Xbox Gold great value
Xbox Live has come a long way over 16 years. The live service was originally developed for gamers who wanted to play other people from around the globe.
As the years progressed, it expanded with people needing it for Netflix and other apps.
The Sega Dreamcast offered online play a few years earlier, but it never took off and the system ultimately failed.
The addition of games like Halo and Unreal Championship helped cement Xbox Live in the eyes of gamers.
A major draw of the service was not only the ability to play with others on the other side of the globe, but with the headset included, the ability to trash talk the person losing to you and your friends was a fresh and novel idea.
Within the first four years, the live service had around two million online users.
Just a few years ago in 2013, the user count reached over 40 million.
The addition of Netflix was a boost for the service, although you no longer have to get XBox Gold to receive the streaming movie service.
The ability to play with friends is also no longer the only selling point of XBox Live Gold.
One of the newest reasons to get the Gold is the Games with Gold service. The service launched in 2013 and gave Gold users the ability to download and play full titles for free every month.
The titles would change twice a month, and once players have a title downloaded, they can play anytime.
The service started adding full retail titles like Dead Rising 2 and Crackdown, alongside of the Xbox Live Arcade titles.
With around four titles featured every month, the service is more than worth the $50 a year.
Another benefit to being a member is that each month, downloadable games will be discounted for Gold members. The discount can range from $5 and up, depending on the title.
All in all, the Xbox Live Gold membership is one of the best values for online services on any console.
Next week. look for my annual Holiday Guide.
Sascha Heist is a Penticton gamer. Contact Sascha at sggall@telus.net On XBox One: acehardy13 On PSN: acehardy13