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Microsoft's Big Bet on Online Gaming
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "The Wall Street Journal Online analyzes the prospects of the Xbox's online-gaming component. Analysts say Microsoft has spent hundreds of millions on Xbox Live, with little guarantees of returns. 'It is not clear that companies like Microsoft and Sony will be able to lure large numbers of players -- each has attracted a small fraction of users to online play with their previous consoles,' WSJ Online writes. 'The companies also must be careful about new business models for distributing games -- such as games-on-demand -- so as not to alienate game publishers, who still rely heavily on in-store sales. And games designed for multiple players have a mixed record of attracting customers.' Says analyst Michael Pachter, 'At the end of the day, we don't play games for social interaction ... We play games to escape.' Microsoft's strategy is 'absolutely flawed,' he added.""
Many people have found Guild Wars to be the answer to your A ... As for B...Probably not likely (but a neat idea).
But that invalidates his point. The fact that there ARE simple, quick games is what makes it possible for people to be casual gamers. There are literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of casual gamers. They play the occasional game on their cellphone while they're waiting in line, and they play sol.exe or bejeweled or alchemy or some other web game periodically.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No, it's not. XBox Live Silver does not support online play in any way shape or form, except on special events. It allows you only to spectate on the people actually playing IIRC, and access to downloads.