I can't believe you people are all defending Microsoft for charging for XBL… Sony doesn't charge for the PS3 online. Nintendo doesn't charge for the Wii online… And to that smartass: computer games were ALWAYS free to play online (for decades)… Now even computer games are charging to access the online components. And hmm, I've been playing games since NES and the Dreamcast, Wii and Ps3 are all consoles that haven't charged for online content. So far the Xbox is the only one too.
AGAIN. You pay for the game, you pay for the console, you pay for the internet and then they expect you to pay for multiplayer? Remember, you already paid for that ethernet card in the Xbox, you paid for the game companies to develop the multiplayer system/maps and now they want you to pay in order to use them as well?
Like I said, if Microsoft wants to make all their games $10 cheaper than their PS3 counterparts and then charge for online accessiblity that's fine. How can you people be so stupid to be duped into thinking that you should have to pay MORE than a ps3 user to play the same game online? The PS3 servers are “reliable” and great too. Oh ya, and they are free too.