While Microsoft was quite quiet about Live for Windows Vista, today during a press event prior to the Game Developers Conference the company revealed to Game Informer Online the exact pricing structure for the service. Live for Windows Vista will actually be the same exact price for Vista as it is for the Xbox 360. Just like with the Xbox 360 there will be a free Silver package as well as a Gold package which retails for $49.99 for a year subscription, $7.99 for one month, and $19.99 for three months.
Good news for gamers who already have an Xbox Live Gold Membership – you’ve already subscribed. Your Live membership works on the Xbox, Xbox 360, and Live for Windows. Your gamer tag and achievements will be used across both Xbox and Vista PCs. Upcoming Vista games like Halo 2 and some exclusive Vista casual games will include achievements and will be able to add to your gamer score.
News source: GameInformer
Good news for gamers who already have an Xbox Live Gold Membership – you’ve already subscribed. Your Live membership works on the Xbox, Xbox 360, and Live for Windows. Your gamer tag and achievements will be used across both Xbox and Vista PCs. Upcoming Vista games like Halo 2 and some exclusive Vista casual games will include achievements and will be able to add to your gamer score.
News source: GameInformer
What are the Windows Live Gold benefits?
It's Vista-centric and the biggest benefit over standard multiplayer gaming seems to be that your stats are recorded and you have an account. I don't think that's enough incentive for anyone to pay $8 a month for multiplayer they already get for free on PCs. You could also use something like X-Fire if you want to have a permanent account for PC gaming.
Don't you love how MS is "saving PC gaming"? That's what their ad campaign said. With help like this, PC gaming would be better off dead.
The only benefit Live seems to have over PC online gaming is that all of your friends are connected, but we have IM's for that and I sure as hell wouldn't pay $50 a year for the privilege anyway.
Just shoot me now.
Here is one way of looking at it:
For the fee, you get Xbox Live and Live for Windows. You don't need 3rd party apps for Live for windows titles for server browsing, matchmaking, and communication.
From ArsTechnica.com (link at bottom):
If you've read In the Beginning Was the Command Line, you should already have a real good idea what Microsoft is trying to do here. They're in the business of making complex tasks easier (well, seemingly easier - the difference between the real and the perceived is best demonstrated but what a pain Windows is once you start moving outside the boundaries of "normal" use). What they're offering is a single interface to handle game instantiation, matchmaking, player communication, game rankings, and - probably - logins.
There's something to be said for that. Having a persistent identity across games is worth something: I'd imagine almost everyone who plays multiple games online uses the same handle in most of them. Most forum users tend to use the same handle on all the forums they participate in - and I've certainly known people to be annoyed when "their" handles have already been taken.
Along with that, there's something to be said for a barrier to entry - if someone is banned, it actually costs to set up a new identity. This, in turn, makes booting people more effective.
Similarly, a unified friends list is nice to have - people I get along with in one game I am more likely to get along with in other games. Having a gaming community rather than a game community has its advantages.
How many pieces of free software would be required to set this up individually? How much time would you spend setting them up?
There's obviously a role for the approach that uses many small pieces of free software to accomplish the same thing that one piece of expensive software does. But the reverse is also true. If it weren't, then Linux would dominate desktops.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars...ucture#Comments
You want an example? Look at what they did to the Rainbow Six franchise. It used to be good back in the Raven Shield era. Now it's more like Rainbow Sucks than Rainbow Six.
OK, so there's more factors at play here then Live, but we don't need another freaking reason for console ports for the PC. Microsoft says they're trying to "save" PC gaming, but I think they're gonna end up killing it.
Silver Package -> FREE
Your gamertag
Universal Friends List
XBLA
Video, Voice & Text Communications
Online Multiplayer against other PC's
The only thing that will cost you is a copy of Windows Vista
Gold Package -> Paid Service
Everything in Silver
Online Multiplayer against PC's & XBOX 360 owners
And i not sure about this last one but i remeber reading somewhere you would be getting exclusive content and demos before silver owners.
I also heard of some extra features but they havent released that yet
But i think this is great and cant wait for this to happen again i am a console gamer i love my pc games but i just dont have the money to keep upgrading my video card but at least now i will be able to play my pc buddies once again, yes there are some drawbacks such as certain games being ported from the 360 to pc but there is also games that developers like shadow run and alan wake are developing for the pc & 360 seperatly. I just hope they make this a great as xbox live on the 360.
Your gamertag
Universal Friends List
XBLA
Video, Voice & Text Communications
Online Multiplayer against other PC's
The only thing that will cost you is a copy of Windows Vista
Win/win situation for Microsoft, everyone will eventually switch to vista, have one of the 360, or xblive, also the next operating system which will probably provide better directx, better gaming, in the cost of a few bucks every few months.
-edit-
I didn't read the free gaming between two PCs... lol.. I really need to pay more attention.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.