Live for Windows priced, XBL accounts confirmed to work on Vista
by Ross Miller 
{ Mar 7th 2007 at 3:23PM }
Microsoft revealed yesterday the pricing for Live for Windows, the Vista equivalent to Xbox Live. The pricing plan is identical to Xbox Live: a Silver membership will be free and Gold will cost you either $8 for one month, $20 for three months or $50 for a full year, according to Game Informer.Appropriately, Xbox Live Gold members will be able to use their accounts to enjoy the Live for Windows features on their home PCs (and presumably vice versa). Some casual games and Halo 2 for Vista will reportedly add to your gamerscore. We don't have any details on how exactly gamers will benefit from a Gold account over a Silver one (other than Shadowrun cross-platform play), but hopefully Microsoft will stick to the modus operandi of PC gaming and keep non-MMOs free to play online multiplayer.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Breserk @ Mar 7th 2007 3:28PM
Still waiting on something big to scream at me: "GOLD FOR PC IS WORTH IT!".
Ken @ Mar 7th 2007 3:29PM
Sweet, I have an XBL Gold Account... but not Vista. And probably wont be getting Vista for a while.
Pretty nifty idea though!
FrankTheCrank @ Mar 7th 2007 3:31PM
How much more money do you need Microsoft?
Live on PC??? Cellular next??
When is Live for my fridge coming out?
What a joke. These guys never stop as long as the Xbots keep paying up.
rom @ Mar 7th 2007 3:34PM
I can take almost any PC game and play it online for free(excluding MMORPGs). Why the hell would I pay for the Gold Membership? Just to play against 360 players? What's the point of this?
Coughee @ Mar 7th 2007 3:37PM
"
What a joke. These guys never stop as long as the Xbots keep paying up.
Posted at 3:31PM on Mar 7th 2007 by FrankTheCrank"
Kind like Sony huh Frank? Have a seat asshat.
NATO_Duke @ Mar 7th 2007 3:42PM
"Kind like Sony huh Frank? Have a seat asshat."
Oh man, thank you. I have not had a laugh throughout this crappy workweek -and seeing someone called an asshat again broke the cycle.
mike k. @ Mar 7th 2007 3:45PM
I'm willing to bet that the PC games connected to XBL will only let you be ranked if you have GOLD but probably let you online multiplayer unranked with silver. That'd seem like the logical seperation.
Poisoned Al @ Mar 7th 2007 3:45PM
Ohh what a great idea! Changing PC owners to download demos and play online. That'll work! It's not as if PC owners are used to doing it for free for years now is it?...
Oh wait, yes we are. Even if you can play Xbox owners, who wants to play against some mouthy 13-year-old spaz?
JPrusak @ Mar 7th 2007 3:47PM
Ha! look at Microsoft trying to insert itself as the middle man in PC muliplayer. Nice try! I will never pay just to play deathmatch and capture the flag. If Sony can make it free so can you. X-box owners are only encouraging them by paying.
Phranctoast @ Mar 7th 2007 3:50PM
how long until MS has there way, and all games with the "made for windows" sticker require a "live" account to play?
sheppy @ Mar 7th 2007 3:52PM
If you already have Xbox Live Gold, this is a nice bonus (provided you're willing to break your PCs kneecaps with a bat called Vista) but ultimately worthless for PC users.
It's like my grammy use to say, "Why buy the cow, when you get the sex for free." Of course she became a lesbian at her 65th birthday...
E.J. @ Mar 7th 2007 3:53PM
This would only be awesome if I can access the TV shows and movies I've paid for and downloaded from my Vista PCs (one formerly MCE) in the other rooms.
@mike k.
Yeah, that idea would be pretty sweet. But as with other good ideas, it just makes too much sense to be implemented. And "not profitable" to boot. Greedy corporations suck.
Diskoboy @ Mar 7th 2007 3:59PM
So MS is gonna start doing achievement pionts for their PC games, as well? Excellent news for us achievement score whores.
Mr Khan @ Mar 7th 2007 4:01PM
Remember, Microsoft has lost over $6 billion on the Xbox/Zune division
They need to get that money somewhere, unless you want to pay PS3 prices for a 360
Remember what i've said previously, this is the first step in bringing PC and Console gaming together into one unholy behemoth
mastafool @ Mar 7th 2007 4:46PM
I don't think Micrsoft is the real crroks when it comes to charging people to play online. It's other companies who charge 14.95 a month to play MMORPGs. And this is per game. So if I wanted to play WOW, Everquest and Planetside , I would have to pay close to $50 a month which is the price for Xbox or Windows Live for a year.
Yeah, the Xbots are the fools, not PC gamers!
