Why I Dislike my Xbox 360

[Blix]

If MS hosted servers for every game I'd be inclined to defend them tooth and nail. People want great services and good things cost. So I was the type who defended MS when people started complaining about having to pay for the service. But since many games are hosted by players or the company that developed it... I'm left wondering why do they charge. I get achievements, servers, friend list and what not on steam and that's all for free. The maintenance of the service can't justify that money. So while I used to defend live tooth and nail on this matter before, my experience with steam leaves me wondering why they can't offer me this stuff for free. There are a bit of differences between both services, but I don't believe they affect that much.

[gekko]

Originally Posted by Blix

The maintenance of the service can't justify that money. So while I used to defend live tooth and nail on this matter before, my experience with steam leaves me wondering why they can't offer me this stuff for free.

It only costs around $4 a month, and that's not a whole lot of money. Your money goes to more than just maintenance, it goes to development of the service. Yes, the servers and bandwidth cost money to store your online profile, and you must also hire the staff to maintain the servers. Generally, people forget companies make need to profit for more reasons than white collar bonuses. There's still the research and development of new products, and in this case, new services for Xbox Live.

Adding avatars wasn't free, and neither are any of the "free" items they release. The party chat system cost money to develop, even though Infinity Ward pretends it doesn't exist. Xbox Live Primetime (1 vs. 100) didn't make itself, and neither did Halo Waypoint. Those Inside Xbox movies that air every week requires a small crew to produce. I could go on.

Point in, maintaining the servers may not cost the millions of dollars they bring in every year, but you're also paying developers to continue to improve the service, and of course, bring in some extra profits.

[Professor S]

I don't find $50 or so a year a prohibitive charge for the best on-line component of any console out there right now. I'm actually surprised it's so cheap.

Outside of the RRoD (and I've had my 360 for YEARS and it's never RRoDed so I don't think it's inevitable if you don't put it vertical and choke it in a small space), I find most complaints about the 360 to be small points and minor annoyances.