in 2 years?? 

Right now, Microsoft seems to be the king of online gaming but Sony looks like it is putting in time to improve its game w/ Home and its online only games coming down the pipe.  Will they add or take away anything to this?? 

nintendo will have the best online in 2 years!!

I think what's gonna happen is this...

MS is going to keep itself focused on gaming, the core will continue to support Live and it's downloadable contents, so long as the system supports them playing games, be it arcade classic, original downloadable games, or bigger titles. MS will probably continue to add in more support for other 'non-gaming' alternatives like movies, shows, and perhaps even sports?

Sony, I can assume, is going to work more on making their online services a conglomerate of media, less focus entirely on gaming and more on movies, music, and other things that Sony owns and can get ahold of easily, to put out onto their service. I picture it being more the technophile's playground, full of a larger variety of downloadables, but less of a focus on gaming as MS's ventures. (In other words, MS will work more on getting non-gaming content and spreading that section out, and Sony will be working more on getting gaming content, since they have more non-gaming.)

Nintendo will work towards getting a working online service together, which will probably allow for a lot of parental controls to help keep people getting into things they shouldn't be, and those that can or have the permission to, to do so. Being that Nintendo doesn't own much outside of the gaming business, their downloadable content will primarily be gaming, with a future focus on accessible DS demos, original content for download, and gaming online against friends and random people.

Speculatioooooon!

I like it! Good points. If Sony can put ALOT of teaser trailers from themselves and blu-ray backers, as well as d/l of Sony Music's artists, I'll welcome it.

I  second it, Btw I am not too impressed with home for the PS3, dont know how much i will like it or if i will. Ratchet and clank looks good enough to buy

Microsoft needs to learn that PC gaming = free so online gaming should = free. I'll side with Sony going completely free online.

Sony are the masters of milking consumers. They claim/market it to be free - and it is - but you will get bugger all for that. Pay extra for just about everything else.

Nintendo's online will be focused on "ease of use". They want anyone to be able to use their online service - this is their core focus.

All Nintendo needs to do is stress thier Parental Controls so that the regular gamer can enjoy talking with strangers while playing a game of Brawl. Then we wouldn't worry about how restrictive nintendo's online system is.

Microsoft I think needs to start expanding and expounding on their online system to make sure its still number 1. Sony and Nintendo are coming up soon with thier online and Microsoft is going to need to get a great hold on online before that happens. Online for Microsoft should be like Handhelds for Nintendo. 

For Sony's online they shoudl stress the media stuff. That's the only way i see them getting over Microsoft's grip and having some power when it comes to online. 

Hopefully each stop using online gaming as an excuse for decreasing the content in the games they're comming out with. While an online experience is fun, it should only ever be suplemental, not a necessity of gameplay. Hopefully they also stop using their online services to blur the line between PCs and Game Consoles to allow them the convenience of less resources put towards quality control in that any flaw can be patched later. Why the hell should I have to download a patch for anything on a console game, even if its just a supplementary feature? Why are there upgrade crashes? Why is every flaw I left behind on the PC for the convenience of Consoles showing up in my Console Gaming?! Why do I need to play ranked online battles online to eek out the 60 dollars worth of gameplay I payed for? With higher production costs and increasingly longer development time tables on systems like the 360 and PS3 I see a continuing trend of the increasingly shorter and shorter single player aspect of the game and an increased dependency on multiplayer online functions to create the illusion of a much larger game with only the fraction of resources.

Yeah, I hate patches. My hope is that I will never have to download a patch for any console game I buy. And I hope Halo 3 has a better single player experience than Halo 2.... I don't think I'll ever play that online.

I also don't like how, with DVDs being able to hold tons of songs, you still have to pay another $3 or whatever to download extra songs for guitar hero 3 (if I remember).