So I got a 360

[RadarScope1]

Silver allows you to do everything except play games with/against others online (which is kinda the whole point right?)

You can download games, demos and trailers, have friends, message and voice chat. But not play together. Gold is $50 a year, but you can search online for some deals for $45 or $35.

[Gamerforlife]

Its reasons like you mentioned that make a 360 seem more like a mini high-end PC. And I don't want a second high-end PC. I like my consoles to be very simple, plug and play, always reliable.

You know one thing I dislike about the Xbox 360 being PC like is the use of patches and updates. I don't always trust those updates they force you to download as they have been known to cause problems before. I'm wary of any downloads that directly affect your games as they're not trustworthy. I remember when the new downloadable content for Marvel Ultimate Alliance was initially released, with all the extra characters and stuff, it actually messed up many people's game saves.

Unreliability seems to be a theme with the 360.

I also hate it when patches remove things from a game that were actually kind of cool. Fun little bugs and glitches that get tossed out the window.

I like that older console games give you one version of a game, and ONLY one version. You never need additional downloads, patches, updates etc. and any of the problems that come with them.

[lordofduct]

I don't get the point of some of these mandatory updates that occur at the initial start up of a game the first time. What is it downloading? Why couldn't they just go and stick with the way the damn 360 is set up initially.

As for expansions though... those are by your choice. I have no problem with that. Some people like extra maps, some like glitches to be removed, personally every time they come out with an update for Lumines I pounce on that bitch. Or new downloadable songs for Guitar Hero... I'm in ecstasy... even if it's crappy "My Chemical Romance" (strangely I can't stand this band, but playing their songs on Guitar Hero is really fun... they tend to have a really nice learning curve and wrack up TONS of points in expert... I got my first 600K award with one of their songs on only 'hard').

It'd be nice to know what fixes come with some of these expansions though... I remember my friend (a cheater) was pissed off when he downloaded the castle and boat expansion thingy for that stupid game Oblivion (my cousin may work for Bethesda, doesn't mean I have to like their games)... it removed the little arrow cheat to spawn hundred's of an item (if you don't know it, so what).

But eh, ups and downs.

For instance, if... that is a BIG IF... I were able to release the game I'm making on MarketPlace, the downloadable features are a great thing. With the size of game restraints, I can break up different features into smaller more affordable packages for customers... and offer things that some gamers want, and others don't.

So for those gamers who just want the one player side scrolling part of a game, they just pay the smaller fee for that. And don't have to download the multiplayer features that cost more (and probably would require a Gold Account).

hypothetically though, speaking... this is probably the same stuff developers are thinking about when releasing games on the marketplace.