The merits of xbox live?

[thecremeegg]

I know this is going to open a can of worms but meh

Can someone who pays the subscription for xbox live please explain to me what exactly draws you to it and how its worth it?

My gripes are as follows:
Takes ages to find a server that doesnt lag (on 8mb connection)
Games like gears only support 6 players!
The live store has nothing of value

Compare this with the PS3 network:
Free
Servers never lag (well did once)
resistance has stupid amounts of players in a map

Sure, the PSN doesnt have the buddy elements of live, but they're free on silver anyways. I dont get how live became so big, as to me it seems so poor in terms of online gameplay?

I dont have either console, but i have a mate who has both. He doesnt pay for live as like me he cant see how its justified when you get a better online gameplay experience on the PS3

Im not a sony fanboy but im struggling to see how Live justifies the money?

 

[wozzaa]

Never really laggy occasionally it is but that can be down to your connection person yourplaying againsts connection whos hosting the match etc etc, Also far more players on live than there is on the PS3 service.

The online store in Europe isnt that great in the US you can get HD movies and TV shows from it though. They have started to try bring that to Europe though I think.
Yes gears may only support 6 players but some games support thousands it depends on the game. Gears maps are fairly small and due to the graphical quality of the game being a fair bit higher than resistance it takes a bit more power to run it thus smaller online number of players. Its apparently almost impossible for the PS3 to run gears as well as it runs on the 360 due to lack of graphical power and ram limitations of the PS3 for example. The 360 being a superior system in those departments. PS3 has a better CPU though.

Live store has a few things that are decent depends on game again. Be it extra levels. Or the crackdown addon which added new missions vehicles, weapons. Achievements. It depends on the game some you get sod all others you get loads from.

PS3 is free for some games but I can see in future companys doing Pay to play on certain games if you want to go online. Since the servers arent central unlike Live each gaming company could charge you to play the game online with monthly fee if they so wish. That cant happen with Live.

 

[MrMark]

live, is a sort of "meeting place" for xbox owners.

I suppose this is how i would describe it.

 

[The Ironist]

The bit of live you pay for is just the multiplayer so in a way yes its expensive. But i think its set up much better, how you can speak to friends in private chat while in games, and yes it does lag a bit more than resistance sometimes but i think 360 has more online games that are better quality than ps3 ones:

graw, r6vegas, halo 3 beta, crackdown.

With xbox live its more about knowing people and making friends as with ps3 they have not made it very easy for you to play online with friends at all, hopefully this will improve.

I currently only have xbox live because i had it before ps3 but im glad i kept paying for it because forza 2 is coming out and halo 3 later in the year

 

[Rhino172]

as said GOW only has up to 6 due the games limitations...

Call of Duty 3 on the other hand! lol go play that online...it is like you really are in the middle of a war...people all over the friggin place...you move...you die! lol it's mad!