Gold Live account members set to receive content first

360 News | There is no second place.

This weeks Gears of War trailer, which has been released to Xbox Live Gold customers is a sign of things to come, says Larry Hryb (aka MajorNelson) on his blog.

In response to questions on his blog about why the trailer was released to Gold members first, Hryb gives the response that This is going to happen more and more so you may want to think about upgrading if you want all the latest and greatest trailers, demos etc.".

The trailer will be released to Silver members "in about a week", so those who don't want to pay to play online will soon be able to download the trailer. Choosing to release content to gold members first is certainly an interesting idea, we'd love to hear what you think about this (considering Sony and Nintendo's services will be completely free) in our forums.

Related Content

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix coming next week
24 Aug, 2007 On both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Shops for the chop
04 Mar, 2006 Downloading is the future, proclaims EA bigwig.

Metroid Prime 2 has gone Gold
21 Oct, 2004 The Gamecube’s great hope for Christmas is complete.

20 Comments

EvilHayama

5 years ago

Gold members and gametrailers viewers... I'm pretty sure that's the same trailer in the same rez, it was linked from Penny Arcade. Nice trailer!

Spanca

5 years ago

^ That's 480 pixels high. The one on Live is in 720p (ie 720 pixels high). So that one is standard definition, the Gold/Live one is high definition.

Sony and Nintendo's services may well be free, but I don't mind paying for these services if they're up the quality that Live has provided.

IGN Insiders can get it in HD though http://au.media.xbox360.ign.com/media/747/747891/vids_1.html

The Brett

5 years ago

Sony and Nintendo online? Well, to prove our support, three weeks before our competitors launch, we're crippling our free option!

Raidenex

5 years ago

*sigh*

Why must game companies be so evil?

This is obviously a profit-making ploy. The very nature of Xbox Live meant that gamers could get game trailers and demos without having to jump on the net or go buy the latest Xbox Magazine; now people with Silver accounts are being made to wait.

If it's just trailers and game demos, it will be tolerable, but if they do this with Xbox Live Arcade games as well, it might lead to reduced sales and bite them in the ass in the long run.

slapshakle

5 years ago

^ There has to be some extras for being a gold member. They wouldnt make people with a silver account wait longer for the arcade games since every one is paying the same price for it.

dc0079

5 years ago

Business is business, you only get your money worth.

Jim Dash

5 years ago

Not to complain, but I want to get what I'm paying for, expeically seeing as the competition will be offereing the same for free.

ultrasinc

5 years ago

Obviously, current gold members become happier (Money's worth, exclusiveness, and bandwidth)

while current silver/bronze members become sadder...

Evil microsoft...

realitybites

5 years ago

Jim Dash wrote

Not to complain, but I want to get what I'm paying for, expeically seeing as the competition will be offereing the same for free.

How much is Gold? You ever looked?

Probably paying more for your internet access per month. You have Foxtel? Do you subscribe to magazines?

Give it up already. This is like the most tired argument in the entire world.

You are getting something for free Silver Membership. At least MS realised there had to be a free component.

No one gives anything for free. PS2 FF XI players pay per month. Sony off loads this responsibility to its developers.

Sony and Nintendo are just so backward in getting an online service up and running you don't want to be paying money for someone to learn how to run an online service.

Infested Jibbs

5 years ago

^Calm down tiger, regardless of what you think you know it still IS a pain in the ass.The crux of the problem is that people [i]have[/] to pay for things like internet and foxtel and magazines to have a half comfortable life-and this is already on top of rising petrol and food bills.And now we're being shepparded to pay for GOLD.

I don't like where it's going frankly.Quote me down the track because it's enivatable that gold members will one day get exclusive access to demo/videos that silver members not only will have to wait a lil longer to see them-they probably won't see them at all-period.

LIVE is awesome-but if(when) nintendo and sony get their **** together online for free-ms will have alot of thinking to do.

Rob_Jedi

5 years ago

Just the fact I don't have to buy the official magazine to get the demos is worth a week wait, not that it applies to anything but a trailer so far.

Jim Dash

5 years ago

Is he serious? I do pay for my Gold membership, obviously I know what I'm paying.

I don't actually understand your argument. I think I need some coffee.

I think you're basically saying that Nintendo and Sony's free online services will be crap?

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Yea I don't understand what a lot of people are arguing here....do you like the idea or not (gold member's getting stuff first/exclusively).

Jim Dash, Jibbs and Realitybites I really don't know if you guys support the idea or not. (edit: ok I figured it out I think....Jibbs and JD want the service to go back to silver members getting the same rights as gold members except the online play....correct me if i'm wrong).

Personally I don't think gold members should be getting exclusive access because to me gold membership is to play online games.....nothing else....and if you don't have any games to be playing online...well then why the hell should you buy the gold membership? To get stuff from the marketplace a couple of days/weeks earlier!? Haha yea righto...whatever you reckon!!

