MS 100% Back pedal?

[wildbil52]

...and Microsoft does the discounts, icons, and themes, and they're planning on matching PS+ in the giveaways moving forward. We also asked "besides game giveaways"?

I'm with you. That's why I said it's all about the giveaways. So to answer the question precisely, nothing besides the specific giveaways distinguishes PS+ from XBLGold. But the quality and quantity of said giveaways is far, far superior on PS+.

I know Microsoft is trying to catch up. The first two games they're going to do not counting Fable III are Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II. Come on.

Crawl before you walk, right?  It makes sense for new owners of the console to get two of the best games on the platform, but even for everyone else, a free digital copy is cool.  Now you don't have to throw the disc in to play.

[Izret101]

^EDIT That arrow was supposed to point to the post before Bils /EDIT

Seriously.
They are giving away games that a bazillion people already own. Hell 2 out of the 3 have been system bundles on more than one occasion if memory serves.

[GrayGhost81]

...and Microsoft does the discounts, icons, and themes, and they're planning on matching PS+ in the giveaways moving forward. We also asked "besides game giveaways"?

I'm with you. That's why I said it's all about the giveaways. So to answer the question precisely, nothing besides the specific giveaways distinguishes PS+ from XBLGold. But the quality and quantity of said giveaways is far, far superior on PS+.

I know Microsoft is trying to catch up. The first two games they're going to do not counting Fable III are Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II. Come on.

Crawl before you walk, right?  It makes sense for new owners of the console to get two of the best games on the platform, but even for everyone else, a free digital copy is cool.  Now you don't have to throw the disc in to play.

I'll throw my Halo 3 disc in if I ever want to play it again (not likely). Give me MGS Rising Revengeance or Lollipop Chainsaw or some other game that is not quite a new release any more, but not a golden oldie either.

Also fwiw I have been a Gold subscriber for like six years and I don't have shit to show for it except playing multiplayer online, which I was doing for free on PS3 the whole time. How soon we forget that.

[wildbil52]

...and Microsoft does the discounts, icons, and themes, and they're planning on matching PS+ in the giveaways moving forward. We also asked "besides game giveaways"?

I'm with you. That's why I said it's all about the giveaways. So to answer the question precisely, nothing besides the specific giveaways distinguishes PS+ from XBLGold. But the quality and quantity of said giveaways is far, far superior on PS+.

I know Microsoft is trying to catch up. The first two games they're going to do not counting Fable III are Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II. Come on.

Crawl before you walk, right?  It makes sense for new owners of the console to get two of the best games on the platform, but even for everyone else, a free digital copy is cool.  Now you don't have to throw the disc in to play.

I'll throw my Halo 3 disc in if I ever want to play it again (not likely). Give me MGS Rising Revengeance or Lollipop Chainsaw or some other game that is not quite a new release any more, but not a golden oldie either.

Also fwiw I have been a Gold subscriber for like six years and I don't have shit to show for it except playing multiplayer online, which I was doing for free on PS3 the whole time. How soon we forget that.

You do make good points.  However I would like to say that I never felt like online on PS3 was equal to online on XBL.  To me, Live FELT like a premium experience and PSN FELT like a free experience. 

I'm thrilled than Sony is finally charging for the online experience so that they can INVEST in an experience that feels premium because it is.   They have done a fantastic job giving PSN+ value with the content they give away and I hope that MS can follow their lead in finding new ways to make the service a better value.

[Crabmaster2000]

...and Microsoft does the discounts, icons, and themes, and they're planning on matching PS+ in the giveaways moving forward. We also asked "besides game giveaways"?

I'm with you. That's why I said it's all about the giveaways. So to answer the question precisely, nothing besides the specific giveaways distinguishes PS+ from XBLGold. But the quality and quantity of said giveaways is far, far superior on PS+.

I know Microsoft is trying to catch up. The first two games they're going to do not counting Fable III are Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II. Come on.

Crawl before you walk, right?  It makes sense for new owners of the console to get two of the best games on the platform, but even for everyone else, a free digital copy is cool.  Now you don't have to throw the disc in to play.

