For Xbox 360 and PS3 users: "Are you satisfied with Xbox Live or PSN services and fees? Why?"

XBL is trash for me simply because I have to pay to play online multiplayer. I started to game primarily on the PS3 because of the, but PSN Plus came along and, it's not for everyone, but the free games it offers has been a great service for me. Even if it wasn't for PS+, I'd prefer PSN just because of the multiplayer thing, though.

I stopped using my Xbox altogether because I find I go weeks at a time without playing it or use it as a Netflix only device sometimes. To pay a fee for so little use makes no sense. The PSN with no fees gets my vote. You can buy the plus for cool offers but it is not required to play multiplayer games or watch Netflix.

PSN is killing it right now. Thinking about XBOX Live just makes me angry. It's not even a contest anymore.

I have yet to have any great lasting online multiplayer experiences on console. There's a few games that's been fun for a few days, but the lack of community focus just breaks it for me. Also the idea of having to pay to be able to buy games is just stupid and the console stores are not very good.

Never had any interest in paying for online services that are otherwise free. PS+ Instant game collection is pretty excellent though, even though it might be better in Europe etc.

can't say i'm happy to pay for gold but all of my friends play on xbox so it makes it worth it for me in the end. PSN+ is cool

I have a 1-year membership with X-Box Live right now, and I'm enjoying it. For starters, It allowed me to get some DLC for Mass Effect 2.

PSN and the Playstation Plus service is making Xbox Live look like a fucking joke. Very happy with what Sony is doing.

live fee's are so little i barely give them a thought. i spend more on coffee than i do XBL.

PSN has never let me down and even when it was down for over a month due to outside sources that It didnt bother me much. Also even since they started doing the Bonuses for PS+ with the free games being more then indie that I enjoy it even more. I have games now that I will never buy / play but its just the fact that I have them now is why I am happy.

They both have their ups and downs.

I'm a pretty social gamer so I like being able to form parties with my friends and shoot the shit, even if we're all playing something different, so that's a pretty big plus. Unfortunately the minuses and really adding up lately. Over the last couple of years they've raised the fee, created a new dashboard with the worst UI, gotten rid of all the Inside Xbox videos, and put more and more ads all over the place. Microsoft needs to get their shit together next gen. It's also pretty bad how hey lock Netflix and similar features behind the Gold paywall but most of that doesn't affect me.

With PSN, I think the store only recently got a decent UI, the old ones were terrible, but my biggest problem is slow download speeds. I really don't understand why I get good speeds on everything in my house but PSN. It's terrible. While I've not joined PSN+, I think it's become a great service. One thing though, people have got to stop talking about all the free games they get from it. You're paying a fee... they aren't free.

The major deal breaker for me in favor of Xbox Live is being able to bullshit in party chat with 7 other friends while we're all playing completely separate games. PSN+ giving away free stuff and online play over PSN being free is great, but I very rarely use my PS3, and most of my friends are either on the 360 or PC, so I'm slightly biased against the PS3 in general.

The fee for Xbox Live never bothered me either. Paying $50 a year just means one less game bought.

PSN doesn't dick over the customer like XBL does, but game communities tend to die on the PSN side faster than it's XBL counterpart, particularly when the game wasn't a huge release that got a lot of pre-launch attention. It's sad too, because this made me get the Xbox version of games the majority of the time. Even with the benefits of PS+ that I receive, I would still use my 360 more because all the side benefits don't matter if there is no one to play a multiplayer game with.

@Morbid_Coffee I agree the PSN does need a party chat. The Vita has a party chat so I would hope that means we will see it on PS3 soon.

I don't like paying for xbox live, but I don't have a PS3. I've had limited experience with PSN itself but I feel like xbox live has more of what I'm looking for as far as ease of access and integration. I like the amount of info you can get from user profile in Xbox live.

@blastroid said:

@Morbid_Coffee I agree the PSN does need a party chat. The Vita has a party chat so I would hope that means we will see it on PS3 soon.

Didn't Sony say it was impossible on the ps3 because of the small amount of RAM the ps3 has?

i started off this generation with a xbox 360. i played that for a while. i remember people saying hey psn is crappy. my friend got a ps3. i played it and didn't even know why people were saying that it was crappy. to me it was the same thing. when the ps3 lowered in price i bought one. i like it more than xbox live. to me it's the same kind of service since it's peer to peer network.

in the end i like psn better than xbox live because it's free to play online. the only problem with psn is it seems like community dies on games. it's alright though.

Xbox live is one of the major reasons I switched to PC. I defended it for a while but I can only take so much fucking disgusting marketing.
PSN, however, is getting better and better. Free games for $50 a year rocks. And multiplayer will ALWAYS be free.

@TheSlothKing said:

@blastroid said:

@Morbid_Coffee I agree the PSN does need a party chat. The Vita has a party chat so I would hope that means we will see it on PS3 soon.

Didn't Sony say it was impossible on the ps3 because of the small amount of RAM the ps3 has?

Yeah after searching for it I did find an article about the lack of RAM. If that is the case then has do games cover the voice overhead?

