x-box live kit question.

[SNAAAKE]

 

http://ebgames.com/ebx/product/235215.asp

http://ebgames.com/ebx/product/520333.asp

whats the difference between these 2
first one comes with a free game(fantacy star) and second one doesnt.
both cost $50.
how why would ANYONE buy the first one ?  
anyone ?
I about to get it but little confused.

I am not interested in PSO so I will probley end up selling it or something.

[jakejake28]

first one comes with a free game(fantacy star) and second one doesnt.
both cost $50.

actually, the second does have games with it:

This version of the Xbox Live Starter Kit includes trial demos of MechAssault, MotoGP and a full version of Tetris Worlds!

and on a related note: i like fantasy star(hint, hint)

[tom61]

Probably listed since they still have stock of it, only usefull to buy if the other is out of stock.

Also, you probably won't be able to sell PSO, since it's probably linked to that Live account, and is on the main enabling disc.

[DAmnb]

Well PSO is a great game but it has a monthly fee so if you dont want P2P dont get that kit  

[Jakobud]

You know whats lame is that the demo version of MotoGP is XBox Live but the full version of it isn't..... whats up with that?

[eightbit]

Why play on live at all? You can play for free without it. I refuse to even consider signing up for live untill M$ makes some kind of committment to how or how much they are going to charge for it. I'm also very unhappy with the recent upgrades that they are doing without notifying you or giving you a choice even if you don't subscribe to live.

[jakejake28]

Why play on live at all? You can play for free without it.

if i am not mistaken, thats not really legal. if i am wrong, i wanna know how

[Birdtales]

Not illegal, maybe not MS sanctioned but not illegal.

http://www.xbconnect.com/

is one way.

[SNAAAKE]

thank you thank you..this looks interesting

[eightbit]

Why play on live at all? You can play for free without it.

if i am not mistaken, thats not really legal. if i am wrong, i wanna know how

Not legal? It doesn't require you to modify your xbox in any way. People have been playing for free on the internet almost since the xbox came out. It took MS over a year to comeout with their online playing service.

[Howard_Casto]

Don't think that this will stop m$ from trying to ban it though.  Mind you I'm a firm m$ supporter, but they seem to go a little crazy protecting their console from foreign services/applications.  From what I've heard theri legal dept is just afraid to take action at this time because of bad p.r.  

[DAmnb]

Well XBConnect doesnt support all games only the games that has link support so I dont think M$ will put their foot down on this.  

[eightbit]

Don't think that this will stop m$ from trying to ban it though.  Mind you I'm a firm m$ supporter, but they seem to go a little crazy protecting their console from foreign services/applications.  From what I've heard theri legal dept is just afraid to take action at this time because of bad p.r.  

I don't see how they can ban it because your not doing anything to the xbox. No hardware or software modifications are involved. It simply requires that you run a program on your PC and basically makes your PC a router for what would normally be local game traffic.

Now it wouldn't surprise me if they update your xbox and inadvertantly break people playing without their service. They've updated xbox's through new games before and the recently they started updating your xbox if you select xbox live from the dashboard while being internet connected even if you don't have a live account. These updates have fixed (or broken) some of the exploits people have been using.

[Howard_Casto]

You can play for free without it. I refuse to even consider signing up for live untill M$ makes some kind of committment to how or how much they are going to charge for it.

I just saw this.  Wtf are you talking about man?  M$ is quite clear about the costs.  It's 50 bucks a year and they have the option to alter the billing charge once a year.  That seems extremely fair considering what you get.  These other games that require an additional charge per month/ per download are setup by the game developers, not m$ so complain to them.  Btw except for massively multiplayer games (which have always seemed like a joke imho) there are 0 pay-per-play games on the xbox live service.  

Regarding the motogp.... as it's a launch title, the game has to be updated before it will play on live.  The live demo is also the upgrade disc.  I don't know the exact steps to fix it though, as I don't own the game personally.

In conclusion, I really wish people would actually try a service before they bash it.  I've tried both methods and I can tell you, there is no comparison.  To put it blunty, you can actually have a good online experience (ie lag free, lots of players, no time outs, ect...)  on live and on the gamespy servers, not so much.  In this case you really do get what you pay for.  

