Xbox Live Gold no longer required to use Netflix, YouTube, ect.

[SLKerAaron]

I just got this email not too long ago.

At Xbox, we’re committed to continually improving the Xbox experience based on your feedback. This week we announced two changes that you have asked for.

In June, we’re making Xbox Live Gold even better. Games with Gold will be coming to Xbox One, so a single Gold membership will get you free games on both Xbox One and Xbox 360. Plus, we’re introducing Deals with Gold for Xbox One which gives members exclusive discounts on games and content in the Xbox Store. With the most advanced multiplayer, Games with Gold, and Deals with Gold, Xbox Live Gold is better than ever.

Also, coming in June, all Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners will get access to popular entertainment apps, like Netflix, YouTube, Machinima, and more on Xbox without needing an Xbox Live Gold membership*. This means that everyone can enjoy the amazing gaming, TV and entertainment experiences that Xbox has to offer, right out of the box.

I never understood why you had to pay extra to stream to start with except it being a major case of greed.

[J.T.]

I think this is part of the new Microsoft "We're really your buddies! Honest!" campaign. 

 

They just recently announced that will be a XBone bundle that won't come saddled with the Kinect and as a result will be $100 less.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

Yeah, they've just had a massive upper level overhaul at their entertainment stuff. X-Box is now under control of Phil Spencer, a guy who spent the 2000s working with Microsoft Game Studios, and he's been going around saying buckwild shit for an executive. Example: "...when I just heard how our message resonated with people and some of the decisions that we made, that I think were actually the wrong decisions, and we had to revisit those decisions.” So they've been very active about reasserting that the xbone is for video games. Thus dumping news of a price cut and Halo weeks before E3.

[Ramsey]

I see this as damage control myself. I've owned one original X-Box and two 360's. When the announce and following shit storm with the Xbox One went down, I made my mind up then and there that my next gen machine would be a PS4. Microsoft lost that exchange and lost it badly. I think this is a textbook example of too little/too late.

[Big Fresh]

I see this as damage control myself. I've owned one original X-Box and two 360's. When the announce and following shit storm with the Xbox One went down, I made my mind up then and there that my next gen machine would be a PS4. Microsoft lost that exchange and lost it badly. I think this is a textbook example of too little/too late.

Did you guys hear that Sony is gonna release the Playstation 3 at $500 with no games? That thing is fucked. The 360 is gonna walk all over it!

[glfpunk]

That didn't make any sense

[Big Fresh]

Think harder.

[Kevin Wilson]

It makes no sense on a number of levels, one of which is the PS3 was $600 at launch, not $500, and the 360 did sell better than the PS3 in NA by a significant margin so if you were attempting to be sarcastic I don't think it really worked.  And since you're an XBox apologist I am assuming you were being sarcastic or something.

[Big Fresh]

It makes no sense on a number of levels, one of which is the PS3 was $600 at launch, not $500, and the 360 did sell better than the PS3 in NA by a significant margin so if you were attempting to be sarcastic I don't think it really worked. And since you're an XBox apologist I am assuming you were being sarcastic or something.

Yes, 360 did sell better than PS3.... For awhile. But not in the long-term. So to call it "too little, too late" is so fucking premature it makes me head spin. That's the point.

"X-Box apologist".... Get outta here.

[Big Fresh]

Just like last-gen, they have morphed into the same console. And just like last time, they'll both be phenominally successful. Stop the console wars rhetoric madness.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

PS3 and 360 both launched with two hardware options. One of Sony's was $500. So that's not wrong. 

 

Also yeah 360 basically only outsold Sony in the US over the course of the generation, and they both jobbed to Nintendo worldwide.

[Kevin Wilson]

Of course both will be successful, nice strawman. (the $500 PS3 version had a stupid small hard drive and no HDMI port, no one wanted that shit .  I mean a bluray player with no HDMI port, Sony was just being silly.  I don't even remember stores stocking it much.)  The 360 blew the PS3 out of the water at launch and by all figures they never lost the lead in North America, its a domino effect that can continue through a cycle even after the price is adjusted.  And of course it is damage control, Microsoft saw they goofed and are now making adjustments like any company should when they goof.  They never should have required Kinect or charged for using Netflix in the first place, their new leadership may have been just what they needed if the decision did come from that high up.  And if you come up with silly sarcastic "look at me I'm cute" statements you may get labeled as an Xbox apologist, not my fault.

 

Really though I dunno why this is a different thread, I don't have merge powers here apparently.

