XBOX Live or PS2 Network?!?

[Mfkzt]

EverQuest Online Adventures is a really terrible game, even by EverQuest standards. I played it extensively for about a week, and it's not even on par with the original, pre-Kunark EverQuest. I got it for free, and I still felt ripped off.

[basemies]

Originally posted by gamevet
Router? Why not just use a 4 port mini-hub and save the headaches and added price?

Comcast charges $10 a month or so for each extra IP address. You can set up one of your computers to act as a "router", but for the price of an extra NIC and a switch, you could just buy a router. Comcast does have a service plan that's somewhere from $90-$100 a month for 5 dedicated IP addresses and a faster connection. I'd rather buy a router for $50 instead of paying $50 a month for more IP addresses and a faster connection that won't help anyway.

[StriderKyo]

As far as the services go, Live is easily tops. Nobody here who actually has it ever has anything bad to say about it, and being able to find your friends online whatever game they're in and being able to talk to people in everything is cool.

Costwise, both are pretty similar - you pay for Live, but you also have to pay for the PS2's BBA. True, the BBA's a one-time cost, but while most PS2 games are free right now, EA sports, Everquest and Final Fantasy XI are going to be charging starting this fall, and you can expect most other games to follow suit.

But that's not really what you get it for - it's the games. For me it was CvS2 and PSO that sold me on Live, and I've absolutely played the living shit out of both. Well worth the money and then some, compared to most games.

I can't really provide a complete list, but Sony's got/going to have Tony Hawk, RE online, the getting-mixed-reviews Final Fantasy XI and SOCOM (and Amplitude, if you're into it). Xbox has/will have Wolfenstein, the excellent Phantasy Star, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Halo 2, Rallisport Challenge 2, True Fantasy Live Online and Project Gotham 2. Go with what matches your personal tastes. Anything else is pointless.

[gamevet]

Originally posted by basemies
Comcast charges $10 a month or so for each extra IP address. You can set up one of your computers to act as a "router", but for the price of an extra NIC and a switch, you could just buy a router. Comcast does have a service plan that's somewhere from $90-$100 a month for 5 dedicated IP addresses and a faster connection. I'd rather buy a router for $50 instead of paying $50 a month for more IP addresses and a faster connection that won't help anyway.

I don't see where you're getting extra IP address costs? I've ran extra lines off of a DSL modem, to a hub in homes around Dallas. You take the ethernet out of the DSL modem, into the hub and patch several P.C.'s into the output of the hub. I'm not too sure about how consoles work in this matter, but I'm sure it works the same, as networking P.C.'s. They all share the bandwidth and when the P.C. is'nt being used, the whole of the bandwidth is being used by the console.

[Glass Joe]

You can't use your PC and your console of choice at the same time if you are using a hub. You can alternate which is nice because you don't have to keep unplugging cables but if you aren't going to use a router(which allows you to use both at the same time) you should be using a auto sensing switch. It is much faster then a hub. That way you get the most out of your connection. Anyone using a hub should get rid of it and get a switch. They are just as cheap too which makes it nice.

[rummy]

Originally posted by StriderKyo Nobody here who actually has it ever has anything bad to say about it

I have it. I'm here. I have bad things to say about it. Don't ignore me.

[Mamoscott]

Originally posted by rummy
I have it. I'm here. I have bad things to say about it. Don't ignore me.

Also, he seems to completely disregard the fact that if someone has bad things to say about it, they are more likely to not subscribe to it. After all, if you think there are problems and think it's not worth the money, why would you pay for the service?

I don't subscribe to Xbox Live, because there are no games I want to play on it. When they've got something besides mostly downgraded PC ports of titles I can already play online for free, I'll reconsider it. But until then, games like Soldier of Fortune 2, Counter-Strike, and Wolfenstein aren't going to change my mind.

I've used both online networks, and people vastly exaggerate the advantages Xbox Live has over the PS2's online components.

In other words, what Yoshi said:

As with anything else, it comes down to what game(s) you want to play. The only online console game that has been announced that I have to play is Resident Evil Outbreak. Everything else is either meh or better on PC. Thus, I would choose the PS2. No service is worth anything without must-have games.

[Mfkzt]

As much as I hate Xbox Live, it does have the only online fighting game right now, with another on the way this year. CVS2 is a really solid fighter, too; I like it better than any game in the Alpha or SF3 series. So to say that Xbox Live doesn't have any worthwile exclusives is wrong.

Anyway, neither Sony nor Microsoft have gotten it right yet. Paying $40 for a modem isn't much better than paying $50 for a starter kit. And Sony is going with the pay-to-play Live model soon; they're just suckering people in right now. To take one side over the other at this time is pointless.

[basemies]

Originally posted by gamevet
I don't see where you're getting extra IP address costs? I've ran extra lines off of a DSL modem, to a hub in homes around Dallas. You take the ethernet out of the DSL modem, into the hub and patch several P.C.'s into the output of the hub. I'm not too sure about how consoles work in this matter, but I'm sure it works the same, as networking P.C.'s. They all share the bandwidth and when the P.C. is'nt being used, the whole of the bandwidth is being used by the console.

Each device hooked up to a network needs a unique IP address. Comcast doesn't provide these for free, so a router or using a pc with 2 NICs as a router is the only solution if your ISP doesn't provide exra IP addresses for free. If your ISP provides extra IP addresses for free, then you don't need a router.

[Orta]

XBOX Live it is! Thanks for the opinions/information.