GTA IV: The Lost and Damned includes free week of multiplayer

Ha ha,he he hi...eh poor people.

To be honest I wish I didn't have to pay live every year.Well if netflix and the other services were avalible as well here then I wouldn't be complaining but sadly I'm just paying to access demos and play online...yeah and also a headset that pulls my hair.

Good thing I have Xlive trials to extend to one month by the time my Live susbscription finish.

I'm really looking forward to the expansion pack, and I don't have a gold membership.

My issue is that there's just too many assholes for me pay money to spend time with.

I like the PSN for online gaming more. It's free to play, and GENERALLY speaking, there's fewer fucktards.

I'll play online for the free week- I really liked playing bomb da base when I used a free 48-hour card. If I play anything competeively, I'm alwas sure to mute everybody.

I don't subscribe to Live. For the most part, if I want to play online, I got go GameStop and take a free Month's trial from old GTA IV game cases (yes, they're still in there).

I don't buy too much DLC (The Lost and Damned will only be my second DLC purchase), but I DO download a lot of XBLA and PSN games.

And I don't understand how everyone uses Liv'e's "superior service" to justify paying for it. That's called rationalization. look it up.

I've personally never had any problems with playing online on my PS3. In fact, I've been beating a friend of mine over and over in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and we've had no problems.

Yeah, the PSN should be a bit more like Live in that you should be able to invite friends to play whatever game you're playing regardless of what game they are playing, and they should be able to accept the invite from the message that gets sent instead of seeing the message and having to go to "Accept Invitation" in the game's menu.

But here's the thing. the PSN probably will eventually do a firmware update that will allow this. And guess what? It'll still be free. Probably. Then how will everyone defend Live?

"Oh, well if we keep paying for Live, Microsoft can continue to pay for exclusives!"

Some people may say, "Well, Live has more of my friend's on." Well, your friends are saying the same thing, cause you're always on Live. It's a cycle that snowballs.

Bottom line; neither system is completely superior to the other (not including the Wii. That's inferior to even the Gamecube), so stop making stupid defense arguements about them.

Bottomer line; Yes, Joystiq, please continue to alert us of free online play on Live.

I am a silver member who buys stuff on the market place. to date I have spent 100 dollars on XBLA stuff.

to bad i already got this year payed for

lORD NEGATRON SAID
Jeff who are you and why did you wake up today? (dont, worry, i have more pointless questions coming your way)

What year is it?

Why do we pay for XBL?

Is this pay for Xbox system new?

What system can i get that will provide me with free service, with the same "exact content & features"?

Finally, when are cars going to be able to fly? They can in movies, why not now!?

APPERENTLY I WOKE UP TO PISS YOU OFF
WINNER
PSN IS A GREAT SERVICE, IM NOT SAYING LIVE IS BAD I ACTUALLY HAVE GTAIV ON XBOX, BUT ILL BE DAMNED IF IM GANNA PAY TO PLAY ONLINE WHEN I CAN DO IT FOR FREE ON MY PS3, HOME SERVICE IS GETTING BETTER AND ON THE NEXT PSN UPDATE ARE SUPPOSED YO HAVE ALL LIVE FEATURES INCLUDING CROSS GAME INVITES AND WILL STILL BE FREE
PLUS WHEN IM ONLINE ON MY PS3 I DONT HAVE TO DEAL WITH FUCKTARDS LIKE YOU
lORD NEGATRON

@ Jonathan

Way to be a typical hypocritical fanboy.

I particularly love the part where you call peoples reasons for preferring Live "rationalization" and then spend the next 7 paragraphs rationalizing why you don't. Priceless.

The only think that tops that is using your "Sony will probably do a firmware update" as a reason for sticking with PSN. That's fantastic. Sony doesn't do it, but since you hope that one day they will, you prefer the system that doesn't do it over the one that does.

That's like saying "MS will probably one day release a Bluray drive for the 360, so I don't see why anyone would pay extra to own a PS3".

I don't have gold, and I have bought content (a few games, plus the expansion for Fallout).

I have a limited amount of income I'm willing to spend on gaming. Also, I am far more willing to pay a lump sum for something than to subscribe - call it fallout from crappy gym membership experiences.

That said, I'm not that into GTA, and don't expect to purchase the game or this expansion.

While I do enjoy Live, it is well put together and the best online experience, I don't consider it a service. It's a feature.

Features should not carry monthly fees.