I only have Xbox Live at the moment and I'm having an absolutely miserable time with it. Paying just to use netflix is terrible, I really would like to trade in my 360 for a ps3 but I'm expecting to only get $60 for my whole 360 collection sadly.

Only have a PS3, PSN is great. Watching Hulu, Youtube and Netflix free of charge (other than their subscription fees) is great...I wish we had HBO GO though. Online gameplay seems good to me. Grabbed PS+ earlier this year and I love it. Sure, if I ever cancel my subscription I'll lose access to all the games I've received for free, but that won't change the fact that I got those games for free. And the Free Game Trials are another great addition: I've been able to test out the football games I've ignored since their jump to this generation, Saints Row III, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Assassin's Creed II, and plenty more. Those trials sold copies of NCAA 13 and Madden 13, maybe another game.

And just doing the math on what i'm paying for PS+ vs. what I've received from it...? (I'm estimating these prices here, from what I recall most of them are reduced in price on the store)

PS+: -50.00

Just Cause 2: +30.00

Outland: +15.00

Space Marine: +40.00

Portal 2: -14.00 (6.00 savings)

Infamous 2: +40.00

Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition: +60.00

Renegade Ops: +30.00

Virtua Fighter 5 Final: +40.00

Uncharted 1 + 2: -40.00 (if this isn't/wasn't a PS+ exclusive deal, both games for $40 total, my bad)

Borderlands: +50.00

Hot Shots Golf 2: +6.00

Saints Row 2: +20.00

Even if some of these prices /math is off (my calculator is my iPhone, and sometimes I tap the wrong number), that's $227 I haven't spent this year, and wouldn't have had available to spend otherwise. I never even touched Saints Row 2 (needed space), barely touched Borderlands (needed space, not a huge fan of FPS) and Virtua Fighter (just not as into fighters as I used to be), got about a third of the way through Just Cause 2 (mainly just because NBA 2K dropped, otherwise I'd still be playing) and Warhammer (gameplay dried up) halfway through Outland (I think, still drop in for an hour or so every week or two). But I did finally get to play Infamous 2 after loving Infamous (a let down, as I expected) and discovered the pure thrill ride that is Renegade Ops. I also got to prove my fears that Uncharted's gameplay would get stale and experience it's awesome set pieces and graphics while slogging through it's lame villains and plot twists, and while I've never been too excited for RE5 REmake, RE2 and RE4 are some of my favorite gaming memories of all time so I'm thankful for Sony giving me a shot at seeing how they wrap up the Umbrella storyline.

I really can't say enough about the PS+ service, some of these games would have either collected dust in my apartment or I would have been annoyed I'd spent money on them, but with PS+ I got to try all of them for a one time fee that's paid itself back to me between four and five times over in just six or seven months, and for big-time marquee titles to boot. If that's not amazing value I really don't know what is.

The major deal breaker for me in favor of Xbox Live is being able to bullshit in party chat with 7 other friends while we're all playing completely separate games. PSN+ giving away free stuff and online play over PSN being free is great, but I very rarely use my PS3, and most of my friends are either on the 360 or PC, so I'm slightly biased against the PS3 in general.

The fee for Xbox Live never bothered me either. Paying $50 a year just means one less game bought.

I've paid for xbox live since the first year of the original xbox. I also have a PS3. Over time I've seen xbox live lose its ground completely. The 'gold account' is bullshit. Definitely not right how they continue to hold your online games ransom.

PS+. That is all.

I had a 360 for a while and did not like having to pay for Live. When I finally got my ps3 about 4 years ago, I enjoyed not having to pay for Live with PSN.

Is PSN have as many features as Live? Of course not. Am I willing to trade that for it being free? Definitely. I hope on and play the occasional multiplayer game and have no problem with how PSN is set up.

If I have a complaint about PSN is that their cloud storage size is a bit light. Otherwise, this is how consoles should be doing their cloud storage where local storage holds the current version while the cloud file system mirrors.

And the automatic download/patching should be available to all users.

I usually watch Netflix in my living room on my PS3, but I wanted to have Netflix in my room also, so I hooked up the 360 in there. I realized after turning it on I needed a gold membership to even use Netflix, which is fucking bullshit, things like this is why I don't thrown my money towards anything. Xbox Live related.

You missed options for no fees on either. I've had (only) an Xbox for 5 years and have never paid for gold, so it's viable n

I haven't renewed my Xbox live subscription this time around, mainly due to money constraints but also because Fuck them!

Letting my XBL sub expire because literally the only thing I use my 360 for is streaming Netflix and I'm letting that sub lapse, too.

If the LIVE platform was anything more than a way for advertisers to get gamer eyeballs, I might consider keeping it. But the current iteration of the 360's UI is so poor, I don't even want to turn the damn thing on anymore.

I play games on xbox live nightly when I'm home, It's how I keep in touch with one of my friends.

I'm not happy but I'm satisfied, I don't use netflix or any streaming services just party chat and multiplayer or sometimes just party chat. It's reliable and works well enough, though I'd happily not pay with the amount of ads they have. But I always buy my 12 month on sale whenever I see it so I have yet to pay the 60$.