In most cases it is, goodness knows how much effort BBC needed to get iPlayer on Xbox 360 for free finally. The most funny one has got to be Internet Explorer, finally Xbox 360 gets a web browser but you have to pay for XBL Gold to use it.
And if that was all XBL was about you might have a point, but its not.
It is free to use platform on PC and has the same security as every other Microsoft account as far as I know. Don't know about it being securer than PSN though, PSN now could be much more securer than XBL.
Based on the evidence we have available one has been shown to be more secure than the other, while that may change in the future all we have is the history of the past issues with PSN. Do not underestimate the potential impact that had for many on the PSN network.
Sony may we have made PSN more secure than XBL now, that unfortunately came at a massive cost (both financial and non-financial) to them.
Why would I back track on these issues, it will be massively disappointing if that is the case. I don't think I will pay to play online much, only for really any big events coming up if that was the case but I am hopeful that it will remain free. I don't play games much online anyway but it is always good that you can play online whatever time of year without worrying about if your subscription has run out. Still will be able to play PC games online as well as PS3 at least in worst case scenario.
However as you say you would pay, maybe not all the time, but you would still pay.
In my opinion most would complain quite a bit about it (the threads here I can already picture), then they would accept it and the vast majority would pay and within a short period of time most would then justify it to themselves as well.
Hopefully that feature will be free in future, temporary creating of the illusion of adding value by both when it should really be free.
To be blunt why should it be free? Both Sony and MS have to set-up and manage server arrays to handle just the cloud storage side of things, those activities have both a one-time cost and re-occurring cost to them, why should they just give it away?
What is worrying is the number of services that are free on say Playstation platform or other computing platforms like smartphones and PCs requires an XBL Gold membership.
Do you pay for them over and above you XBL membership? No.
I pay for my XBL for the on-line gaming, the access to the other functionality (such as Facebook, IE, Lovefilm, etc.) is simply a bonus. If that was all I was paying to access you would have a very valid point, but its not.
There hand will most likely be forced if most of their userbase is jumping ship due to that being one of the reasons. I think Sony will pursue their current strategy, PS Plus rebranded and your good base level PSN features as standard. It will depend on how greedy Sony want to be regarding this which will help Microsoft if they follow suit more in this regard but disappointing for console gaming community.
That hasn't happened to date and currently shows no sign of happening. Sony would first have to offer a service that matches or exceed XBL in every way (and as I have said not just features), then offer it for free and then steal significant sales from MS.
To put in in a personal perspective, my first console of this gen was a PS3, even with the free on-line I bought a 360 and pay for XBL (years after I got my PS3). The reason? Simply because as things stand right now its worth it for a more secure and stable platform.
Sony has said numerous times they will never charge to play online. PS World will be a revamped PS+.
And no company has ever changed position on a subject before?
Sony could quite easily justify it with a new console, I hope they don't (it will be a tick in the right box for me when it comes to chose) but neither would it surprise me at all.
