What's amazing is that the Xbox 360 consumers are not up in arms over the disparity of XBL being a pay service when other platforms do so for free. The apps and services have nothing to do with the subscription fee and restricting access to them should be seen as a travesty by the gaming community. I know Microsoft profiting on the service is good for gamers continuing to use their systems in the future, but wouldn't it be better if they got those profits from selling games instead of almost receiving it for nothing?
It seems the advatage they've artificially created between having a XBL subscription or not is so great that not purchasing more XBL would be almost not an option. Buying a second console is expensive and abandoning their freinds list and achievements is difficult for many. They are very much trapped in the system. Next gen XBL for 360 will have to go free or see a mass exodus and the system will die quickly. It is hard to say whether the nextbox will have anything worth restricting their features to a pay service compaired to the competition. Microsoft will either come up with something awesome or have to make certain things free next gen.
Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(
