Microsoft Says Go Inside, Play With Friends: Free Multiplayer For December
Of all the things I pay a monthly subscription fee for, Xbox Live is probably one of my most underused. Somehow, I have managed to get a friends like of 20+ people that are rarely online at the same time as me, and lets face it, playing with strangers can be a bit of a crap shoot. I make exceptions for Left 4 Dead.
Now, those of you out there that are not sporting an Xbox Gold (seriously?) subscriptions will be able to take a stab at Microsoft's admittedly fantastic online network. Eight select arcade titles will be free to play for the duration of the month of December under the "Friendship is Free" program:
Most of these titles are excellent online experiences, so they picked a good selection of titles. This is just further reason to snag that copy of SSF2:THDR.
Xbox LIVE 'Friendship is Free' program [Major Nelson]
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 4 December 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: december gift, free stuff, friendship is free, online play, xbox live
Why the the "really?" comment? Neither my bf or I have gold accounts and we have no desire for one.
For one thing, I can be shy and don't really like interacting with a bunch of strangers.
Also, I like variety, so I buy lots of games (usually when they drop to the $20 price point or lower) and never get to the point of mastering any of them. Now I am not a sore loser (well, mostly not!), but it's not FUN to go online and come in last place or near last place with a bunch of strangers who have devoted more time to a game. I have experienced this with Mario Kart DS. I love Mario Kart, but have never mastered racing games and always come in last online. It's one thing to place last with buddies I know in person--that would be different--but with strangers, frankly I just don't feel like *paying money* to have that experience.
Am I whining about losing? Not at all! I know I lose because I haven't devoted enough time to master a game--but I also know I'm not going to put in that time, so why have a gold account?
I say all this because I find it funny how some folks just assume everyone would WANT that experience. Yes I'm reading a video-game enthusiast site--but not all of us appreciate the same aspects.
My bf does play games enough to master them, and he still has zero interest in going online to play other people.
Download demos? yes Download additional content? yes Play against strangers? nope
Different strokes for different folks.
I don't have a gold membership either because apart from not having many multi-player games I really don't see the point in paying for something I can do for free on other platforms. I really don't get what's so special about XBL and why we should pay for it. I just see it as another stealth charge by MS on a very basic feature that should be included for free.