[eightbit]

You can play for free without it. I refuse to even consider signing up for live untill M$ makes some kind of committment to how or how much they are going to charge for it.

I just saw this.  Wtf are you talking about man?  M$ is quite clear about the costs.  It's 50 bucks a year and they have the option to alter the billing charge once a year.  That seems extremely fair considering what you get.  These other games that require an additional charge per month/ per download are setup by the game developers, not m$ so complain to them.  Btw except for massively multiplayer games (which have always seemed like a joke imho) there are 0 pay-per-play games on the xbox live service.  

Regarding the motogp.... as it's a launch title, the game has to be updated before it will play on live.  The live demo is also the upgrade disc.  I don't know the exact steps to fix it though, as I don't own the game personally.

In conclusion, I really wish people would actually try a service before they bash it.  I've tried both methods and I can tell you, there is no comparison.  To put it blunty, you can actually have a good online experience (ie lag free, lots of players, no time outs, ect...)  on live and on the gamespy servers, not so much.  In this case you really do get what you pay for.  

I wish Howard that would quit being such a sour puss. As usual you bash people for having opinions and then you state your opinion as fact. No I don't have a live account but I know people that do. I've tried playing for free and I've tried playing on live.

The last I heard MS hadn't announced yet what they were going to charge only that they were charging $50 for the live kit which included a year of the service. It was nice of you to inform me of my lack of information in such a pleasant way.

I don't have a clue where you pulled the pay per play comments from. I never mentioned anything about pay per play.

Howard being the cheapskate corner cutter that you are, I can hardly believe that you are advocating paying for something. Especially when their is a free alternative. I think you pick the controversial side of every discussion just to stir things up.

[Howard_Casto]

My comments were directed towards EVERYONE in the thread.  The world doesn't revolve around you man, lighten up.  

[Frostillicus]

FWIW, I bought a LIVE kit way back in Jan.  Suffice it to say, it sucks.  A whole lotta kiddies (actually pretty much the same as online...), and at the time all I had was MechAssault.  Maybe it's better now.  I guess I was hoping for something more.  I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription.

WHICH by the way, will happen for the majority of subscribers exactly the time when HALO 2 comes out - coincidence??! I think not (despite the denials by M$).  There are other options - gamespy tunnel, xbconnect and I think one other whose name eludes me at the moment....

The phantom is the only pay per play thing I can think of (are there others?)..and we all know how much that will succeed.  And by succeed I mean fail miserably.  

[Howard_Casto]

Well that's your problem.  MechAssault sucks.  I was stupid enough to get that too.  The only thing I play on xblive is cvssnk2 eo.  I thought it went without mentioning that you had to enjoy the live games before it was worthwile. Judging from your comments you don't hate xbox live, you hate the entire online play experience, which has nothing to do with live. The comments you made would be the same regardless of the service, as you are talking about game specific stuff and the community, which are identical throughout the board, with one exception... xboxlive will send you game upgrades and the others won't.  That's enough to justify 50 bucks a year for me.   And as I said with the free services you tie up your host pc, have more lag and more timeouts and have fewer people to play with.  

So if you hate xbox live then you would despise the other services.

[Frostillicus]

Well that's your problem.  MechAssault sucks.  I was stupid enough to get that too.  The only thing I play on xblive is cvssnk2 eo.  I thought it went without mentioning that you had to enjoy the live games before it was worthwile. Judging from your comments you don't hate xbox live, you hate the entire online play experience, which has nothing to do with live. The comments you made would be the same regardless of the service, as you are talking about game specific stuff and the community, which are identical throughout the board, with one exception... xboxlive will send you game upgrades and the others won't.  That's enough to justify 50 bucks a year for me.   And as I said with the free services you tie up your host pc, have more lag and more timeouts and have fewer people to play with.  

So if you hate xbox live then you would despise the other services.

Well I enjoyed the single player mechassault campaigns, as quick as they were.   MP is decent, for what it is.  I like to blow stuff up   Simplistic to be sure, but so are fighting and puzzle games.

