The Phantasy Star expansion ever so conveniently named Phantasy Star Universe: Ambitions of The Illuminus, will be coming to the Xbox 360 this Fall and offered exclusively via download from the XBLM. The expansion will continue the "epic" PSU storyline and build upon the traditional gameplay with enhanced game and community features. But, as with the other PSU offerings, it'll cost you $9.99 per month to play on Xbox Live which you already pay for. Actually, this kind of irks us a little, paying to play on an already paid for online service. Heck, they could at least discount the monthly fee for gold Xbox Live members and keep the $9.99 price tag for silver. Stupid monthly fees ... we'll exterminate you one day.
PSU: AotI expansion to be download only
The Phantasy Star expansion ever so conveniently named Phantasy Star Universe: Ambitions of The Illuminus, will be coming to the Xbox 360 this Fall and offered exclusively via download from the XBLM. The expansion will continue the "epic" PSU storyline and build upon the traditional gameplay with enhanced game and community features. But, as with the other PSU offerings, it'll cost you $9.99 per month to play on Xbox Live which you already pay for. Actually, this kind of irks us a little, paying to play on an already paid for online service. Heck, they could at least discount the monthly fee for gold Xbox Live members and keep the $9.99 price tag for silver. Stupid monthly fees ... we'll exterminate you one day.
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Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Really, it's not like Sega is getting a cut of the $50 fees. I don't want to pay it at all and I have no idea why PSO costs as much as way more complex online RPGs, but still.
Posted at 3:17PM on Apr 27th 2007 by Tony
3. Because, due to horrible management, Sega is hemorrhaging money on all fronts. :p
Way to make the customer suffer for sheer idiocy.
At this point, I'm having a hard time imagining Sega being able to stay in the game race for much longer... well not until they're snapped up by another company...
Can someone say SegaNamcoBandai?
Posted at 3:41PM on Apr 27th 2007 by aragorn
4. The worst thing about these games were you pay a subscription is that they only exist because some idiots pay for them. Simply dont pay for this kind of thing its a disgraceful form of gaming
Posted at 3:42PM on Apr 27th 2007 by jimhuf
5. PSU: Aotl is a bit absurd on its pricing. Not only do you have to pay for the actual PSU game per month you also have to pay an additional 9.99 on top of that per month so ya, you wont be seeing this game in my library.
I wouldn't mind paying a monthly fee for a MMO game, but that game had best be damned good. I don't see PSU being one of those games at all.
Now if WoW came to the 360 I am sure no one would really complain much on the fee.
Posted at 3:52PM on Apr 27th 2007 by Stridery
6. Um... wow. Do you guys not understand the kind of hardware that's required to run an mmo? The reason there's a monthly fee associated with this and not with Gears/Lost Planet/whatever is because in those games Xbox Live is providing servers for matching, etc. But players are hosting the matches themselves. Xbox Live allows us to find/play against one another, but beyond the inital matching (and record keeping of course) the rest of the hosting for the match is actually done by our 360s (the host's 360, natch) while we're playing. And that's what our $50 a year pays for, the ability to find other players, score/record keeping, etc.
On the other hand, with an MMO... there's not a player out there hosting the match, there's a server; actually there are many, many servers. Sega's servers, like everyone else's, cost money to maintain. And they don't get a single penny of the $50 you pay MS each year for live. This isn't being aggrigated out over the hundreds of games released each year that support xbox live either... the costs have to be recouped on a SINGLE game, which is probably why the price seems high. Here's the thing though, that fee covers hardware costs(servers aren't free after all), it covers internet costs(also, the kind of bandwidth required for an MMO isn't cheap), it covers electricity costs(the servers aren't solar powered), it covers tech/customer support for the game, it covers support for the servers, it covers developement costs (you like it when they patch bugs, right?).
So... quit complaining. And if you don't want to pay the fee, don't; don't play the game. But don't act like Sega's ripping you off... they're not, they're actually charging you $5 less a month than VU/Blizzard charge thier players for World of Warcraft.
Posted at 4:55PM on Apr 27th 2007 by AoE
7. xbox live should set up servers for mmo games. then there will be no additional fees. hell, that would make just about everyone happy. and i'm sure microsoft would love the added control over the service.
Posted at 5:47PM on Apr 27th 2007 by Jeramy
8. "Here's the thing though, that fee covers hardware costs(servers aren't free after all), it covers internet costs(also, the kind of bandwidth required for an MMO isn't cheap), it covers electricity costs(the servers aren't solar powered), it covers tech/customer support for the game, it covers support for the servers, it covers developement costs (you like it when they patch bugs, right?)."
Yeah, isn't that what I'm paying for when I pay the initial fee for the game?
Posted at 5:51PM on Apr 27th 2007 by Matt
9. I have played PSO from dreamcast all the way up to PSU on the 360 and you know what>PSU IS NOT AN MMO.They need to get rid of the monthly fee.They can make up for it with DLC and such.
Posted at 2:06AM on Apr 28th 2007 by vid33nyc1
10. its a low end mmo it should be like 4.99 a month. they still ahve to pay for servers... and you dont need a gold acount to play psu online.
Posted at 11:44PM on Apr 28th 2007 by recon
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1. Great point! Paying to play on a service you already pay to play on just doesn't sit right with me and is why I refuse to purchase this game. It's getting too expensive to be a gamer these days.. This is supposed to be a fun hobby not something I need to get a second job to support.
But there is an answer.. Get a PS3!! At least then you don't have to deal with $50 a year and get the same multiplayer experience. And by that I mean when you are actually playing a game; not the chat, text, etc. Just the gameplay.
Posted at 3:09PM on Apr 27th 2007 by razer