Managed to pick up a few extra shifts at work this week, although the money isn’t going far. Didn’t do much over the weekend, got a 30 day trial account for Xbox Live. Console online gaming sure is different to PC, I’m yet to see a single game actually tell you a ping time or allow basic server filtering.

EA Games’ approach is certainly half assed, you’re just automatically dumped in to a game hosted on an EA server, and each client takes turns at being ‘Leader’ (allowed to select game options like tracks). PGR 3 seems to have much better online support, actually allowing you to create your own game (host).

Communication leaves much to be desired if you cannot afford a headset and microphone. You can’t use just any old headset and mic, it has to be an Xbox one with a proprietary connector. You can send instant messages to other gamers, if you don’t mind using the analog stick to move around a qwerty keyboard. I’m not sure whether to blame Microsoft (and their more than likely crappy SDK) or the game developers for the poor online play – perhaps I’m just expecting too much from a console.

Either way, certainly not worth $10.95 a month in my opinion, not on top of game costs and your own broadband internet connection. As a side note, burned games work online just fine, and I have seen no evidence that Microsoft is able to detect modified optical drive firmware (via Dashboard updates or otherwise).