@vthokiesrmoo: It is. More than twice around here.

HDD isn't necessary for Live, as far as i'm aware, but if you don't have your 360 online, there's not much use for it. And, the Premium model is still way cheaper than PS3.

The value/function comparision is pretty stupid since:
1. People buy it to play games.
2. Not all people go online (judging by the 17M Live accounts, it's propably around 50% of 360 users).
3. If you have wireless at your home, you can place your router next to TV anyway.
4. If you have cable connection, your router is next to TV.

Of course, the best argument is Live you have to pay for. It does sound being a little, but when you actually have 3-4 family members with own accounts, you'll notice how the price goes up. But, as i said, not all play online.

Why I think the PS3 won't be discontinued: This week's game console sales data in Japan: PS3 29,000 consoles sold; 360 8,600 consoles sold.

Really? The $300 premium 60 gig without a LIVE subscription is not that much cheaper than a $400 80 gig PS3.

You can't place your router next to your TV if your modem is located in another room. Even with cable internet you can't connect your modem to any cable jack, cable companies will put in 1 jack that works with their modem.

I think most people play their Xbox's online tho. 17 million accounts to 28 million sold.

@vthokiesrmoo: 250€ Premium is 150€ cheaper than 400€ PS3. That's 3 years of Live per person.

Usually you can only have one modem plugged in at a time, but you can choose what plug you want to use. You just go buy a modem (or rent/buy one from your cable provider), go to make a contract with your cable provider (or fill out a form in the internet) and when you come home, just plug it in and you have a working connection already.

Well, since M$ has the Live users from Windows side in the numbers and a number of consoles have multiple accounts, i don't think the 50% is far off.