Xbox Live | Play | Chat | Compete (Xbox Live 12 Month Subscription Plan)

Member Name: freetimeaction

Product:	Xbox Live 12 Month Subscription Plan
Date:	20/11/08 (346 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Talk and play online with your friends | Compete online

Disadvantages: Costs around £40 per year

What is it?
Xbox Live is a service, a community and a way of life. Xbox Live is available to all Xbox 360 consoles* and will allow you to talk to your friends via MSN or Xbox Chat.
*You must be connected to internet via a modem or router, and be registered as a Silver or Gold member for Xbox Live.

Xbox Live packages:
There are 2 packages available for Xbox Live, either the Silver plan or the Gold plan.
The silver package is free, and allows you to see your online friends, and talk / message them. It doesn't however allow you to play games online or download demos / games / content from the marketplace. You will get a 1month FREE upgrade to Gold when choosing the silver option first. This will give you an insight into the full package before paying anything.
The Gold package costs either £40 per year, or £4.99 per month via your credit / debit card. This allows you to do everything the Silver plan offers, plus the ability to play games online, download videos, demos and content from the marketplace.

What do I need to connect to Xbox Live?
For starters, you will need an Xbox 360 games console. You will also need a hard drive (at least 20GB hard drive), as a memory card doesn't have enough storage for Xbox Live.
You will need a router or modem that either allows wireless** connections or an Ethernet connection. The Xbox 360 console will connect using a CAT5 or Ethernet cable straight into your modem or router. You will also need a Windows Live email address (Hotmail is fine) and this will be asked for during the set up.
**To use wireless, you will need to purchase an additional wireless adapter for the Xbox 360 (Cost approximately £60)

Your gamer tag / name:
The first step to creating an Xbox Live account, is choosing your name. Now, this name is displayed to all of your friends and gamers you meet online. You will also need to provide this name to people if you wish them to add you to their friends list. What you choose is entirely up to you (E.g. YourName YourDateOfBirth) you can use any character including symbols, so you are sure to create a name that suits you. (E.g. If you wanted Jack and it's not available, why not try adding symbols in and around the name?

Chat / Talk / Messaging:
Over Xbox Live you can voice chat, or text chat to your friends who are also using Xbox Live. Simply by choosing their name from your friends list you can invite them to a private one-2-one chat, or send them a voice / text message. You can also use MSN messenger to talk to your MSN contacts who are on their PC too.

The Marketplace:
There is a new area available once you've connected to Xbox Live, which allows you to download game demos, movie demos, game add-ons and arcade games. Some of these downloads may cost to download, however these charges are stated before you confirm.

Microsoft points:
Microsoft points, or MS Points, can be used to purchase items from the marketplace, or be used to change your gamer name at a later date (this costs 800 points).
You can purchase Microsoft points either via credit / debit card through the marketplace, or via a voucher you can buy online / from most entertainment stores. Below are the current costs to purchase MS points from the marketplace or Xbox.com:
Xbox LIVE 500 Microsoft Points bundle - £4.25
Xbox LIVE 1000 Microsoft Points bundle - £8.50
Xbox LIVE 2000 Microsoft Points bundle - £17.00
Xbox LIVE 5000 Microsoft Points bundle - £42.50

Online gaming:
This is where the fun starts. Provided you've paid for your Gold membership you will be able to access all of your games available to Xbox Live. From here you can battle it out on the streets of Need for Speed, or team up on the enemy in Call of Duty: World at War. You have the choice to talk to everyone in the current game, or private chat with a friend, or neither.

Which games allow Xbox Live gaming?
You may have noticed that most games will have the Xbox Live logo at the top right corner on the front of the game case, this indicates this game allows online gaming, and takes full advantage of the Xbox Live experience.

My experience:
I've used Xbox Live now for 2years, and love it. I've met some new people online, and it's a great way to keep in contact with your mates while playing your favourite games. Teaming up with 3 or 4 of your friends to take on a gang on Call of Duty is fantastic fun. Believe it or not, I've even managed to get my Dad to buy an Xbox 360 + Call of Duty: World at War + Xbox Live, which is a great way to keep in contact with him while I live 250 miles away.

Enjoy, and maybe I'll see you online someday soon...

Summary: A must have for any Xbox 360 gamer