Black Velvet Elvis @ Mar 7th 2007 4:20PM
Start bidding farewell to free downloadable content on the PC.
Autocrawler @ Mar 7th 2007 4:37PM
"What a joke. These guys never stop as long as the Xbots keep paying up."
QFT
This is only good news for those that have Live Gold accounts.
jameshulsmann @ Mar 7th 2007 4:48PM
Some of you people are rediculous LOLz
Yes, until they show some reason that a PC gamer would WANT to pay - the gold level of service, for people who dont already have it on 360, will fail. TIme to make Live free for everyone and then watch this take off! But what I do I know...
@Poisoned Al
GEt your facts straight - you dont pay to download demos on XBL. In fact, pc or xbox, Live Gold is only for playing MP. EVerything else you can get with FREE Silver.
Yeahg, you dont pay for online MP for PC, yes, neither do i -so who cares, dont use this - BU BYE!
(PC Elitist assole)
Jon @ Mar 7th 2007 4:44PM
wow people dont understand the concept
if your a xbox live gold member now you just transfer your account to your PC and use it.
Chappy @ Mar 7th 2007 4:56PM
So how will this actually work? XBox live accounts can only exist on a drive or memory unit, neither of which can be connected to a Vista PC. Will we have to "recover" our account to move between platforms, or can we have an authorized (able to log in) copy on both XBox and PC simultaneously? What happens when one is signed in and you power up the other?
Anyone know how this works with a live account shared between an original xbox and a 360?
JPrusak @ Mar 7th 2007 4:48PM
There is no point to being a PC and 360 player. As Most games are shared between them, including Halo. This offer is not appealing at all to a primarily PC gamer.
Rubber Rain Coat @ Mar 7th 2007 4:52PM
@sheppy
Been there, done her...
Your grandma likes to be slapped around and get called sheppy for some reason though... go figure.
PS3_LOVE @ Mar 7th 2007 4:56PM
@Mr Khan
No, you're right. I love paying double to triple the price of third party accessories, add-ons and LIVE. Woo Hoo! Thank you Microsoft for gouging me with hidden charges as opposed to hitting me right up front.
PS3_LOVE @ Mar 7th 2007 4:59PM
@Jon
Everybody understands the concept. More MS lockdown of your ability to do anything without paying them for the "privilege". The sad part is that the fanbots like yourself don't get it.
MS_LOVE_SLAVE @ Mar 7th 2007 4:59PM
@Chappy
Every time you start up, your gamer tag information is updated from LIVE to your machine. If you go to XBox.com now and log in, it has up to date information about your gamer tag. So the data for your tag resides on an MS server somewhere, the tag also lives on your 360.
Killer @ Mar 7th 2007 5:05PM
Hell, this just shows that I can use my live membership everywhere, I hope they do have it on Cell phones, Free text messaging to people on live. for only $2.50 a month (for me), I can also play on my pc agianst 360 players and play my 360 online. Hell yes. keep going microsoft. Just don't do a retarded virtual chat room like some other company I won't name because certain fanboys would start a war.
Say what you will but intergration is the best thing since sliced bread. Everything should be like this. It's the 21st century people. We'll be ordering our groceries on our fridge by the end of this century.
Killer @ Mar 7th 2007 5:11PM
@ PS3_LOVE
Sounds like what Apple does too.
Those good old over priced accessories, so Apple can get royalties.
It's every company, It's either they charge a crap load for fixing the product, or they charge you with little hidden prices. (Cell Phone Companies, COUGH*)
jcmschwa @ Mar 7th 2007 5:26PM
@1 Breserk:
I hope you're willing to wait an eternity. Live can't offer anything that isn't already available to pretty much every PC gamer:
Server browser? - XFire, Gamespy, AllSeeingEye are a few just to start.
Voice chat? - If the game you're playing doesn't have it, run a program like Teamspeak in the background.
Rankings Ladder? - Most unofficial servers run their own rankings on the server's website. And with BF2, EA showed that even on official-but-unofficial (in the sense that the servers weren't maintained by EA) stats could be tracked across thousands of servers.
Smart match-making? - RTS's such as Company of Heroes already do this.
Awards/Achievements? - Who the fuck cares about a God damn badge that doesn't unlock any usable content? I've got a 360 and for the life of me I don't understand why so many people cared about Gamerscore before it was announced that they would start giving you something for having a high one. Experience & achievement based unlocks, such as extra weapon kits like in Battlefield 2 are the way to go.
Buddy lists? - XFire already has it covered. All MMORPGs have them.
Actually, now that I think of it, XFire can do most of the vital gameplay enhancing things that Live is setup to do. Voice chat, buddy lists, the ability to join games your buddies are playing, stats-tracking, server browsing. And it's free...
