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View Full Version : UC to be Pay for Play



Batman2372
03-21-2002, 04:13 PM
Check out the <A href="http://www.xboxaddict.com">homepage</A> to see that there will be a subscription fee for playing Unreal Championship online. Could have seen this coming a mile away, and what a shame.

MOlsen
03-21-2002, 05:10 PM
Yep, gotta agree, people should ahve seen this a mile away. It is one thing to set up a "digital underground", where the games are free. But when you start talking about a large company, with a massive number of customers, I just can't think of any way it could be free form the bandwidth usage point of view. It is going to cost, the question is, how well can they set it up? The better the setup, the less customer support, the less expensive it will be.

Just as Sony Online Entertainment found out, the customer support is really a drag. Hopefully, with the way the XBOX is designed, there should be dramatically less user knowledge nessisary, requiring less customer support, therefore lower cost (maybe?). I know, just dreaming, but still we can hope I guess.

l Maximus l
03-21-2002, 05:17 PM
I'm not surprised at all that we will have to pay to play. I was already expecting it, so, I guess the news didn't hit off gaurd.

I'd be willing to pay $10 a month and prefer to pay the $120 for the entire year all at once to get it out of the way. Think about it for a moment: Absolutely NO LAG while playing massive on-line games like Unreal Championship!

I play Halo all the time on Gamespy and, most recently, XBoxconnector.com and while both are pretty good, both can have exceptional amount of lag. Is it me, or does Gamespy and XBoxconnector lag in the most "opportune" moments!?! :confused:

Microsoft will probably have a series of OC-192s driving the on-line network. That is HUGE bandwidth! So, be ready for on-line excellence!

LynxFX
03-21-2002, 05:17 PM
By the way, it doesn't mean that you will have to pay everytime you want to play UC online. The "subject to subscription fees" is what MS is requiring all games that will be online to say that. It just means that you have to subscribe to the MS online forum in order to play the game online.

The people at Unreal already confirmed this.

Durden-XBA
03-21-2002, 05:28 PM
MS = BS!

Absurd! They getcha comin'... and they getya goin'!

I'll never, ever, ever pay for onlineplay.

LynxFX
03-21-2002, 05:32 PM
Durden,

I'm with you. It is going to be hard to justify paying for something I can do for free on my pc with almost the same game. I watched a long video of Unreal Tournment 2 and it looks incredible. The physics alone on the models are so real. Plus, free online gaming.

I'll still wait until the MS online forum is out before I pass judgements.

Dre
03-21-2002, 05:40 PM
Originally posted by Maximus
Absolutely NO LAG while playing massive on-line games like Unreal Championship!

I'll believe that only when I witness it. Like you said, they'll probably have OC-192's but it still depends.. you have to realize that EVERY online XBOX game will be going through them and thats a helluva lot of data to be passing to hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of ppl at a time.

If there still is a gamespy way of connecting, then I won't complain. But I paid over 850$ just for Xbox and 2 games and a couple of controllers.. add in my 2500$/semester tuition + books + rent + cable + phone + internet + hydro + food bills and I don't have another 10$/month just to play with a lower ping.

Darn, I can't wait till I graduate...

Spaztic
03-21-2002, 05:43 PM
I only posted this at 9:30 this morning but hey we all can't read others posts huh?! I deleted mine because people that come in here to find info shouldn't have to surf through loads of fragmented posts to find some info. Anyways....I have talked this issue to death! Everyone figured it would be pay for play and I am just conserned if it is going a flat rate per game or do you play a flat rate and play all the different online games you want.

LynxFX
03-21-2002, 05:43 PM
Plus your connection is only as good as your weakest link. If your internet provider is slow or with cable if you have alot of people on your node then it doesn't matter how good MS network is, you will still have lag.

With current technology and networking, lag free internet gaming is an oxymoron. :)

guest
03-21-2002, 07:01 PM
This is retarded. The xbox and games cost too much to start with, but now you're supposed to fork out more money to play online? I have a hard enough time trying to justify paying for games and stuff... too much $$$...
I'm not surprised, though. It's going to be a great game made my a good company and they just want more money. They know that people will pay it. I have a ****ty internet connection anyways so I'm not going to be playing online. There's my two cents.

