Slashdot Mirror
Consoles Push Online Gaming
1up.com has a look at how next-gen consoles will effect the future of gaming online. From the article: "There's little argument even amongst developers that Microsoft has a superior online service, but In-Stat analysts believe that Sony deciding on a pay-to-play service or free gaming is crucial to the expansion of online gaming. 'Microsoft is the only console maker so far to launch a paid subscription service,' says In-Stat analyst Brian O'Rourke."
MMO games are bad to bring into conversations like these because they are a beast of their own. Basically, it would be like having a conversation about Movie box office results where someone says "Movies are underperforming because the cost to go to a movie is too high and the quality is not there" and then having someone pipe up "Yeah, but look at the Rolling stones; they charge like $100 per ticket are always sell out. Price doesn't matter to anyone."
For the most part, people (who don't surf slashdot; ie 90% of the population) are not jumping at the idea of online play; they have to be eased into it before they could see the benefit of paying money to do it. Think of it this way, if Quake and Unreal Tournament had never been released (or whatever games got you started into online play) how likely would you be to spend $50-$100 a year to play games online?