I simply cannot see what my money is actually being used for. If I went to a gas station that charged extra to go there because a guy came out and cleaned my windshield while they filled up my car for me, that would be a service. If I lived in a gated community that had a security and maintenance crew to take care of the grounds, that is a service. When someone has to actually work, or there is a perpetual upkeep cost of running something, that is a service. Live, as far as I can see, is not actually doing anything above and beyond that classifies it as a service. I can't see what my money is going to.

Most of the hosting is P2P, so they aren't spending all the money on servers to host games. They aren't spending the money on a police force to moderate online play and catch the cheaters and try to make online play pleasant for all. That is mostly left up to developers. They aren't spending the money on screening every game to make sure that there are no matchmaking issues or flaws in the game before it comes out. They're pretty much just holding a very very valuable well built feature for ransom.

That's my main issue. I'm more or less forced to donate $40 a year to a multi billion dollar company so they can be gracious enough to allow me to use the features on a system I paid for that cost them nothing to upkeep.

It would be like Nissan disabling your stereo unless you pay them $50 a year to listen to music in your car. Sure it may be an amazing sound system that's better than any other car, but that's no excuse to charge for using something you own when no actual service is being done.

I am Silver and I buy DLC, exactly as described, and here's why:

1) I don't play enough console games multiplayer to justify the continuous expense. Shortest statement but most important -- at the end of the day it's a cost/benefit calculation of my individual situation -- but there are other smaller reasons...

2) Canceling is an obnoxious and intentionally inconvenient hassle. Signing up or buying points is as simple as entering a credit card number, but canceling requires calling them during business hours, listening to a rep try to convince you to stay, spouting all your billing info back to them, then reactivating your gamertag on your console. Rather than convince me not to quit, it's talked me out of ever signing up again. (Note: contrast that to World of Warcraft, where quitting is as easy as signing up. I'll sign up and stop as my needs demand, and I'd likely do the same with XBL were it the same.)

3) Sony does it for free. I'm not arguing parity between the services, and people can debate those merits back and forth, but the fact that I could play GTA IV online anytime I like for just the cost of the game on PS3 is a constant nagging reminder that, with Microsoft, you pay extra for the privilege.

I'm a Silver member, although I have a 1 month and a 13 month Gold card sitting around waiting for me to have the desire to play multiplayer games, or when there's some Gold exclusive that I absolutely must have.

When I've had Gold in the past, I did do some multiplayer, but when I have 3-4 single-player games to play that aren't even out of the shrink wrap (like now), Gold doesn't hold that much appeal to me.

I'm not sure if I will get The Lost and the Damned when it is first released, but if I did, I probably wouldn't even bother to check out the online multiplayer.

Amazon is selling "Lost and Damned" along with 3 months of Xbox Live for free for $20.00 plus free shipping.

Linky - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_83604291_1?tag=slickdeals&ie=UTF8&docId=1000337341&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_r=1SNCGR79A4GFHH5CSSGH&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=469345771&pf_rd_i=B001QD5JAQ

Courtesy of the good folks over at gamerswithjobs.com

If it shows shipping or additional cost, it is removed at the end when you get to the checkout. Offer is only good until the 14th, so jump on it!

Answering the question, I have a lot of DLC and don't have XBL Gold... at the moment. My subscription ran out and I have more important things to use my money on. But I do have a few redeem codes lying around waiting for me to pounce at the first opportunity with a free weekend.

You couldn't pay me to play GTA 4 online! Its an awful experience...does anyone else hate this game online?

I play online with a silver account and 3 day codes, cheaper than sub and i get to use them when I need/want to. Yes it can get a bit annoying getting into a game then realise that the codes not active and have to write in the huge code and sign out and sign back in, but i saved about £20 on it and well i've had one years worth for nearly 2 years, and still codes to go. So I've saved a lot of money :D

the $50 a year isnt a big deal and it is not only paying for your access for online games. How do you think microsoft bought exclusive rights to TLATD. im sure rockstar woulda liked to sell on both consoles but if ps3 users arent even paying for online, why would they want to pay for an add on. Bring on the negative comments after me for for the pocket change of 50$ a YEAR. You have exclusive releases and more satisfactory content including patches for games, new DLC, entire games being only released on the xbox and its obviously got most the hype because i know that almost all of my friends have an xbox 360 and pay for online because they are still saving money off of the ps3's price

@Joystiq: yes more tidbits please. I am reading this article because I am Silver-and-proud and wondering if I can afford the time to play online with cussing teenagers for the next few days.