X box live

[expat]

For a while now i have been thinking about gaming on line I have a X box 360 but know nothing about going live, my biggest concern is I only have a 1.5 gig download with my provider per month, is this enough how much do I need. and how do I go about getting on line. can you get a pay has you go card or something like that, any inform would be gratefully appreciated.
thanks
Steve

[mattylad]

search the forum, there is another thread about xbox & live with plenty of advice about it.

Mine is simple, "get it".

You will not regret it.

If you can hook your Xbox up to your router and get online then it won't eat up your 1.5gb unless your on constantly.

ISTR that the Xbox uses about 50mb per hour for most games.
I think there is something about it on the Xbox.com support site.

The annual subscription when bought from the example links provided is also the cheapest option for the year.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by mattylad

The annual subscription when bought from the example links provided is also the cheapest option for the year.

You have to pay to play online with an X-Box? You having a tin bath!
You pay for the game then pay again to play it or am I missing the point?

[mattylad]

The tin bath has sprung a leak

Yes, you pay at most a £40 subscription to be able to access all the online servers, which obviously supply the ability to play the multiplayer games. (although it has been had for as little as £10 with offers).

Consider how much you would spend going to the pub for an evening, then you have XBL (Xbox Live) which lasts all year and is a right hoot.

The games play perfectly well offline, but XBL is an enhancement.

You also then have messaging, voice communication, downloads, videos, trailers, demo's, game add ons, extra maps etc. All available via XBL.

There is now also the ability to download and watch films.

Most films and new map levels do cost extra, however it is not usually a lot (about £6-8) for the maps.

Most things in life are not free, XBL does have quite a lot that is but the newest & best stuff is not.

It's still worth it though.

P.S. you pay for the "World Of Warcraft" game discs & still have to pay £8.99 a month to be able to play that!

[Neil]

You get all of that with PC games for nothing so why do Microsoft charge for xbox live. With PC games the servers are either hosted by the game maker or community sites or often by other gamers. I have 2 older children that live a few miles away, my 2 here often play games with them with one of the PC's here acting as server for nothing.

Sounds like a good reason not to bother with an xbox to me.

[mattylad]

It's all part of the Microsoft gaming experience

As far as I know PS3 (Spit!) tried it but I believe it's naff.

Of course PC gaming enables you to do all that but it's not inthe same sort of environment, on the PC so many people run hacks/cracks.patches etc that it's harder to find an evenly matched game. Anyone doing it on XBL can be reported & kicked off ISTR.

[expat]

Thanks Mattylad you have sold it to me,like I said My main concern was downloads, I'll do some more research get myself hooked up, then most probably go on at the end of the month that way if do use a lot it won't leave me short,
P.S didn't understand the tin bath bit ?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by expat

P.S didn't understand the tin bath bit ?

tin bath - laugh

[mattylad]

BTW Expat, if you sign on with a new silver (offline) account/gamertag you generally get a free one month gold membership as a taster.

This gives you the month to play online, download etc all you want.

So you can see if you like it that way.

Probably best to play a game capable of multiplayer for a few weeks beforehand to get used to the layout, how to play it etc. before going online or the 12 year olds will open a new can of whoopass

[SamF]

XBL is by far superior to any other online gaming PC or PS (Wii is barely worth mentioning) Worth the £27 a year easily - it adds countless more hours to your gameplay.

[Tin Monkey]

XBL is so much more than just a server and as Sam says above, is well worth the £25-ish per year it costs. You can't compare it to PC online gaming and although I also have a PSN account, XBL is the best one.

[accyman]

i would say your bandwidth limits are very poor and you shoudl switch provider

when playing online you may find yuorself needing maps for levels that other playersd have downloaded and you will require to continue playing with those players , also merely been connected uses a small amount of bandwidth so with maps , been connected and actually playing the game been added to surfing ,watching utube etc and downloading on yor pc your allowance will probably be eaten up in no time

1.5 gb is pathetic by todays standard

if yu are using one of those usb pay as you go things then there are others with more allowance

also if you live in a virgin media area you can get broadband without needing a telephone line with BT

you can go through virgin media or AOL but i would recomend strongly against going with AOL as tehir software corrupts your operating system and even when removed leaves you with all sorts of problems

[Ossywarrior]

Originally Posted by Neil

You get all of that with PC games for nothing so why do Microsoft charge for xbox live. With PC games the servers are either hosted by the game maker or community sites or often by other gamers. I have 2 older children that live a few miles away, my 2 here often play games with them with one of the PC's here acting as server for nothing.

Sounds like a good reason not to bother with an xbox to me.

to be honest pc gaming isnt really as cheap as console gaming.

ok

u by x box £250 then use it for 5 years, play all the latest games until u by the next gen console.

x box live = £35 a year x 5 = £175

total cost = £425


by gaming pc = £900 plus u have to upgrade to play the latest games near enough every year.

if your really into online pc gaming it cost over a £1000 a year on top of any pc you have bought.

and please no one mention that online is free with ps3 because psn as awful