Whatever - I think it's a far leap to say I hate 'the entire online play experience' from my one sentence.  In defense, I enjoy BF1942 and it's mods, and I used to play a lot of counter strike.  MS seemed to pitch LIVE as a more grown-up experience, though, (the demographic is late 20's after all) and I was banking on that.  Hence my initial subscription - and my dissapointment manifested when I heard a lot of pre-pubescent voices in most of the games I'd join (or start).  Not really that fun.  And I doubt I'm the only one who succumbed to the hype.

I think the key is to find 2-6 friends with xbox's and broadband, so xbconnect would make sense for us cheapskates    

[eightbit]

My comments were directed towards EVERYONE in the thread.  The world doesn't revolve around you man, lighten up.  

You quoted me and responded to what I said, not very nicely either. Your the one that needs to lighten up.

And as I said with the free services you tie up your host pc, have more lag and more timeouts and have fewer people to play with.  

It doesn't tie up your PC, yes your pc needs to be running but it doesn't prevent someone else from using it at the same time. The requirement for a PC is going away now if you have a modified xbox but thats beside the point. The performance to me was the same or better since I play with guys that are closer to me. We had less drop outs since we scheduled time to all be there to play together.

I think the key is to find 2-6 friends with xbox's and broadband, so xbconnect would make sense for us cheapskates    

Thats how I like to play. Even better we're back to the good old days of LAN partys and we like to get together and play local. An xbox (even with a big tv) is way easier to drag around than what I used to have to do for a LAN party. Their is nothing better than to be able to trash talk your oppenent to his face while you put the smack down on him. I modified one of my xbox's and my wife liked it so much  as a media player that I was having a hard time getting time to play it. So now I have 2 xboxes so we play local all the time without anyone dragging any equipment anywhere.

I'm not telling anyone to not play on live. I'm only explaining why I don't like it. $50 a year is reasonable.  Anything less probably wouldn't be worth MS time to charge for.  

[Howard_Casto]

Well I enjoyed the single player mechassault campaigns, as quick as they were.   MP is decent, for what it is.  I like to blow stuff up   Simplistic to be sure, but so are fighting and puzzle games.

Whatever - I think it's a far leap to say I hate 'the entire online play experience' from my one sentence.  In defense, I enjoy BF1942 and it's mods, and I used to play a lot of counter strike.  MS seemed to pitch LIVE as a more grown-up experience, though, (the demographic is late 20's after all) and I was banking on that.  Hence my initial subscription - and my dissapointment manifested when I heard a lot of pre-pubescent voices in most of the games I'd join (or start).  Not really that fun.  And I doubt I'm the only one who succumbed to the hype.

I think the key is to find 2-6 friends with xbox's and broadband, so xbconnect would make sense for us cheapskates    

First I didn't say online play experince (or if I did that's not what I meant)  I was referring to online play for the xbox in general, not pcs, that's a different deal.  You missed the point.  My point was the service you connect to your xbox with doesn't effect the things you were complaining about.  Those particular greifs would be just as bad if not worse then they would on the free services.  

If you wan't an online CONSOLE experience without kids then you are aksing for the impossible.  Kiddies make their parents buy all of the accessories for their toys and thus the majority of all online play for easy setups (like consoles) will always be children.  

I'm nto trying to beat a dead horse here, it's just everyone involved seems to be bashing m$ unjustly in this case.  Every single complaint I've heard so far would apply to all the services available to the xbox.  

Guys I'm the cheapest person on the planet, when I'm willing to pay money for a service I could get for free, you better bet the farm on something being seriously wrong/limiting with the free alternatives.   I tried every single one extensively before I broke down and got xbox live.  I never looked back.  

[eightbit]

Guys I'm the cheapest person on the planet, when I'm willing to pay money for a service I could get for free, you better bet the farm on something being seriously wrong/limiting with the free alternatives.   I tried every single one extensively before I broke down and got xbox live.  I never looked back.  

Things are changing you might want to look back and check it out. Free play is getting better.