In a worst case scenario, games that used Live would run on such a closed, rigid system that users & clans would not be able to rent their own servers & host their own games. That would likely mean no mods, and as all true PC gamers know, mods are an essential part of our community.
Cross-platform gaming is the only thing that Live can offer that I would enjoy using. Dominating 360 gamepad users with my mouse & keyboard on an FPS would quickly turn into a favorite guilty pleasure of mine with cross-platform games.
In the end though, I hope Live for PC becomes more of a novelty for the PC gaming community, something that PC-only gamers won't be conned into buying, but that gamers who game on both PC & 360 will benefit from.
Mr Khan @ Mar 7th 2007 5:33PM
Hey, none can call me biased in MS's favor (i HATED the original Xbox with unmatched passion, while the 360 seems a much better balanced platform)
I call them as i see 'em, not that i support thier actions
Jake @ Mar 7th 2007 6:20PM
Right now, this isn't that big of a deal. I don't think that many people will see $4/month to play against 360 users worth it. That is the only major advantage evident right now. Perhaps there are some other valuable features we don't know about yet.
At this point, I think this charge is warranted by MS. They are offering cross-platform play for the first time ever. They are charging for it. Big f'ing surprise. Don't compare this to the standard free PC online, because it is a bit different.
What would be scary for PC users is if this was part of a bigger plan. Perhaps in the near future there will be an extremely good must-have PC game that is only playable online with a LIVE account. Then you can start bitching.
Earl @ Mar 7th 2007 6:22PM
This wouldn't be that bad of an idea if they made it for XP...
I don't know anyone that has upgraded to Vista. I know I will wait least 3 years before buying Vista. I have learned years ago not to be an early adopter of Microsoft products.
Screwed @ Mar 7th 2007 6:29PM
WTF, I read the comments and you guys made it sound like after paying live, your MMORPG fees will suddenly disappear. For $50, it will become $55.
I dont understand why you want to pay for something that is free right now? XFire anybody. The only good thing is Microsoft actually rewards xbox 360 people to buy Vista which i don't know it's a good thing now.
Here's a message from Microsoft:
Dear XBOX 360 Live Fans,
I would like to thank you for helping us out on the consoles division. Now that our new operating system just launched and does not sell well, we need your help too. Please support us by buying Vista. We will keep your gold account in Vista Live too. Free of Charge. I know you bought XBOX 360 to stay away from the constantly upgrading PC, but we still need your help there. Help us out y'all.
Need your moneyly,
Microsoft.
Screwed @ Mar 7th 2007 6:29PM
WTF, I read the comments and you guys made it sound like after paying live, your MMORPG fees will suddenly disappear. For $50, it will become $55.
I dont understand why you want to pay for something that is free right now? XFire anybody. The only good thing is Microsoft actually rewards xbox 360 people to buy Vista which i don't know it's a good thing now.
Here's a message from Microsoft:
Dear XBOX 360 Live Fans,
I would like to thank you for helping us out on the consoles division. Now that our new operating system just launched and does not sell well, we need your help too. Please support us by buying Vista. We will keep your gold account in Vista Live too. Free of Charge. I know you bought XBOX 360 to stay away from the constantly upgrading PC, but we still need your help there. Help us out y'all.
Need your moneyly,
Microsoft.
D @ Mar 7th 2007 6:57PM
I can't even believe this is happening. For 14 years now I've been playing online for free and this marks the end of that.
I have no problem paying for an MMORPG like WoW because they are constantly adding content to it but paying to play online FPS like Halo2 where the only thing that they do is add patches to cover exploits and bugs? I'm sorry, that's where I draw the line. Leave that crap in the console world thank you.
The problem I see though is that the generation coming up (17 and below) are being taught that it's normal to pay for online services that are free right now and they will see nothing wrong with paying for online gaming in the PC world. A generation after that and it will be the norm.
I'm personally staying away from Vista for at least 7-8 months and I will definitely stay away from silver and gold "required" games. I think it's time for the consumer to speak with their wallets.
For the first time in a long time, I'm really pissed at the direction that MS is going.
Wonder if there will be more development being done on the Linux side of things now. Wouldn't that be a boot to the face? MS starts charging for something that was free so the devs leave to return to the land of the free once again. ;)
Kato @ Mar 7th 2007 7:15PM
Vista is fine. I've had nearly no hiccups with it. This service will be fine for 360 and PC players (those two demographics do overlap...I am an example of that). I will be pwning 360 n00bs in Shadowrun in no time.
Nobody can deny that Live is a pretty goddamn awesome online service, and bringing it to Windows, pay or not, can only be good.
