I have been reading around on the inter-webs today and seen that Xbox is offering up a free weekend to Silver members this weekend. Well, that causes some ruckus with people who think LIVE is a rip off. So I thought this would be a great chance to share some of my thought on the matter.
Yes, LIVE is $50 a year. Yes, PSN is free. Two very obvious facts that we all know. Now lets talk about some other facts that we know, but don’t like to admit. LIVE has been $50 since the day the 360 launched. Also LIVE has annually gotten better over the past 7 years it has been available. Not once has the price raised. I know that if I call my cable provider and ask to make it better they will charge me. Also think of all the things that people tend to ‘overlook’ when talking about paying for LIVE.
For example you never hear of LIVE crashing or having tech problems. When you do it’s either scheduled or fixed promptly. We also seem to get features before the PSN. By paying for LIVE you have been able to have NetFlix instant streaming for over a year now. On top of that that featured was improved less that a year after launch. The Ps3 just got it this past weekend that you must insert a Blu-Ray disk to enable streaming. People complain that you should not have to pay for Gold to use NetFlix if you already pay for a subscription. Well, if I go buy a new car with OnStar I have to pay for the option to have OnStar and then pay OnStar. OH NO!!! I guess it’s a rip off.
Now these are just a couple of example that I wanted to point out. I hope we can discuss this and have even more come into the light. I know better than anyone that there needs to be improvements to LIVE. I can almost garuntee that the PSN needs even more. Also remember that that $50 a year AKA .13 cents a day can also be gotten for a discount of $39.99 many time a year and lots of time that is for 13 months. So what do you pay for?