I'll throw my Halo 3 disc in if I ever want to play it again (not likely). Give me MGS Rising Revengeance or Lollipop Chainsaw or some other game that is not quite a new release any more, but not a golden oldie either.

Also fwiw I have been a Gold subscriber for like six years and I don't have shit to show for it except playing multiplayer online, which I was doing for free on PS3 the whole time. How soon we forget that.

I've had exactly one month of each service over the life of the consoles so I'm not exactly an expert, but I'm gonna side with Grayghost. I had to pay for Xbox live when I wanted to play King of Fighters XIII online to practice for a tournament and other than that couple weeks I played a lot of KoFXIII online I don't have anything to show for it. Oh and I could finally use my netflix subscription on my Xbox :/

When the Playstation network got hacked and and we got a free month I got to play Sonic 2 and Street of Rage with trophy support for free (which was actually kind of cool). When it ended I still have my free downloads for Infamous and Dead Nation.

As far as my short experience with both services I'd say I got a hell of a lot more value out of my month of PS+ than I did with Xbox Live.

[Link41]

and they're planning on matching PS+ in the giveaways moving forward.

I thought that ended in December?

[wildbil52]

and they're planning on matching PS+ in the giveaways moving forward.

I thought that ended in December?

Yeah, the promo runs from now until December.  I think they are trying to gauge how effective it is but it sure would be nice if it became permanent.

[GrayGhost81]

In any event, this thread got hijacked.

The main point is that Microsoft, albeit under immense public pressure, is going in the right direction, and for that we all win

[wildbil52]

yup

[Izret101]

I think the fact that they have collapsed under pressure is an excellent sign.

It shows that they do actually give a damn about consumers (or more specifically consumer confidence and thus dollar dollar bills y'all)

[bombatomba]

It's good that they are bring seen to back pedal (even if it is not a 100% back pedal).  Given just how many people who will watch with interest as well as react violently to anything they perceive as "wrong", I really don't think they have a choice.  They could have continued on their original "suck it down" path, expecting people to fall into line like good little sheep and throwing down $500+ within the first few months of launch.  Of course they could have also likely expected those same people to blast them into the bedrock with negative comments on every message board, blog, and news site they have an account with for their arrogance, much as what happened to Sony following the announcement and release of the PS3, and Sony was only able to recover from that because of the "street cred" they gained during the last few generations (plus a few really great decisions made during the last half of the PS3s life).

I think we can look forward to some more "MS back pedalling" during the next few years, as well as (hopefully) some great PS+ copycat services to add.

[Duke.Togo]

It may sound a little silly, but one of the reasons I have enjoyed the 360 so much comes down to the controller. Now that the systems are on relatively equal footing again, I'll probably head down the MS path again due to the same.

[GrayGhost81]

It may sound a little silly, but one of the reasons I have enjoyed the 360 so much comes down to the controller. Now that the systems are on relatively equal footing again, I'll probably head down the MS path again due to the same.

It doesn't sound silly. I actually prefer the 360 controller as well, and I've heard from many people in real life who agree with you as far as choosing their console based on that. Controller preference just isn't that kind of deal breaker for me.

[bombatomba]

It may sound a little silly, but one of the reasons I have enjoyed the 360 so much comes down to the controller. Now that the systems are on relatively equal footing again, I'll probably head down the MS path again due to the same.

Right there with you, brother.  My two biggest gripes about the PS2/PS3 controller is that it was too loose and had to much of a dead zone (playing Mercenaries on the PS2 then the Xbox was a real eye-opener).  That explanation always got me pitying looks from gamer friends.

I've heard that the PS4 controller is pretty darn good, though according to the Giant Bomb guys the sticks are still too loose.  Still, I am very intrigued and eager to get my hands on one.  Hopefully we see some USB cords and Plug-N-Pray connectivity on both systems again...

[Crabmaster2000]

It may sound a little silly, but one of the reasons I have enjoyed the 360 so much comes down to the controller. Now that the systems are on relatively equal footing again, I'll probably head down the MS path again due to the same.

Not silly at all. I grab each and every multiplatform game in the PS2 era on my Gamecube because it had what I considered the best controller of that gen. I personally like the Dualshock miles more than the 360 controller though so....... your wrong