Xbox Live

[Michael]

You pay £40 for the starter kit I've seen, which gives you all of the kit you need plus a demo and 12 month subscription. Does this then cover all costs (bar games obviously) for the 12 months, or do you then make monthly payments too?

Cheers in advance.

[Scott McFly]

Yep, the starter kit covers Xbox Live for 12 months. Obviously you'd need to pay for your broadband as well, but as far as playing games over Live, you're good to go.

[Guest untouchable]

I'm not sure if it's different in the UK or if you mixed up your words or just don't know but in Canada and the States the starter kit comes with a full game not a Demo

[The Kraig]

Depends what you buy. I managed to get a great deal all for £40.

Included the Starter Pack (12 Month Subscription which I just renewed and headset), Project Gotham Racing 2 (full game, with pack) AND a dual connector so I can split my broadband between my PC and my Xbox at the same time.

PGR2 was worth £40 in itself, online it was great fun and sold online gaming to be by itself.

[Michael]

So just to clarify, the £40 covers the Live expenses with you having to pay for regular broadband and games only?

Oh, and is it worth me gettign Xbox Live for my Xbox now, or should I wait for the Xbox 360 to come out?

[The Kraig]

The £40 pays for access to Xbox Live only. You will have to pay for the games and the broadband supplier by yourself.

The Xbox Live service grants you:

Ability to play games online with people in your friends list, or matchmaking so you can meet up with other people who like to play the way you do (for example if you like playing Clones vs CIS in Star Wars Battlefront, or if you like racing in the Nurburgring in Project Gotham Racing 2, you can search for other people playing in those kind of games. The Halo 2 matchmaking thing is a bit different, and generally sucks, but custom games with only people you like can be arranged).

Ability to downloads updates (patches, additional content like new maps, etc). Patches are free, some downloadbale content you have to pay for, but anything you have to pay for is very clearly marked, so there's no risk of accidentally downloading stuff you didn't know you had to buy.

Voicechats with anyone on your friends list, like a telephone. Whenever. For free. Which is very cool if you have relatives who just so happen to live very far away, and have Xbox Live too. (¬_¬)

Don't worry, I was very sceptical about it when I first got it, but I could honestly say after my first match online I was like 'THIS IS THE FUTURE. MY GOD WHY DID I TAKE SO LONG IN DOING THIS.'

One annoying thing, after your subscription ends, Xbox Live (Microsoft actually) will automatically charge you an additional £40 for another 12-month subscription without asking you. While this is quite handy, make sure your credit card account actually has £40 in it, or all hell breaks loose at the bank.

And no, don't wait for the 360. Apparently you get Xbox Live Silver automatically with the Xbox 360, which will just be patches. Xbox Live Gold will be pretty much everything else, and all current Xbox Live accounts will be taken over onto Xbox Live Gold accounts, so there's no worries there. I doubt there will be any price change, but the service will apparently be better (faster, presented better, etc).

Edited September 3, 2005 by The Kraig