I'm only a few button clicks away from some Rock Banding with friends regardless of what game I'm playing.

Tach

My concern is- I signed up for my 30-day LIVE trial on 1/5/08, and now I'm being told that my 30 days is up as of 2/1/08.

That does not fempute.

edit- I should have 2 more days, by my count.

ChewyWaffles

Just pay for a year of Gold and be done with it - no worries about multiplayer and you get the demos as soon as they come out. It's $50 for a year.

Dodge Aspen

I have a couple of Live questions. If you only have silver, can you still build a friends list and see what they're playing? Better yet, can you communicate with them while not playing games if you only have silver?

About the free game they're giving away because of the Live issues, how do you know if you qualify or not? I just joined Live this week (only silver so far), so I was wondering.

Doc

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

I have a couple of Live questions. If you only have silver, can you still build a friends list and see what they're playing? Better yet, can you communicate with them while not playing games if you only have silver?

Yep.

h8b1llg8ts

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

I have a couple of Live questions. If you only have silver, can you still build a friends list and see what they're playing? Better yet, can you communicate with them while not playing games if you only have silver?

Yes.

And to the OP I have had it since day on in '02 and can't imagine being a video gamer without it. About 99% of all Xbox 360 games have an extended life because of Live. And that's worth it to me ...

The_Scarab

The simple answer is stick with silver until you come to a situation where the console tells you what you are attempting to do requires gold membership. If such a situation doesnt arise often then stick with silver. If in the first 30 seconds it is telling you to upgrade then your gaming behavior indicates gold would be beneficial.

The only real difference is online play. To be honest, I have gold membership and I dont play online that much. however its always nice to have incase someone starts up a kickass game on thread or im in the mood for some super hardcore catan sessions.

Ashendark

I think gold service is worth it if you enjoy playing multiplayer games. The last 3 weeks or so of LIVE service has been pretty bad. You may want to wait till they actually fix it before subscribing. If they fix it. I'm begining to have my doubts. We're coming up on almost a full month of crappy service and since it's still not working properly i'm wondering if it ever will be back to normal.

h8b1llg8ts

Ashendark wrote: »

I think gold service is worth it if you enjoy playing multiplayer games. The last 3 weeks or so of LIVE service has been pretty bad. You may want to wait till they actually fix it before subscribing. If they fix it. I'm begining to have my doubts. We're coming up on almost a full month of crappy service and since it's still not working properly i'm wondering if it ever will be back to normal.

Mine experiance has been much better starting this week.

Ashendark

My service has been better but still not with out it's problems. This week I've gotten several errors while browsing marketplace stuff, dashboard hangs a few minutes before bringing up my dashboard info and last night I was completely disconnected from live and it wouldn't let me reconnect. So i went to bed.

But for the most part it has been working better for the last week or so.

roywhitby

I have owned my 360 since September and I have had a silver membership (other than the first month). I'm not a big online player but NHL08 requires gold membership for roster updates so I'm going to take the plunge. It means I can get my ass kicked in Guitar Hero 3, NHL and Forza but I can rock out with people on Rock Band too. So it's really up to you. I also hate waiting the week for demos so I'm going to take the plunge later this month.

minor incident

If you play games online, it's the best, most well integrated online gaming system/community in my mind. The price was a total afterthought for me. It's just so much a bargain at twice the cost.