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Xbox Live Sees Surge in Usage
Arts Technica reports on a large increase in usage on Xbox Live since last month. Network monitoring company Sandvine Incorporated has passed on word that, since November 7th, the service has seen an 80% increase in usage. iTunes usage has also gone up considerably since Apple's latest software update in September. From the article: "[The week of November 7th], Microsoft released six new games for the Xbox 360--one of which was the highly-anticipated Gears of War--which spiked Xbox Live traffic. This traffic pattern is similar to the spike that followed the introduction of Halo II in 2004, says Sandvine, which managed to sustain Xbox Live's popularity after the spike for the first time. Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo said that 'the effect Gears of War and other games are having on networks indicates to service providers that online gaming is not just a craze.'"
If you actually followed the news a little bit, you'd know that they claim to have 4 million users of XBox Live, far more than any of their competitors...
If all you're interested in is game demos (and they are the cat's pajamas, there's no doubt about it), you don't have to pay MS a dime beyond the purchase of the 360. Silver accounts are free, and have the same access to game demos as Gold (paid) accounts.
To date, the only things a Gold account gets you that a Silver account doesn't are a) online multiplayer, and b) earlier access to the Gears Of War trailer.
Playing against people online - with all the benefits and convenience of Live's consistent interface and single login - is worth $50/yr to me, and it might be to you. But it's essentially the only thing you're paying $50 for.
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
Lemme just say you will LOVE the 360 with its online capabilities. Never messed with a ps3. I'm sure their online service is good too but since i have a 360 and can only speak to that one. It is awesome. I got my 360 with Madden 07 (some kind of best buy deal) but had no intention of opening madden (i wanted to trade it on craigslist). I spent a good week with my 360, never having bought a game just downloading demos and playing with them or watching trailers or whatever, its all very cool.
For what it's worth, if you want an Xbox 360, you can now get a $100 rebate on either system (core or pro) if you buy it in a Micro Center store, and at least my Micro Center (and I suspect most Micro Centers) had plenty in stock, like 50 or so of each. No stupid lines, no 300-400% markup on Ebay, no fuss, no muss.
That brings the cost of the core system down to just $200 (cheaper than a Wii!) and the cost of a pro system down to $300.
In my book, people's best bet is to buy an Xbox 360 pro and a Wii for $650, collect the $100 rebate from Micro Center, come out paying $50 less than a PS3 (hey, Xbox Live Gold membership fee!), and not feel like a total idiot when everyone finally realizes how irrelevant Sony is in the console gaming world now. ;-)