Xbox Live membership and points - info sought

machinist · 15 Mar 2011 at 08:17

I'm new to Xbox, and have just bought the Xbox360 Slim 250GB for me and my family.

What is Live membership?

What are MS points for?

Do I need both?

Does each member of my family need a membership each? I assume that if they're young like my 2 kids are then Live membership would be pointless?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Mark1989 · 15 Mar 2011 at 08:24

Gold Membership is so you can play the games online also use party chat feature so is needed should you want to do either + demos 1 week earlier than silver members, Points allow you to buy stuff such as the arcade titles e.g. Pac Man.

If you plan on giving each member of your family their own profile then yes you need live for each one it cannot be shared. Basic level is Silver which is free which doesnt allow party chat or to play games online

mame · 15 Mar 2011 at 10:29

You get 1 month free with a new Xbox/account. I recently bought one but wasn't going to pay for online as I have the PC and a PS3. There's plenty of sites selling 12 month codes for £30ish but I still wasn't going to pay for it. Then came a deal on Spotlight (a section on the Xbox dashboard) that offered 12 months for £31.99 but with a free copy of Halo Reach or Fable 3. Both games that I wanted and not the cheapest either so I went for that. I think these deals come up quite often.

Xbox points are for buying DLC (map packs etc) Points only exist to blur the connection with real money and purchases and also some people will find anything to buy to use up their last 300 points

biron_w · 15 Mar 2011 at 10:46

Speaking of live gold - where's the cheapest place to buy 12 months?

machinist · 15 Mar 2011 at 10:55

OK thanks all.
I reckon I'll stick with points for now, no need for Live.

Insanties_birth · 15 Mar 2011 at 11:11

One benefit of having live is the weekly sales, basically if you are a gold member (someone subscribed) you get these weekly deals and they can save you money but if your a silver member you'll have to pay the normal price. Sucks but in the end those are the ropes. Sometimes the subscription works out if you then buy games and doesn't cost that much (when you factor in the discounts made) but this depends on if your a patient guy and can wait for stuff to go on sale.

Anyway if you like old RPG download Breath of Death VIII and Cthulu saves the world from the indie game section

roboffer · 15 Mar 2011 at 12:17

biron_w said:
Speaking of live gold - where's the cheapest place to buy 12 months?

Have a look on your dashboard, there are some good offers on there these days. If you do take this option, be aware they will automatically set your account to renew so you need to call them to turn it off.

Insanties_birth · 15 Mar 2011 at 12:53

biron_w said:
Speaking of live gold - where's the cheapest place to buy 12 months?

I tend to keep an eye on hotukdeals.com for cheap offers. They tend to find them around £30 as Amazon had it at that price for a while but it's now £34.

Amazon does have the 2100 xbl points for £15 rather than £17.50 though.

Zid_ · 15 Mar 2011 at 13:56

roboffer said:
Have a look on your dashboard, there are some good offers on there these days. If you do take this option, be aware they will automatically set your account to renew so you need to call them to turn it off.

Which used to be a right pain to be able to do, they have made this easier now. Although they will still keep your CC details.

MrGobyJobby · 18 Mar 2011 at 20:51

Trying to cancel your CC can be a pain,buy points from shop.

Begbie · 19 Mar 2011 at 09:25

You can also get a family pack, which will allow up to 4 accounts iirc.

whiskycycle · 19 Mar 2011 at 18:39

Begbie said:
You can also get a family pack, which will allow up to 4 accounts iirc.

This.

Well worth it if you don't want the Wife's "Lips" scores wrecking your street cred on your gamer points....

Zid_ · 19 Mar 2011 at 22:14

You can hide your played games on your profile if you wanted to. I'd rather that over paying for a second account

evil_yo · 13 Apr 2011 at 23:08

upgrade to 12 months live via xbox dash for 23.99 atm

Vonhelmet · 13 Apr 2011 at 23:14

Zid_ said:
You can hide your played games on your profile if you wanted to. I'd rather that over paying for a second account

You can only do that if you haven't got any achievements on them.