Seeing as how I've been a Live subscriber for almost six years, I think I'm quite familiar.

I had Gold access for all the perks, including Netflix. Now that I've dropped Netflix I don't see the point. For $30, sure. For $60, no.

 

i dont see why you guys think live's price before the increase is $30... its been $50 for several years...

if you're buying discounted $30 cards, why not just continue to do so? if your not paying full price now, what would cause you to do so when they raise the price to $60?

 

Because the sales have been few and far between lately, and most people who have been getting it for that price doubt we will be able to do so. $45 is probably going to be the new 'sale' price. Either way, it's not worth a price increase, period. With competition from PSN, the price should be the same with new features, or reduced.

 

idk, the way i see it, they have kept the price at 50 bucks for nearly 8 years. continuously adding features and perks...

its amazing they kept it at $50 for this long.

if you weigh out what you got with XBL in 2002 compared to today... i'd say the features have increased tenfold...

dont get me wrong i'd like the price to stay the same without question... but this is definately not a malicious move by the company... its inflation, you cant expect it to stay the same forever.

 

They can't expect everyone to keep their subs either. Their choice.

 

true, and its sad they wont ever notice that decrease b/c the majority of players that stick around and pay the extra money will more than likely overshadow people who leave...

the reason they can bully us?

there are more PAYING xbox live users then there are free using PSN users.
sucks to pay, but Microsoft delivers..

 

The price increase is less than a dollar a month, I don't think you'll notice the difference....

If that's a lot of money for you then maybe you shouldn't have a Xbox live in the first place

 

i spend more a year in Downloadable Content then i do for my subscription...

each add-on is 10-15 bucks lol.

 

Perhaps you shouldn't assume so much.

$10 is reasonable. $20? $30? How much exactly isn't reasonable?

 

New whisper quiet 360 has arrived! Damn it is quiet. And it doesn't turn my room into a sauna. Connected right up to my wireless network.

I'm not really sure why they didn't bundle these with an HDMI cable. I have plenty so it's not a big deal. But, you would think if they are going to tout HD gamin and streaming of videos, they would include HDMI cable.

 

who's raising the price by $30?

microsoft is issuing a $10 price increase...you said the $10 is reasonable.. so whats the problem?

i think what he meant by his comment is that the normal expenses that come along with owning an xbox (or any console for that matter) far exceed an amount as petty as $10.

a new game for instance... you pay $60.. even if you buy 2 new games a year.. your far exceeding the cost of a live subscription..

they started this a while back when the price of the Elites dropped.. it was one of their "reasons" for being able to lower the cost... and they just continued to stop shipping them with the consoles all-together...

even my $450 CoD xbox was without HDMI cable

 

If a $10 increase is okay today, and everybody plays ball, you're bound to see it again.

The difference is, I don't pay full price for a full game. I try not to pay full price for anything.

It's a stupid argument. Why should I have to justify my reasoning for not wanting to pay more for a product?

 

i'll play ball for another 8 years.. that seems to be the trend

you dont have to justify anything... nobody asked you to. i also agreed i dont wanna pay more for it..

 

Nobody does. Too much markup on them to bundle. $7 on monoprice versus $50 at Best Buy. You'd think PS3's would come with component cables at least.

 

ps. if anybody wants to buy their next year of live at a discounted price before the increase...

you can buy your next year of live from Microsoft.. for $39.99 as of now.

 

A little follow up, as I received an email that is sorta related.

I'm not mad at anyone for suggesting that it's 'only' this, or 'only' that. If that was my only expense, or call to spend a little bit extra I'm sure I'd understand.

But I received an email today, which spelled out a website's intentions to start charging to allow you to visit it at certain times. I barely visit the site anymore, so I'm certain to not pay it. But what if I did use it a lot? $20 a year is only $1.67 a month. I could certainly afford that.

What if AZ did the same thing? I'm sure there would be as many people here as there was there saying 'don't be a cheap fuck, you can afford it.'

How about that premium content for GT5? Sure.

Subscription to get woodworking plans next year? Okay.

Rate increase to remain professionally credentialed? Well, I suppose I have to.

Increase in my termite contract? Well, don't want the house to fall down.

Increase in insurance? Damn. Phone bill went up? Fuck.

My point simply is that when people say stuff like 'it's only...' they have no grasp of all of those other 'it's only...' things in our lives. People justify things by how much they use them or what they get out of it. If Live is one of those things for you, I don't fault you for it. But it's pretty low on the priority list for some people. And while we're content to continue to spend at a certain level, ANY amount increase could cause us to waiver.

Just something to think about the next time someone objects to something that's seemingly no big deal.

 

i bet you stopped buying 20 oz. cokes when they went up from $.99 to $1.30

inflation is unavoidable.. if you refuse to increase cost on one thing, another will get you.. and get you soon.

i agree with your point, and that its not a high priority.. but if xbox is the straw that will break the camel's back... somebody is shelling out too much money on other things. (this is not a personal statement towards you btw)

 

No, you really don't get my point then.

