Is it Worth Paying for an Xbox Live Subscription?

When the first model of the Xbox Live network was introduced to the public, many people thought it was a joke that video game consoles would demand a subscription fee to play multiplayer, especially when Sony’s Playstation 2 already offered a similar service with no cost of admission.

Following this, the Xbox released an update for the Xbox Live network and it changed the opinion of many of the naysayers. The new dashboard offers an amazingly intuitive navigation system as well as a heap of new features.

First off, players are required to create an avatar similar to the Miis on the Nintendo Wii. Every player can choose to spend a few minutes on their avatar or hours, depending on how much they want to customise their character. Once the avatar is completed, you can add people to your friends list and see them identified by their own avatar faces.

The new Xbox Live subscription service makes interacting with friends on the Live network easier and more enjoyable than ever. A new ‘Party’ chat feature allows you to speak to all your friends regardless of what games they are playing. If a friend receives an invite to a game they are not playing, they can hit ‘Accept’, and the Xbox 360 will prompt them to install the disc. They simply insert the disc and voila! Playing with friends has never been simpler.