i paid for xbox live once [full year] and i won't pay again should be free. paid service should be top quality no constent restarting search and lag and endless waiting sometimes where you have back and forth on the menu to connect....

"your average off-the-shelf PC hard drive isn't as exhaustively tested or run through the same quality and safety compliance checklists we employ"
If they test their HDD's so thoroughly why the hell didn't they employ the same test for the rest of the console and fix the RROD problem before about 50% of 360's had to be returned at massive cost to M$?
For the record I have never had a HDD fail in my PC's and I am not exactly what you might call a light user. This is corporate bullshit.

That's pretty much garbage. Not in the next couple months sure seems like definitely to me. And their Charge 'n' Play straight just doesn't work. This is Sony's one opportunity to win the first-gen HD console war.

It's funny how it's always the same people that instantly jump to the defense of these kind of threads. You guys all go on about the SDF. Look at yourselves!

Jump to conclusions often, people? Astonishing how everyone missed the part where he confirmed that they're not raising prices. Of course, he can't say they'll never raise prices - that just opens them up for a lawsuit if they adjust for inflation years from now.

Also, it is entirely possible that Live! is going to offer an additional subscription tier for movies/tv shows/music with the introduction of Zune marketplace, which is the far more likely scenario than just doubling the price of Live! with the existing package.

Zune already has a music subscription option for the portable players and marketing surveys have been going around the US all year asking if 360 owners would be interested in music/movie/tv show subscription packages at various price points. Considering how much most US consumers pay for cable/satellite tv, raising this to $100 for everything would actually be a HUGE savings. Of course, that would be giving MS the benefit of the doubt - something many Edge regulars seem incapable of doing.

So what exhaustive testing are Microsoft doing exactly, that say Seagate, Samsung or Western Digital are not?

The Xbox 360's hard drive does no more work over its life cycle than the average P.C's drive does. In fact I'd say that P.C drives work much harder, with all the page memory that is in use and the bloat-ware that is Vista. What about those running raids or server cabinets which can sometimes keep the drives in constant use.

Average 120gb hard drive from either Samsung or Western Digital would cost you around £30. Microsoft 120gb branded version, which I heard runs a Western Digital with custom firmware just over £90. Depending on the source you may be able to shave a little more off the price in both instances. The facts speak for themselves.

People buy Microsoft peripherals over third parties because either there is no alternative or as with the Datel memory cards. Consumers have been stung by Microsoft aggressive use of firmware updates and the potential for losing their content, making them wary of going the that route again. Fear of repercussion is seemingly what keeps gamers buying official kit.

Have M$ lost their minds? In the face of increased competition from Sony the response is to raise prices! I'm beginning to think they want to lose the console war.

So the most expensive video game system in history (when factoring online gaming charges) is going to get more expensive. Looks like I'll be buying the multiplatform games that I want to play online for my PS3 for the foreseeable future then.