Feature: Improvements for Xbox Live?

Here is an article on teamxbox, a very valid one at that, which talks about the cost and current state of Xbox Live. Are we paying too much? Are Gold members being rewarded sufficiently? Must we endure the limitless advertisements? Surely we deserve dedicated servers? All are asked in this article, but ultimately- do we as Xbox Live users deserve an even better service for £40 a year?

I would like to address the points made individually and give my personal opinions.

1) Server-Based Online Multiplayer

Without doubt. Most games on Xbox Live use a peer-to-peer hosting system. This was fine back in the early days of Xbox Live, but as the service moves on, games grow more advanced, and more users are attracted to the service- peer-to-peer very rarely cuts it. The 3 main problems usually created by peer-to-peer are lag, host advantage, and a small player limit. Admittedly some games manage better than others- such as Gears of War, which rarely suffers from lag and the player limit is set about right- however there has been some evidence of slight host advantage. Useage of dedicated servers means no lag, no advantage, and potentially limitless players. Dedicated servers do cost $$$ to set up and maintain, however if all Xbox Live Gold members are paying £40 a year- what's the problem?

2) Clan and Party System

This is a fairly good point, although I would only ever consider joining a clan for a few games- such as Halo 3. An integrated Clan system would be great as currently only some games support this feature and even then you are forced to set up a separate clan for each individual game. I'm a bit 50/50 on this one- great if they decide to do it, but it's not absolutely vital.

3) Dedicated Download Servers

In truth, most downloads from Xbox Live don't take too long, with the odd exception of course which takes ages (/thinks ahead to the launch of the Halo 3 beta.) Nevertheless with us Gold members paying to use the service, we do deserve dedicated download servers- resulting in much faster download speeds, which is always a plus.

4) Microsoft Points Program

This isn't a bad idea in theory, but in practice I'm not too sure. With the way Xbox Live is currently set up, with Gold and Silver memberships, Gold users pay for playing games online (something Silver users can't do) and I am personally fine with paying £40 a year for that. Gold members already get to download a lot of new content first before Silver members can. By making downloads cheaper for Gold members or rewarding them with Microsoft Points may make Silver users feel pushed aside- and MS needs Silver members as well as Gold. After all- when it comes to premium content- Silver users pay just as much as Gold users- so why should just Gold users be rewarded?

5) No Ads

Meh- this doesn't really bother me that much. Besides some of the ads on the dashboard like 'out this week' can be quite useful. Some ads in games can be quite annoying, but as long as they're not misplaced like HMV in Halo 3, they aren't too bad. Like the Airwaves adverts in Splinter Cell- they made me laugh more than anything but they didn't really spoil the atmosphere of the game. Ubisoft also often advertise their other games in their games too. As long as it doesn't go way over the top- I'm fine with it.

Summary:

Xbox Live is a great service which has always provided value for money and fantastic quality. Most gamers would agree that Xbox Live is the best online service on a console and has been since it's launch. However as games improve so must the service- and the most obvious way to do this is by providing dedicated Microsoft servers, especially for AAA titles. It is also probable that some of the future, more ambitious online titles will only be possible using dedicated servers- such could be the size and scope of these games.