Well, Pachter has been calling for it for a while...starting November 1st, the price for a 12 month subscription to Xbox Live will increase from 49.99 to 59.99.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/hosted/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227101749&subSection=Hosted+Software

Only thing that surprises me about it is it's not more...

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"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."

What a racket!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I know, I know. In your day, you could go to the malt shop and play pinball for a nickel all damn day.

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In my day, I just played with myself...gotta go it looks like "it's my day" again!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

First they get rid of 1 vs 100 and now this?

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This is my signature...

Which is good, because if they ever start charging for online play, I'm completely abandoning the platform...

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"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."

You ain't shittin', sister.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

If they are going to start charging more, then I want free games. All the time.

Maybe I'm an idiot (been called that before), but I don't mind paying money for good service.

I don't either, but price increases always rub me the wrong way, especially when the alternative is free.

To be fair, however, XBox knows damn well that I'm not going to drop $500 to purchase the same amount of software/hardware that I current have with Microsoft. So joke's on me.

What is so bad about the online playing experience with the Playstation Network? I bought the 360 before the PS3 ever came out and I never looked back. But people that I know that have both seem to complain about the PSN. How bad could it be? Is it laggy? Is it tough to navigate?

I don't do a whole lot of online gaming, but I have no issue with the PSN.

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No issues with PSN at all. Play online with buddies quite a bit.

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Team Cutler.

The server lag is extremely noticeable when it's hooked up to a wireless network. Since I've switched to a direct connection, it's been great.

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I usually hear the lack of cross game voice chat is a strike against the PSN. It probably is but I don't really want to talk to anybody anyway.

I'll tell you the things I use on Xbox Live
1) Online gaming (far and away what I use it for)
2) Xbox LIVE Arcade... download a few games for the kids
3) Netflix - been using this more and more to stream videos

I dont use the Facebook or Twitter features. I don't watch trailers. I don't buy sh!t for my Avatar. Frankly if there are no connection issues, I don't see why I wouldn't switch to PS3. But since I've got a network of friends on XBL... I'm not switching.

The XBL network is simply bigger in size, as well. Having limited exerpience with the PSN, I can see that the number of features on XBL outweight those offered by Sony. However, I also play online more often than not, so perhaps XBL is the better option for me.

Regardless, it still boils down to the fact that I have too much invested in XBox now to switch over to PS3. I just don't see the point of it now. And, as My_Name said above, the network of friends on XBL is a bonus.

Navigating the Playstation store kind of blows, but connection-wise, I've never had an issue connecting to or playing on the PSN...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

This is awesome...

I made a post about the topic of Playstation Network vs. Xbox Live a while ago and someone (present company excluded) threw a fucking hissyfit when I dared to suggest that the PSN UI was less than user friendly when compared to Xbox Live...seeing multiple PS3 owners bring that up in an unrelated thread just makes my belief in that stronger.

I will say this...my post about abandoning the platform if they started charging for online play has nothing to do with the quality of the games/system/service and everything to do with the same thing Ugie and Mud are talking about...I'm invested into the 360 and Live, it's what the vast majority of my friends play on, and to a lesser extent, there are more exclusives I'd rather play on the 360 versus the PS3.

I initially had problems with download speeds on the PS3, but I haven't noticed them in the last year. Cross game chat is the one thing that most people like to point out as far as a tangible difference...it's nice, but I rarely use it.

That being said, I also agree with Mud's point about not having a problem paying for a good service...with the increase, it's going to be 5 bucks a month if you get your subscription by the year...best fucking five bucks I'll spend every month, without question.

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"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."