Posts tagged Xbox Live
Regarding the Xbox Live price bump
Aug 30th
News broke this morning that prices for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold service will be increasing as of November 1. Here are the specifics:
- 1 month: $9.99, up from $7.99; approximately a 25% increase
- 3 months: $24.99, up from $19.99; approximately a 25% increase
- 12 months: $59.99, up from $49.99; approximately a 20% increase
This seems to be sparking some backlash among the masses of outspoken Xbox Live members because hey, it’s always been $50 per year ever since Xbox Live launched in late 2002, right?
Right. But fifty bucks isn’t what fifty bucks used to be. When you calculate the change in relative worth of the US dollar over time, you see something like this:
It turns out that, by just about any measure, $50 in 2002 is roughly equivalent in worth to $60 in 2010. And yes, you could potentially make the argument that Microsoft should be saving a lot of money through diminishing operating costs for maintaining a server infrastructure for machines that are now running five-year-old hardware. But there’s also the valid counterargument that interface updates and access to new free services have helped to maintain a relatively consistent value for Xbox Live.
Is the price increase unexpected? Absolutely not. Microsoft’s gearing up to integrate services like ESPN into its Xbox Live Gold service this fall, and that must have been an expensive deal between the two companies. But when you just take a look at the numbers, there’s nothing controversial about this at all.
Review: Limbo (Xbox Live Arcade)
Jul 22nd
I’ve tried to keep some distance from the debate over whether games can be — or currently are — art. It’s my belief that art is in the eye of the beholder, so who cares if a few critics (including some critics of another medium entirely) disagree? I’ve had experiences with games that have been as thought-provoking and moving as some of the best movies, books, paintings, songs, and so on.
But if you’re not content to sit by the sidelines and just let Roger Ebert trash-talk games, you’ll find some strong ammunition for your viewpoint in Limbo, Playdead’s debut Xbox Live Arcade title and the first game out the door in this year’s Summer of Arcade series. With its bold, almost suffocating art style, excellent use of sound and subtle yet significant method of storytelling, Limbo is a thoroughly inspired concept that couldn’t be realized in any other medium.
How EA Sports’ Online Pass Will Change the Used Game Marketplace
May 12th
Once the millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of labor hours have resulted in a finished, big-name console video game, how do publishers and developers earn their money back? From gamers like us buying titles at a store.
However, not all purchases are created equal. This is why Electronic Arts announced on Monday the continuation of its value-added online program, now called the EA Sports Online Pass. It appears to be much like programs in Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Mass Effect 2′s Cerberus Network, for instance, grants access to free add-on downloads, including weapons, armor, and short missions. This is a project that is reportedly referred to within EA as Project Ten Dollar. Gamers who purchase one of EA Sports’ catalog of games this summer receive a code in the package which, after being inputted into the game, allows you access to bonus features. Since the code is only good for one use (and one PSN or Xbox Live account), if you don’t buy the game new, you have to pay $10 for a pass of your own.
Our impressions of the Halo: Reach beta
May 6th
With the Halo: Reach beta well underway, Nick and Aaron decided to dust off their copies of Halo 3: ODST to decode the Internet hubbub surrounding the latest entry in the franchise. While their experiences were both positive and negative, one thing is clear: It’s definitely Halo.
Sasquatch Soapbox: Unleashing the Banhammer? Xbox Live, cheaters, and bans
Jan 12th
Ducking bullets and returning fire in Modern Warfare 2 has become big business online — but with tons of online players, bugs inevitably crop up.
For all the positives that your yearly Xbox Live gold subscription buys, it comes with one major downfall: the generic Xbox Live asshole. This is not a new phenomenon — Penny Arcade codified the “G.I.F.T.” system more than five years ago — but on two recent major Xbox 360 titles, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Forza Motorsport 3, it appears that the Live team is finally taking a strong stance on cheaters.
But is what’s happening in these titles really cheating, and is the tough-guy stance really the appropriate response?
Silicon Sasquatch’s Honorable Mentions of 2009: Aaron’s picks
Dec 30th
While our Top 10 Games of 2009 deserve attention for their overall excellence, we can’t neglect this year’s other fantastic games — titles that just missed the final cut. Be it their charm or presentation, our Honorable Mentions were simply hard to forget. We now present a five-part series of articles, one from each member of the Silicon Sasquatch staff. Today, Aaron brings us our penultimate installment in this series with his list of honorable mentions.
Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
Dec 16th
What more can be said about the so-called largest entertainment launch in the history of mankind?
It’s tempting to boil down Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to a vaporous obligation, an experience that divides gamers into the haves and have-nots. But that’s putting blind faith in a product based on its advertising blitzkrieg. Aren’t we supposed to be discerning consumers?
The climate around Modern Warfare 2 is now adequate, a month after release, for a steady-handed dissection of gaming’s latest chart-topping champion — far removed from the pre-release hype. This critique won’t convert the detractors or embolden the fanatics, but it will hopefully read as an alternative education on the latest Call of Duty, a game that flirts with failure as much as it tastes success.
Co-op Review: Borderlands (Xbox 360)
Nov 16th
Editor’s note: Just like in our last Co-op Review, our goal here is to offer two viewpoints on one title; a title that’s explicitly meant to be played with friends. Borderlands is a fast-paced co-op lovers’ dream, and as such Aaron and Nick worked through the game multiple different times with varying numbers of participants. Enjoy, and let us know in the comments what you think about this review.
The Backlog: Scribbling Sporty Beatles edition
Sep 18th
This, metaphorically, is what the release calendar looks like for the next few months
It’s been a busy week for all of us here at Silicon Sasquatch. Doug’s been camping in the cold-yet-wait-it’s-hot-again Oregon weather, and enjoying the rebirth of his broken Xbox 360; Nick’s been playing through five or so games at once while writing, writing and more writing; I’ve been composing an extremely long review of Batman: Arkham Asylum in addition to enjoying a social life and trying to forge videogame industry public relations contacts.
Oh, and that feeling creeping down the back of your spine and into your pocket to make your wallet tingle with fear? Well, that’s the start of the Great Game Goldrush of 2009 — this previous week had quite the prodigious release schedule. Among the horde of games were NHL 10, NHL2k10, WET, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Scribblenauts, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Need for Speed Shift.
Next week, Halo 3: ODST releases. You can discuss (your praise for or condemnation of) that fact in our comments section.
See what we’ve been up to, game-wise, after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
Daily Recap: May 27-28, 2009
May 28th
This was me, 24 hours ago. Please excuse the tardiness with the update.
Hoo boy. Medicine sure is a fun thing, isn’t it? After recovering from liberal applications of medication and sleep to combat a particularly nasty sinus infection, things have returned to normal – including posting the news. And news there is to be posted!
Xbox Live membership has risen to more than 20 million users as the Xbox 360 has moved past 30 million consoles sold worldwide.
Microsoft announced today that it has hit a pair of milestones with the Xbox 360 console: 30 million systems sold worldwide, and 20 million individual users on its Xbox Live service. In the release, Microsoft attributed some of the growth to the New Xbox Experience dashboard overhaul that was launched last fall, saying that new membership numbers have gone up 136 percent since its debut in November. That led Microsoft to earn more than $14 billion on console sales, in addition to almost a billion pieces of content (both paid and free) downloaded via Xbox Live.