Anybody heard of Xbox live? While I've known about it for close to 8 months, I still get a kick with it everytime I hear of it. I'll start off by giving some of the pros of it, and then the cons.

1.) Speed. The xbox will only do broadband, and will cut out a lot of the laggy dialups that interfere a lot in games. This will be good because it'll give everyone and their brother a chance in all games, and will reduce the "My ping time was crap, thats why I lost".

2.) Cost (first year). Microsoft is planning on selling a startup kit that costs 50 dollars and comes with a headset, a pack in game, and 12 months of online gaming with the xbox.

3.) Simplicity. Supposedly, the xbox will be so simple to connect and get going that all you'll have to do is connect a cable into the back of the machine and you are good to go. Not only that, but everyone will have their own sheep tag, so finding a user should be easy.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I'll throw in some things that have me laughing at Xbox live. I hope they give you as much as they've given me.

1.) While Broadband only is the best for gamers that plan on playing their system online, it cuts out a significant number of people that can't even get BB. In America it holds true in a lot of places, but what I'm really talking about is places like Europe that forecasteres have predicted won't even have 20% using BB by the year 2005. The ps2, and gamecube reach the world in that it allows anyone with a telephone to play online, AND use BB. I can't even imagine living in a country that won't have BB in your area for another 4 years, and seeing a plethora of online xbox games that I wouldn't even be able to use. While the idea of "No lag" games is great, its extremely unrealistic. How many more people will jump onto the gc/ps2 bandwagon when they find out they won't be able to use the xbox's key feature in their area for another 5 years? While lag sucks, its far, far better then nothing at all.

2.) Cost. While the whole idea of paying only 49.95 is great because you get a years play, along with a game and headset, you sell your soul past that. Just like getting 400 dollars off your next computer at Circuit city for signing up for MSN, you'll sign yourself into a 2-3 year contract of 10 bucks a month. And thats for service alone. Let's say you decide you can't afford broadband, or find you don't want it anymore. While you can get rid of BB, you CAN'T get rid of Xbox live. You'll be paying that 10 bucks a month till your time is up. In short, Microsoft will have you by the short hairs.

3.) Want to surf the internet? Tough! The Head set I've been talking about is the only way you can interact over the internet. So now we've bought our starter kit, got our cable/dsl service going, but wait, I can't even use it to surf the internet? Thats right, Microsoft doesn't want you to be able to use a KB or Mouse on their machine. Why? The answer is crystal clear. How many people are going to go out and buy a new computer or OS when they can do all of their internet stuff on one machine that they CAN'T upgrade an OS on? We all know that there's a watered down Win2k kernel inside the xbox, so it is possible to surf the internet. So where does that leave us? Now, not only will we need to sign our life away, but we'll need to either pay for a second ip and install for our computers, or we'll have to invest in a router or hub (with cable we'd have to buy another IP for that hub). Now, I'm a big gamer, but I also like to surf the internet, check my mail and chat occasionally. Microsoft has said a hefty No-No to that. Think seeing people whine about getting fragged or have 10 year olds chew you out with text was bad? Now imagine hearing them over the internet. I can just imagine getting chewed out by a parent for using bad language, or playing their son in a gruesome game. How many of you enjoy using your kb and mouse for gaming? The xbox is basically a computer which adopts many pc gamers. Because of Xbox Live, you won't be using a mouse or kb on the machine.

4.) No EA support. Electrocic Arts (the largest 3rd party gaming software company) has refused to allow their online games for xbox live. With Xbox Live they run their own servers, so all money that comes in goes to Microsoft. How many companys are going to want to make updates for bug fixes, or addons when Microsoft is the one making the money in the end? Ea won't be publishing Madden for Xbox live, they've chosen to stick with PS2 and gamecube where they'll be able to make money off their games, on their servers, after sales.