Are you really all so cheap that you don't want to pay like $8 a month? That's $3.75-$3.88 a day. You can find that much in your couch and on the street.
kftgr @ Mar 7th 2007 8:12PM
@35 Kato
Whoa, that's one short month you got there!
Don't mind the cost of Live -- like 14 cents a day for the 360. But what I'm worried about is the cross platform mixing. Right now, there's little cheating on the 360 compared to the PC. Wonder how they will try to lockdown hacks on Shadowrun PC.
mike @ Mar 7th 2007 8:17PM
you pc players should be happy. Games will still be free to play online pc to pc but now you can all sign up for xbl silver and get achievments and a friends list across all your games. No more xfire and all that junk as everyone will be on the same network with built in voice chat and all that. Its all free with windows live silver. As for windows live gold, really no point for anyone to buy that, but us xbox players get even more value now because if we decid to play a pc game once in a while, we can play vs 360 friends and still get achievments.
jcmschwa @ Mar 7th 2007 8:49PM
@18 mastafool:
I think you're forgetting that MMOs aren't free over XBL. Final Fantasy 11 still has a monthly fee. And you're forgetting that MMOs are a hell of a lot bigger than most other games and fixing known issues in a timely manner (read: within a business week) is much more important. Exploits are discovered and fixed much more quickly than in your typical FPS's (Battlefield 2 comes to mind) because the stakes are higher. A continuous world across a single server means that the integrity of the game must be upheld with the utmost care. Negligence on the part of the developer & publisher is not an option because people will stop playing the game and stop paying the monthly fee. Supporting a team of developers to release updates bi-weekly costs money not only because you have to pay them, but also because there exists the opportunity cost of not having them to work on your next big money-making project.
So to rebut what you said, Microsoft is still the crook charging $50 per year of XBL Gold. Look at it this way, if XBL didn't exist, most of the games you play online on your Xbox or 360 now would probably still be online capable and many would probably have the luxuriously convenient voice chat.
Finite @ Mar 7th 2007 9:26PM
Hmm.. not sure how many people are going to read this, but I hear a lot of remarks which aren't quite correct.
PC gaming has declined in recent years, so Microsoft seems to be trying to bring the individual, seperated pc gaming experiences together under to games for windows brand in order for it to be easier and more accessible to a wider audience.
Part of this plan also seems to be creating an (optional) common UI for these games, which seems perfectly logical. This UI will be similar to their popular live service for the xbox, only for windows.
Since online PC gaming has been free for the majority of its titles, I bet it will continue to be so in the form of xbox live silver accounts...
Gold accounts must contain some sort of premium content above and beyond that which is offered now (for instance, gameplay against consoles as one example) in order to be considered, and I believe that's where they are taking this product.
This may also help to combat piracy, which is honestly fairly out of control currently, by providing the 'extra' that pirated games don't offer, making parated games not as attractive to casual gamers, just as losing ones live account is currently enough of a motivation against similar situations.
Eh.. this is getting long and my point isn't as clear as it should have been, but I wanted to be clear that this may not be a bads thing for PC games. Oh well.
Virtua Fanboy @ Mar 7th 2007 9:42PM
I think that this is mainly for people w/Xbox's and/or 360's. I think that this is cool BUT I've been on Live since like '03 or so. My concern is that I've bought Uno, Geometry Wars, ect. and I'm not buying them again. If they're free for download to your PC that will be cool but I doubt it. PC gamers aren't gonna flock to this though and I don't blame them.
maylon @ Mar 7th 2007 9:47PM
World of Warcraft is $15 per month. $180 per year, sit down and shut up to anyone bitching about this.
SeriousKriss @ Mar 8th 2007 4:50AM
@ maylon : please read post #38 by jcmschwa.
Muu @ Mar 8th 2007 10:23AM
MMOs fixing game issues within a business week? Did you mean business month, or business year?
Game glitches that benefit players (not necessarily as in duping/etc) seem to get immediate patches, but near-showstopper bugs with lengthy user-invented workarounds never seem to get fixed within a timely manner. The stake may be higher on a MMO, but once you've acquired a set of users, you can treat them like dirt and they'll come up with their own excuses as to why they'll keep paying.
Kato @ Mar 8th 2007 4:03PM
@36 kftgr
GDFW Live costs $8 a month. Most months are (usually) either 30 or 31 days. 30/8 is 3.75. 31/8 is 3.875 (3.88 rounded). So the cost is $3.75-$3.88 per day.
And thank you for all those that see the real point of this and think it's a pretty damn good idea.
Jagannath @ Mar 17th 2007 12:31PM
@44
lol at your math