Look, certain games will require the HDD, that splits the userbase since not everyone will have it, there\'s one problem. The second problem is individual server costs per game from developers. If FFXI costs 10 bucks on its own, and EA charges 10 bucks a month for its private servers (hypothetically) or to play Street Fighter online, Capcom charges 10 bucks a year? That all adds up in the end and could be one big ass flaw. People are iffy about spending 10 bucks to use playonline, imagine how they\'ll be when it comes to three companies asking for their money.
As for MS, their plans are a bit more stable with their software, but that still doesn\'t mean every developer will be satisfied with their options. What if Activistion (announced already) doesn\'t want to use MS\' plans and want\'s to use its private servers, but requires the MS startup kit regardless to play its XBox games online? That\'s a large investment already. If you love THPS, you\'d be sh*t out of luck there. That\'s just one flaw, 50 bucks a year is another that needs to be addressed. How many good games will come out that will be online will I want to play? If I play 50 bucks a year and play one game for one month, that\'s mean throwing cash away. Oh well, it\'s all in the rafters isn\'t it?
I won\'t even get into the arguement of BB only vs BB/56K. The flaws have already been pointed out in this thread. It all boils down to the games. If FFXI is worth your 10 bucks a month, then go for it, just remember you need a BB adapter and an HDD to play it though. If Halo online is worth your XBox online experience, just remember that it\'s 50 bucks a year (or 10 bucks a month) and requires a startup kit with mandatory headset that costs 50 bucks (but that offsets thanks to one free year of Xbox online when you buy the startup kit.
Then again, in three years when Xbox goes to Xbox 2, just how much longer will this investment be worth it? You\'ll have to make it all over again.
