Internet connections are ubiquitous and reliable these days, and, as I understand it, the Box only needs to check in once a day. I've never known anyone whose internet was out for 24 hours (except in the case of a power outage), nor have I known anyone who owned a game console but didn't subscribe to internet service.

So, yeah. Maybe for a niche group this matters, but despite all the moaning, it won't actually affect hardly anyone.

Microsoft is cool with loaned games, and will have a system for selling used games. Without details of that program it's a little too early to make the call on this one. It seems pretty clear that the early panic over fees to transfer games has been vastly overblown, however.

True, but it's not quite apples-to-apples. Sony sells their (inferior) Playstation Eye camera separately, for $60. It's nice to have the option of not buying it, sure, but if it's something you want, you're getting as much hardware for your money with Microsoft as you are with Sony.

Anyway, it's likely that none of this will matter very much, because the system with the superior game library is always the one you should get. The details are fun to talk about before the fact (which is why I'm participating ), but picking a machine isn't going to depend on fifty bucks or the rare internet connection issue. It's going to come down to which machine you can have more fun with.