Have Xbox Live struck Gold with free games?

If you are going to completely rip-off Playstation Plus then you might as well give people games that they want to play

Oh boy, do I love this console war. I love the way gamers throw all hope of being taken seriously off a cliff by swearing at each other on forum topics entitled “Xbox vs Playstation”. I love the way new and exciting releases are drowned by media furore over their exclusivity. But I think what I love most of all is how genuinely novel ideas, the one thing gaming is supposed to do better than other entertainment mediums, are left completely by the wayside as the big companies all fight to ape each other.

I hope you’re happy, whoever “thought” of Games with Gold, because you’ve unconsciously helped prove the existence of a massive elephant that every year sits on the front row of the E3 conference room; gaming is no longer about being creative. It’s just about replicating what already works with a slightly worse version, like a bad cover band or the recent Robocop  remake.

With big hitters like Uncharted 3 (above) Playstation Plus is by far superior to GWG

Sure, Games with Gold  as a concept on its own isn’t heinous. A couple of free games a month at no extra cost to Xbox Live users is hardly offensive, no matter how cynically I write it down. It’s just that if you are going to completely rip-off Playstation Plus then you might as well give people games that they want to play, rather than an eclectic mix of old, crap, or old crap titles that already live in a bargain bin and already suffer enough humiliation without having their price tag removed entirely.

And what’s more, it’s all done under this pretence of rewarding long-term Xbox Live users for loyalty (you need to have at least amonth-long membership to Live in order to be eligible for free games). So you have this bizarre scenario in which original 360 owners are being rewarded with Gears of War, a game that they already completed in 2006. It’s a bit like paying an hourly rate to stay in Curiositea all day only to be given one stale, rotting muffin at the end of it.

The worst thing about Games with Gold is that it arguably serves to devalue the good bits about Xbox Live altogether. Does Microsoft really lack so much confidence in their online service that they felt the need to appease gamers with free games as well? And why jump on a bandwagon if the only games you can muster to throw off it aren’t even worth the download?

I’m not trying to show bias towards Playstation. After all, Sony are no strangers to poorly emulating their competitors with that pathetic Playstation Move controller that couldn’t look more like a sex toy if it tried. I’m not saying I don’t like free stuff either; a woman gave me a free mug in the student union last week and I nearly embraced her. The point is that the more these companies attempt to offer something that’s already been done better in the guise of something new, the more we come to a standstill. And in a medium in which you can run, jump and fly, there’s simply nothing interesting about standing still. [divider_top]

Have you been left disappointed by Games with Gold, or have you enjoyed it’s catalogue of free games? Tweet @BoarGames with your views