Or you could be saying you really should be mad at the developers that price their 360 at $60 and not MS since they're doing something that should decrease the price of games (on the 360 at least).

Well I don't think the PSN servers are any better or worse than LIVE, but I will say that I'd pay for LIVE any day of the week.  It's definitely the superior online service.. well worth the 50 bucks a year to say the least.

I simply think that the interaction and "feel" of the 360 is much more user friendly and easier to use.

Of course, the PSN has it's perks too (like free), but that's about it.  Mostly it gets very annoying, which stinks for me, because I'm a big PS3 fan (well, I'm a big 360 fan too, but that's beside the point I suppose).

Exactly!  Blame the developers for charging us the same even though they incur less charges due to us footing the server bill... or we could blame ourselves.  It's a free market created situation really.  They charge $60 for a game they have less self-incurred cost on, and we still pay for it.  Why should they charge any less if we are willing to pay more?

Either way, even at $60.00, video games are well worth the price.  Two Blu-rays or four standard DVDs cost the same, and you only get 4-8 hours of pleasure out of them.  Each video game, on the other hand, generally get played for literally hundreds of hours (or in my case thousands).  I'd imagine a game like COD4 for me has probablly only cost me about 2 or 3 cents an hour to play for me because I have racked up so many hours on it (both console versions actually).

Long story short, video games and online services (free or not) are actually very cheap when compared to other forms of entertainment.

This subject is just silly. I'm with the crowd that can't believe people are still talking about this. If PSN is just attempting to "rip off" of everything that Xbox Live does, then Xbox live is just attempting to "rip off" whatever steam's been doing, because that's the chain of superiority right? Then what gives.

Paying $50 a year to "occasionally" play a game online is a total rip off ;/ If your more of a "hardcore" online player, then sure, you don't mind spending the cost of a game, (or many arcade/psn games), on the sole purpose of playing online. It may seem like "Only $50 a year!!! HAHAHAHA", then you play online for.... 4.... 5 years >_>;;; well guess what... that was a Wii, that was your PC upgrade, hell, that was a friggin 450$ MINIMUM xbox arcade unit.

Anyone saying it sucks for the company is probably right in that regard, but c'mon, they've been running servers for pc games for decades now :/ it's not like this is new. If a company goes under because it couldn't project the cost of maintaining a server, well I think they were screwed from the get go :\

Then there's the nonsense of some PSN games having higher player counts for it's online play. Man that blows, so less lag, higher player counts... and free? MS seriously needs to stop dicking around with it's pay to play nonsense and join the rest of the world :P Because as mentioned above, every other aspect of live is free with the silver version, only the pay to play costs.

You can't compare the wii to the 360/PS3 market. Even Nintendo, is trying to build an online initiative.

With Microsoft, nothing comes for free. Anyhow, this business model is the most successful so far, so what do you want to do about it ?

The same principle applies to the rest of the electronic industries : Hardware has poor margin while services brings cash.

It is a question of maintaining a successful long-term business (Nintendo is an exection cause the Wii is cheap and the sales are enormous).

I'm sorry but manufacturers have no right milking people for profit. Sony makes a loss on their consoles and on their online to provide us with the best value and quality. The xbox and wii essentially charging us more than the costs to manufacture etc for the sake of profits shouldn't be tolerated. Why pay more for something than it actually costs?? Sony is the only honest VG company in this regard.

Blizzard did it for the longest time, and had the most heavily played games on the planet. I guess some companies just don't learn.

The fact is, I'd rather pay for quality and everything that comes with it. $8/monthly is nothing for a superior service.

The alternative answer is to find some way to bring income and not force it upon your fan base. What sony's doing with Home is not only brilliant in the fact that it gives it's gamers interactive pre-game areas where you can digitally meet people face to face before playing with or against them/ organize pretty much anything you damn well please :P, but also in the fact that in they're efforts to make the world feel more realistic and tangible, they're incorporating wall space advertisements (not pop ups >_> ), and branded clothing for your custom character (should you feel your new home....ie... need's the newest kicks from Nike and they're worth paying for, that is if they're not already free and an attempt to advertise). It brings in plenty of money for the company, provides a great environment for advertisement exposure, and sadly, brings some realism to your virtual world :P

How do you kill 80 birds with one stone? Do something awesome >_>; Like that.

Sorry for the horrid word block :D I have to keep tabbing out so my use of time is limited ;/

This isn't a morality issue.  If you don't want to pay the fee for something that the majority of gaming world regards as a premium service, then don't.  Nobody is forcing you to.

XBLhas a different strategy than it's competitors.  It's that's simple.