[Big Fresh]

Of course both will be successful, nice strawman.

It's not a strawman when the comment I was originally responding to was someone saying "Too little, too late" as if the X-Bone is gonna be a flop.

[Kevin Wilson]

I didn't take it as he meant a flop, just that XBone won't be as successful as the PS4 due to the initial lead/reputation.  Personally I don't care about such things, my brother and I are still debating on which one to get since we have to get the same console to play together since we live 3 hours apart.

[Big Fresh]

I did not take it that way.

[Kevin Wilson]

Well then I apologize for my accusation.  At least we can all agree these are positive steps for Microsoft to be taking, nothing bad about anything they are doing now.

[Big Fresh]

No harm, no foul. Let's be friends!

[Kevin Wilson]

Oh noes what have I done.  At least I know I'll have a date for Raw's 2000th episode.  Assuming you're going.

[Big Fresh]

I don't know how you knew I went to Raw 1000; I don't think I posted about it at all.

[Andrew POE!]

Yeah, maybe I'll be able to watch ESPN on Xbox Live now, instead of waiting for free weekends. Saturdays in fall for college football with it is great.

[glfpunk]

Of course both will be successful, nice strawman. (the $500 PS3 version had a stupid small hard drive and no HDMI port, no one wanted that shit . I mean a bluray player with no HDMI port, Sony was just being silly. I don't even remember stores stocking it much.) The 360 blew the PS3 out of the water at launch and by all figures they never lost the lead in North America, its a domino effect that can continue through a cycle even after the price is adjusted. And of course it is damage control, Microsoft saw they goofed and are now making adjustments like any company should when they goof. They never should have required Kinect or charged for using Netflix in the first place, their new leadership may have been just what they needed if the decision did come from that high up. And if you come up with silly sarcastic "look at me I'm cute" statements you may get labeled as an Xbox apologist, not my fault.

Really though I dunno why this is a different thread, I don't have merge powers here apparently.

Yes the 20gb launch version of the ps3 had an HDMI port. And you can't really say the 360 blew the ps3 out of the water at launch because it had been out for a full year already.

[Kevin Wilson]

 

Of course both will be successful, nice strawman. (the $500 PS3 version had a stupid small hard drive and no HDMI port, no one wanted that shit . I mean a bluray player with no HDMI port, Sony was just being silly. I don't even remember stores stocking it much.) The 360 blew the PS3 out of the water at launch and by all figures they never lost the lead in North America, its a domino effect that can continue through a cycle even after the price is adjusted. And of course it is damage control, Microsoft saw they goofed and are now making adjustments like any company should when they goof. They never should have required Kinect or charged for using Netflix in the first place, their new leadership may have been just what they needed if the decision did come from that high up. And if you come up with silly sarcastic "look at me I'm cute" statements you may get labeled as an Xbox apologist, not my fault.

Really though I dunno why this is a different thread, I don't have merge powers here apparently.

Yes the 20gb launch version of the ps3 had an HDMI port. And you can't really say the 360 blew the ps3 out of the water at launch because it had been out for a full year already.

 

Yea I forgot they added it, it was originally announced without one but I think there was a similar (although less social-media pushed since it was before twitter) push back from people and then they announced it would have one.  I checked online and they didn't announce the HDMI port until late September, so my memory wasn't too faulty from an event 8 years ago  And my comment was more in reference to the first year both consoles were out which is the only way to compare them head to head, in 2007 the 360 outsold the PS3 4.6 million vs. 2.5 million in NA, an even worse gap % than what we are seeing so far this year with the One and PS4.  Price point really does matter a lot to buyers, which is why I am surprised Microsoft went the route they did since they knew that.  I'd bet my shoe that if a Kinect-less version came out in November for $399, the sales figures would have been quite different.

[J.T.]

Okay, so I was wrong when I thought that we could simply criticize the Microsoft company policies concerning the X-Box we all knew were bogus without the console war bullshit finding its way into the thread.

[glfpunk]

Eh, it's a knee jerk response when someone has a negative opinion about a game company to say console war or fanboy. It's not necessarily the case.

[Ramsey]

Since I was the evil soul that dared use the phrase "too little, too late" I'll clarify.

 

Microsoft is trying to convince ME to buy an X-BOX One instead of a PS4. For ME it's TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE as I will be buying a PS4 instead of an Xbox One because I found Microsoft's initial launch and rhetoric distasteful. I don't have a SIDE in a console war because I'm not a 14 year old. I simply pick the machine that pisses me off the least.