then sony managed to do it with real cash.

 The ps3 is bigger than the 360.

hard drive not being standard equipment
restricted to DVD capacity (no blu ray)
pay for online
unreliable
confusing points for online purchases
wired headset for online voice chat (vs bluetooth for ps3)
no built in wifi
huge power brick

The advantage of MS points is that a game costs 1200 points no matter where in the world it is sold. Of course, this means the consumer needs to know how much points cost in their country, but thats much easier (and far more accurate) than hearing a game costs US$6 and another game costs 4 Euros and having no idea of what the games are going to cost me in AU$.

360 has a wireless headset.

the points are there to screw you over when you only have 700 left and you need to buy something at 800, you have to buy a whole lot more instead of 100

the ms points are strategically priced to make you buy more. They go in increments of 500 when nothing actually costs 500. This leaves you with extra points that you will need to add to so you can buy something else. It is Microsoft AND modern gaming (DLC) in a nutshell.

yea thats what i was trying to say.  the wii is the same way

This is an issue with how the points are sold (which I agree is a problem), not use of points themselves.

Out of curiousity, are all PSN sales for the exact amount only? or do you top up an account or something like that?