 

yes, you're saying if you let one thing raise, and another, and another it adds up, its more about the big picture also that everyone's $.80 cents a month may mean something different...... blah blah i get it.. trust me, im not saying you're wrong.

my response was even if you understand this concept, that you cant avoid it.... by no means is cutting, one, two, or even 3 things off going to stop another 1,2, or 3 things from raising up.

 

It's all subjective values. I value an extra dinner out a year more than I do continued matchmaking services. I can easily afford both, and more. I choose to register my displeasure with the company by not providing them more income.

 

and your point is taken.

i dont disagree with your decision. afterall, it only affects you.

from the beginning i simply stated why i thought the increase was not "wrong" of the company to do.. not that it wouldnt affect people in different ways.

 

You weren't the one I took issue with.

And for the record, I did start drinking less Cokes. I would have welcomed a tiered Live program as well. I'd be okay with taking a lower tier of demos and Netflix for a lower rate.

 

well shit.

 

I don't get this new 360... it dropped to $199 but only has 4GB?? I mean an ipod nano has more? Am I missing something?!

 

It's $199 and "kinect ready". A lot of peeps don't download much, and if you buy this one you can get an 8gb xbox flash drive for less than $30. If you buy the 4GB with kinect it only cost $299. It's just the base model to push the kinect. 4gb is plenty of for game saves. Streaming of movies takes up no space.

If I were to by kinect for my 250gb, which cost $299, it would cost me an extra $150.

 

I'm skipping Kinect altogether. If you think you're going to download a bunch of add-on content or arcade games, get the 250.

 

Ya, I'm not sold on kinect either. I have a wii.

there aren't enough games for kinect yet either.

 

You gotta remember that the previous 'Arcade' model(which this model basically replaces) was selling at the same $199. It only had 256mb of internal memory, and no WiFi built in.

This one got 4Gs of int. mem., and wireless b/g/n! Plus.................the possibility of not getting the dreaded RROD, lol!

That's what I'll be getting to replace my premium model, which got the *ahem* RROD! 4 gigs is more than enough for game saves. I got a PS3 Slim. So, I can use that for demo downloads. (well, except exclusive xbox titles)

 

all I do is play MW2 Live and download whatever new maps... and also anticipating "Black Ops"...

...so if that's all I ever do, will this $199 "Arcade" model be enough?

 

4 GB will not be sufficient enough if your playing games such as CoD online and buy new map packs or add ons...

1 game can easily take up 1-3 gigs with map packs, weapons and such..
not to mention your gamer tag info... plus the fact that its probably more like 3.5GB of internal memory..

if dont download additional content, and play games mostly offline, this is the console for you..
if you're doing anything extra.. spend the extra $100 bucks and save yourself the headache




side note.

trade your current console in for $50 and you'll only end up paying $250 for the new, 250GB console.

 

the large HD is a must for me b/c i download all of my games to my HD so that disc are never spinning when im on my xbox...

its quieter.. disc dont wear down.. less stress on the console.

 

will they take in a console that's got the Red Rings?

 

MW2 with both map pack takes up 688mb. 4gb will be enough for CoD. If you start to run low on space, buy a $30 8gb flash drive.

 

actually yes....
but if you would like to temporarily fix those red rings to get a bit more money at trade in, do the following.

1. unplug everything from your console except the power supply cable.

2. turn the console on (even if it shows the red ring)

3. wrap the entire console snugly in a bed comforter.

4. let sit for about 20-25 minutes.

5. unwrap console and turn off.

6. let sit for about 20-25 minutes.

7. press power button and be amazed that its no longer showing red rings.


note: this is not a permanent fix. but you can play games on it in the mean time and take it to the store in "working" condition which will pull in a few more dollars for your soon to be doomed console.

ps. no red text... this is real and will work.. done it several times.

he mentioned getting the new CoD which will also include updates such as map pack and add-ons.. he'd be pushing it.

and what i said earlier about turning in his xbox to get the new one for only $250.... 4GB+8GBflash = $230
much better value just buying the xbox with the larger HD



also, the 250 GB is all glossy and matches the TV

 

Actually, i meant ONE red light. Does it matter?

 

what error message does the screen display when you turn it on?

E73?

 

That's hardware failure, but not the RROD.

 

E74

 

That's covered under the three year warranty.

 

E74: I/O Hardware Error - HSIO related, could be crc error, or many things: There is high chance it's a scaler chip problem (the "ANA" or "HANA" chip near the AV cable connection) it can also be caused by a faulty AV cable so check that first. Microsoft covers this error under their 3-year warranty, this is availble to anyone who hasn't modified their console. contact MS to get a free replacement console