ive used XboxLive and PSN and yes Live is better, but its not 50 bucks a year better most of those extra features listed have nothing to do with playing games. Netflix, Twitter, Facebook??? are you kidding me??? I didnt spend money on a console to watch movies and go on networking sites thats what my computer is for hell PS3 has a web browser so it pretty much negates all those features, WII and PSP have a web browser for god's sake. THis xchat, IMHO its retarded but people love it. to each his own but if I need to speak to someone that badly who is playing a diff game than me I'll just use my damn phone that Im paying monthly for.  and all this talk about lag I dont know where you guys are at but after playing MW2 on Live and PSN I cant tell the difference between the two. So either your PS3s are messed up, you have crappy connections or your just plain lying

Just because somebody challenges you on something doesn't make them a fanboy, Jesus Christ!

Has anyone mentioned the fact that you are going to be able to upload your photos and videos from your kinect to facebook and third party game developer sites?  Yoostar 2 is making it so your able to upload your videos, and Kinect adventures is allowing the pic app across the internet.

Also, I have a question for the PS3 guys, is your chat sound like a intercom or does it sound like a clear as day internet voice chat?  This November 2nd we are getting an upgraded codec, and I was just interested in what PS3 had.

http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/10/09/eight-little-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-xbox-360-fall-update.aspx

That also has a list of new little tid bits we will be getting soon.  And also, we are getting the "family pack" soon, which will give us 4 memberships for the price of 2.  I actually think that is why they bumped up the price, to make that ever so enticing.

@reidlogsog  to answer your question PS3 uses bluetooth so it all depends on what bluetooth you buy the more expensive you go the better quality it will be. just like anything else and contrary to popular belief you dont have to buy Sony's PS3 branded one any bluetooth will work and they sound good to me (except for my cheap ass Jabra) as for your Kinect thing the PSEye has a feature allowing you to take pictures and upload videos with it. matter of fact its been there for years so nothing new on that front.

We are paying $60 a year so we can have kinect take photos of us? Again you are getting away from my point. And that point is that does thta have to do with online multiplayer? Honestly out of all the people who have gold memberships how many of them would actually use facebook, twitter, etc.? Why not make it so all of the games have dedicated servers for xbox live? Now that new codec is actually something i am very excited about. That might actually be one of the good reasons paying $60 a year. I think it would be better if Micro$oft just charged maybe $20 a year just for online gaming and cross game chat. How many of you actually use acebook, twitter, and last.fm on xbox live?

I tried to use all of them but i thought they were all better on the computer which is sitting right next to my xbox.

my kid is on my Pc and im posting from my phone. not being able to reply directly is killing me! I'll make this short and sweet; just because something isn't valuable to you guys above me doesn't mean they arent of value to others. i have a PC obviously but I use netflix and last FM all the time (use netflix on all consoles and PC but 360 was the reason I subscribed years ago).

If you guys don't see the value in live, don't use it.  The PS3 and 360 are presenting themselves as more than just gaming systems.  That's where the featres list come in.  I didn't list things like blu-ray on PS3 or custom soundtracks on 360 because this is about Live's value.  Maybe Live vs PSN vs Wii vs PC.  But for me and many others, the feature list means something.

(thia is getting long!) Features that influence gameplay: multiple accounts logged in on a single console at one, leaderboards for all games, cross game chat, true skill, recomendations, voice messages, mute other players in all games, annouces when a friend is playing the same game as you (not sure if ps3 does this-never had it happen) party system,

I'll return later.

How about PSN Plus? Is it worth $50 a year?

One has to view the entire environment online for consoles to see how they work.  In the case of Live, one gets demos for EVERYTHING just about.  Even the Indie games (and Game Room content) get timed demos (only thing that doesn't is add-on content).  I get to try before I buy.  With the Playstation network, unless you get Plus ($50/year) you get few demos.  Same with the Wii and its marketplace.  I can't even remember the last demo for a Wii game that had a downlodable demo.

I find updating on the 360 an easier and faster process than the PS3 also. 

It is because of the structure and business model, that I find the 360 superior to be involved online.  This environment also allows for a game like Game Room to be free to use, and do online challenges with people, even over the PC, for no cost.  This is because everything is paid for by people who want to pay to play online.  In the case of the Wii, you have even less options.

The quality is horrific and you know it.  It's a web cam.  I really think comparing the two is valid, but when you compare Kinect a web cam, you can instantly see the difference in quality.  Pictures look crisp instead of all digitized out as a web came does, and videos looks much more crisp instead of, as I said, looking like your seeing through a web cam.

half the stuff ds21lewis mentioned is on PSN  my main problem with LIVE is the pure greed of it. Why cant I just play the games on the silver account and keep all those extra features I dont care about on GOLD. what the hell can you do on Silver now anyway??? charging people to play a portion of a game they already paid for is just wrong. especially when every othe platform(PSP&DS included) is not charging