This year I bought a PlayStation 3, and I’ve been very happy with it indeed. So much so, that I haven’t turned my Xbox 360 on since. Mainly due to laziness, because it means unhooking the Internet cable from one machine and attaching it to the other, just so I can access the TV on demand features of Xbox Live. The PSN User Interface isn’t quite as slick as the 360’s and sometimes it freezes up when I’m watching something and I have to reboot, which is a pain. But it turns out that I have more to be thankful for over on PSN than I first thought.
Last night, I decided to dust off the 360 and carry on watching a documentary on 4OD using Xbox Live instead, as it kept freezing on my PS3. The moments that followed filled me with a growing sense of dread and horror. I don’t want to get all Poe on you, so I’ll skip the gothic suspense and cut to the chase. I can no longer access 4OD, a free service, unless I pay to be a Gold account member. I’ll give you a moment to gasp.
Consider my flabber well and truly gasted, dear play chums. ‘What trickery is this?’ I hear you cry. Well, let me explain.
Unless I’ve been using Xbox Live in a parallel dimension, until recently, TV on demand services such as ITV Player and 4OD, the on demand players for UK TV channels ITV and Channel 4, have been available to all Xbox Live Users. I’ve been happily catching up on Vampire Diaries and Utopia for months and thought nothing of it. Until now.
Since I’ve defected to PSN, things have changed over in Xbox Live land. Let me just clarify that ITV Player and 4OD are both free services, supported by their channels. You just hop online and catch up with your favourite shows ‘ simple. But Microsoft, in their wisdom, has decided to effectively charge to view these services using an Xbox. But that’s not all.
Apparently, if you’re a Netflix or Lovefilm subscriber, you still can’t access your account via Xbox Live, unless you pay for Gold membership. So that means you’re effectively paying a levy on a service you’ve already paid for. In what world does that make sense? Why would anyone do that?
I thought it all looked a bit fishy, when the only on-demand player I could see was BBC iPlayer. I eventually found the Channel 4 programme I was looking for and all looked good. I was downloading the 4OD player, which took at least five minutes. Once downloaded, I was greeted with the ‘you must subscribe to Gold’ message. I almost choked on my popcorn.
It’s at this point that I remind you that 4OD is free. Free I tell you. And I can access that FREE service, for free, via my PS3. So why in hell would I pay Microsoft? I can gain access to all the on demand players from Sony without any trouble at all. I can even access them via my Samsung Note 2 for heaven’s sake. For free.
Of course, the argument is that Gold membership is a mere ‘3, or $2 for 12 months, which is a small price to pay for the endless hours of multiplayer gaming subscribers get to enjoy. Many of them aren’t even bothered by the TV on demand perks. However, I don’t indulge in multiplayer gaming and therefore see no need to pay the fee, small though it is. And I certainly don’t see the need to pay the fee in order to access something that is free, or something I’ve already paid for, in the case of Netflix and Lovefilm.
There’s no reason why Microsoft needs to charge in this way. Nobody else does. It’s just greed. Pure and simple. Xbox Live is essentially asking people to pay for the privilege of using a machine they’ve already paid for, to access the Internet, via an account they already pay for, in order to view content that is free or that they’ve already paid for, on a television they have already bought. All this, while next door in Sony and Nintendo land we get it for free.
The only saving grace is that BBC iPlayer is still free to all Xbox Live users. But apparently, the reason that it took so long for BBC iPlayer to make it to Xbox Live in the first place was because Microsoft couldn’t get their head around the fact that they couldn’t make people pay for it. The BBC is publicly funded, Microsoft, and that means you don’t get to make a profit out of it.
I have to tell you, I’m rapidly falling out of love with my Microsoft console. With the rumours of an always on NextBox and the lack of engaging exclusives, Sony is looking like a very tempting first choice when it comes to the next generation. Sony’s got the games, and now it’s got the on demand services I like without exploitative charges. Microsoft seriously needs to pull a gilded rabbit out of the hat when it unveils the Xbox 720 later this month to get me back on board. Oh, and kick the greed habit. Stranger things have happened, right?
Most played: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Most wanted: The Last of Us