How much longer can Xbox Live charge consumers?
As Xbox LiveEverywhere ... Live for Windows starts to bubble up as a topic of conversation, we begin to recognize the absurdity of paying for Xbox Live. Live for Windows will charge the same fees as Xbox Live, but since when did we ever have to pay for easy-to-use matchmaking service on a PC?
Australian site Screen Play asks the same question, "Microsoft has realized that most PC owners certainly won't pay for features they have become accustomed to getting for free, even with the sweeteners of a single Gamertag, Gamerscore and common Friends list. But they are still asking PC owners to pay $80 (Australian) a year just for cross-platform play and match-matching, surely the height of optimism."
Now the question becomes: How long before the console rebellion begins? The PS3 is finally getting its online act together and despite Nintendo's never ending list of online incompetence, we figure they've got to turn it around eventually. When Sony and Nintendo finally get their ducks in a beautiful binary row at no cost to the consumer -- will we really keep paying for Xbox Live?