Azazel
03-21-2002, 08:06 PM
WAIT 1 SECOND!!!!

What are we talking about here? Is Unreal championship going to cost seperate from everything else.

Example: Will I have to pay to play Unreal championship as well as pay seperate for the Microsoft online service?

Or is it all 1 fee?? I assumed I would pay for MS online, but not for individual games.

Someone help clear this up. (Maximus you out there)

I would be happy to pay $10-$15 a month to play all my games online.

LynxFX
03-22-2002, 02:23 PM
ty818,

I believe it is going to be one fee, play multiple games. Not pay for UC, pay for GTA3 etc.

MS just wanted the game developers to list "online gaming requires subscription fee" because it does, but the fee isn't UC only related. UC got all the heat because they are the first ones to list that on their specs and it got everyone confused.

But on the other hand MS does seem to have a tiered pricing which is confusing with no details. From $5 for basic to $20 for special or whatever. What is included in each hasn't been announced.

l Maximus l
03-22-2002, 02:33 PM
Originally posted by ty818
WAIT 1 SECOND!!!!

What are we talking about here? Is Unreal championship going to cost seperate from everything else.

Example: Will I have to pay to play Unreal championship as well as pay seperate for the Microsoft online service?

Or is it all 1 fee?? I assumed I would pay for MS online, but not for individual games.

Someone help clear this up. (Maximus you out there)

I would be happy to pay $10-$15 a month to play all my games online.

Dude....the only fee will come from Microsoft's on-line network. Unreal Championship will not cost any additional money to play.

For some reason, this thread has caused a lot of confusion...The only fee will be from Microsoft to use their on-line network...and this goes for all on-line games on the XBox. It will probably only cost $10 a month ($120 per year) or so to be able to play all on-line games regardless of what title :)

Toder
03-22-2002, 03:06 PM
WTF how many of these threads am i going to see today about Pay Per Play. This is insane. I cna't beieve so many of yall are freaked out by the concept of MS charging money to play on their servers. Come on people who ever didn't see this coming is a fool.

NOTE: You will only have to pay MS for playing games online. No one else is involved here. The only reason why they have the disclaimer is so that people understand you are going to have to pay for the service. But only to MS and no one else. And it will not be a pay per play. If it was do you really think the whole online consol gaming would last.

TokenBoy232
03-22-2002, 03:44 PM
From TeamXbox:



No UC Fees for Online Play
By Cesar
03.18.2002 @ 07:12 PM

In response to the CVG story suggesting that Unreal Championship will be the first "pay per play" FPS, Epic VP Mark Rein answered back and denied the rumor. Here is what Mr. Rein had to say:
"To make it perfectly clear neither Epic, nor Digital Extremes, nor Infogrames is going to be collecting any money from people playing Unreal Championship online. You may be interested to read an article that appeared back in November on the Los Angeles times web site which says the following:"
--start of quote from LA Times article---
Another universal dictum is that getting online has to be seamless and simple. Ideally, once the console is hooked up to a broadband connection, the gamer pops in a disc and is automatically online.
To pay for that investment, Microsoft is expected to charge players a monthly subscription fee for the service. Although a price has not been settled on, Microsoft's internal market research has shown that many consumers are willing to pay as much as $10 a month, on top of any fees to get high-speed Internet access.
--end of quote--
The full LA Times article is available here.
"For information about what Microsoft is setting up you need to talk to them but I can say they're doing some pretty cool things in the online area."


Check out that: "I can say they're doing some pretty cool things in the online area." If the creator of Unreal says that ...
--Cesar

Calve
03-22-2002, 05:22 PM
man i hate this :( :( :( :( :(

LynxFX
03-22-2002, 05:30 PM
WTF how many of these threads am i going to see today about Pay Per Play.

And how many posts are we going to see that repeat the exact same info as the posts right before it? Not directly aimed at you Toder.

Toder
03-22-2002, 07:01 PM
Originally posted by Lynxfx


And how many posts are we going to see that repeat the exact same info as the posts right before it? Not directly aimed at you Toder.

I know Lynxfx. But is just driving me :eek: that people don't seem to understand this concept.