Infact I currently have the 12 month subscription and guess what? Since i've bought it i've played a total of like 5 or 6 games online (and that's cuz I was uber bored)...so at the moment i'm thinking it was a bit of a waste of money because I don't really have any games that are taking advantage of the feature and personally I wouldn't buy it if all it game me were some live content early.

I think the gold and silver memberships shoudl stay as they were whereas the only thing the gold membership has over the silver one is the online play....everything else should be the same.

Someone mentioned a 'Bronze' membership. Is there such a thing and if so what does that include?

Oh yea just incase anyone is confused:

Gold Membership for 12 months is around $80 - $90.

Silver Membership is free

Bronze......didn't know this existed.

Jim Dash

5 years ago

I'm not saying I support the idea, I'm just saying that for the money I pay, I expect a quality service, and if the Silver member's don't get the content at the same time, all that means is a quicker download for me.

I'm not actually happy to have to pay, seeing as Sony and Nintendo are offering online services for free.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

^ Yea I get what you're saying there and it's a good point but nowadays you can't get a break with anything....so I think the least consoles can do is have some sort of free online service. I mean you've got enough problems paying for the Internet bill you don't want to have to fork out more money to be able to use the console over the internet so really the console devs should be offering something that compliments their console for free....such as a good online service/marketplace. Personally I thought Microsoft has it perfect with the Silver and Gold memberships and I think this new direction will ruin things.

And you're not getting something for nothing.....you bought the console didn't ya?! Consoles are pretty much useless unless you are constantly spending money on them...well I want that to end! I'm sick of forking over half a grand worth of my hard earned money on something that quite honestly isn't self sufficient! All online enabled consoles should have a free component...and if Microsft go mucking with the Silver member's then they are really being too shallow and I will seriously consider if their online is even worth paying for once the Ps3 and Wii comes out.

Don't do it Microsoft! Don't you dare!!

Jellyfish

5 years ago

Don't say Nintendo and Sony are doing it for free until you've seen and played on their service with a variety of games. You think people are bad on Xbox Live... With the massive install base the Playstation has... *shudder*

GroovySamurai

5 years ago

Man I dont know what to think of this. Its great there giving extras to the gold members who are paying money for each month but then its really sucky that all they are doing is delaying content that silver members will eventually get anyway! Maybe they should open a exclusive section with extras only gold members can get. That sounds like more of a fair deal to me.

realitybites

5 years ago

Jim Dash wrote

Look I apologise if I was over zealous and have taken your response out of context.

I thought the inference was you either didn't like the idea of paying for a service that could potentially be worse or the same as another which is "free" or you didn't have the service and was simply using a tired old cliched argument one is free so should the other (which clearly isn't the case as you have explained).

The cost of Live! is relatively small compared to the cost of internet connectivity (mine is $60.95 a month), Foxtel (my setup is $52 a month) and my Atomic magazine sub is $50 per annum (sorry for the plug

).

So what if you really have to wait a week or even a month for a demo. If online is that important you would pay $8 a month for the privelege (which you do). Especially if your making free video or ip telephony calls to your mates. MS has made Gold available during important events.

Yeah, I think in the current iteration of Nintendo's online service is crap. You program a Nintendo DS and see how you go with friend's lists. Its half assed.

The PSP is a little better and I did get used to the interface after some time. But they are my son's devices I just had to get them working online and get Animal Crossing friend's lists updated (aaaargh).

Both organisations have touted they are based on the same models used in their handhelds. Recently Nintendo has also said it will make it more user friendly.

Based on the content discussed in other PALGN threads on Nintendo and Sony's online service it appears that they are just dipping their toes in the water to see what happens. If I understand that correctly why should I pay for a service while you guys tinker with it?

One thing Sony is doing right is displaying the cost for items in local currency.

Utlimately though I think the reverse will happen I believe the Sony service will become split tiered. Basically "me too" modelling after MS and just about every sustainable online operation has multi levelled options (take IGN Insider as another example). Blizzard with WoW for example would balance the monthly cost to cover both support and infrastructure.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

nikack wrote

Free is free I don't care how it runs. Personally i've had more problems with online games (lag and dropouts) than i've ever had on Xbox Live (with the 360) so that's FAR from perfect and on top of that I pay for it! Potentially I know Nintendo and Sony can be worse...but it's free...so you can't complain!

Also I just don't want Microsoft to make Silver Members wait for stuff....that's the only beef I have. Anyways the point wasn't about the online gaming....it's about free content on the marketplace...and Microsoft are actually gonna change things when they should leave it exactly as it is and as it has been, that's the point i'm making.

mobiles55

5 years ago

Got something to say?
Enter your comment on this article here.

View as forum topic

Add Comment