Sony had been planning a PlayStation 3 focused central online service to compete with XBox Live, but news as of late last week is that this has been dropped. That's too bad for prospective PlayStation 3 owners. In my opinion, XBox Live is the best thing about the Xbox, adding so much value to each and every Live enabled game that I no longer consider buying ANY game if it's not Live enabled. No matter how great a game is on it's own or with a friend sitting next to you, nothing beats the advantage a game offers when you can log on and play instantly against any of thousands of thinking competitors at any time of day or night. I hear that with the coming version of the Xbox, Xbox 360, every game is going to feature Live gameplay. I don't know if that's a rumor or not, but it's very exciting to consider as it shows that developers are recongnizing not only a trend among game purchases, but the possibility of selling future addons for existing games. Personally, if my favorite game offered a $5 expansion pack, I'd probably purchase it without thinking. This could enlarge revenue pipelines for game developers and deliver significant value to casual gamers like myself.
I can't wait to get my hands on an Xbox 360 and some of the great titles they've got coming out!
-- Matt Ranlett