Xbox Live Gold worth getting?

[thorn]

My brother recently won an xbox360 at his office xmas party, now after buying a couple games we are wondering if it is worth upgrading to xbox live gold or stick with silver.

Aside from multiplayer is it worth getting?

[supaflyx3]

I wouldnt even bother with an xbox unless you had xbl gold.

[Eluder]

Absolutely, I've been a live gold member since the original Xbox.
No other service compares to it, so it's highly recommended.
You can often find it on sale, so just keep picking up a card when on sale and you can stack up your membership.

[thorn]

That isn't really a compelling reason for me to get it though. If online multi-player is the only benefit, it isn't worth it for me as any game worth playing online I would just get it for PC.

[Slaughter]

Multiplayer is the only reason I have gold?

[headsh0t]

Originally Posted by Slaughter

Multiplayer is the only reason I have gold?

No, you can't even use Netflix without a gold account. Basically anything that requires you using the internet on your Xbox requires a Gold subscription, other than buying games from the marketplace.

[Kommie986]

Did they add a web browser to XBL?

[blitz]

You can always wait for the free Xbox Live Gold weekends from MS to try it out.

[MacJunky]

I know someone who tells me to not ever give microsoft a credit card number because they set auto-renew on as default and I guess people forget about that. I also hear that if you cancel the CC they will still try to charge it but not being successful, lock down your account until you pay up.
*shrug* Someone made a big stink about it on the internet and I have forgotten how much of it was their own stupidity.

As far as the point of paying for XBL gold.. I also do not know. In my case the only xbox games I have any interest in are forza 3&4 and I do not like racing with randoms. I also really need an xbox compatible wheel with clutch and H-pattern shifter to race.. That would easily run me $500+ to setup the way I desire, and that is also excluding cost of buying a new xbox that has not already suffered RROD and will again in the future.

I get my online racing with wheel, familiar people, and also mods on my PC.

I personally have a hard time justifying XBL Gold.(though I did get suckered into buying a 3 month card)
As far as what worth you can get out of it goes, you really need to look at what you want to do and make the determination for yourself.

If you want to play online with screaming 13 year old kiddies and do much of anything else online then go for it. Otherwise if you are completely content with the few options you get with a silver account then I do not see the big deal.

I do suggest that you give it a try be it a free weekend or a couple month card or something.

[supaflyx3]

If you add a CC on to your account, and then either try to remove it, or deactivate your CC MS will indeed disable your account, happened to me with $1000+ worth of DLC :l
But yeah if you want to use youtube/netflix/anything that uses internet you'll need XBL gold.