XBox Live vs. PS3's PlayStation Network (PSN) Review

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I recently received Microsoft's XBox Live Gold Membership renewal e-mail (see below). I haven't had the time to play it for quite some time due to my travels, and having another baby in my life, but I intend to play sometime again when I finally get settled and have some free weekends.  


For folks that are looking to make their first membership purchase, I highly recommend XBox Live.  


I've been part of the XBox and PS3/PSN community since its inception.  Comparing the two, there's no contest.  I truly love the clean XBox Live interface and the high participation rate.  Just to give you an example, simple card games like Uno can be purchased online with ease and within a few minutes you can be playing with hundreds of players around the world.  Sadly, in the PS3/PSN world, it is a hit or miss.  Most of the participation comes from the most popular games and the age groups/interests are not as distributed as XBox Live.


Pros of XBox Live:

1. Wide age groups from the young punks to the adults that actually like to play family games.
2. More controlled environment; subscribers pay annual fees, verified identities, more trustworthy.
3. Feature set includes streaming, Amazon.com Unbox videos (HD!), social media apps, etc.

Pros of PSN/PS3:

1. It's free.

What are your thoughts and experiences?  

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Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,
Your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership is scheduled to be automatically renewed on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. Here is a description of the service:

For only $49.99 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership brings you the best in gaming and entertainment. You can invite friends from all over to connect and play along with online multiplayer and watch thousands of HD movies streamed instantly from Netflix – even connect with friends on Facebook®, follow and post Tweets on Twitter, and stream personalized radio from Last.fm. Plus, as a Gold member, you enjoy exclusive Deals of the Week, and special sneak-peak content. Xbox LIVE Gold Membership is your connection to more games, more entertainment, more fun. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Please confirm that your account and payment information is up to date.

To check pricing details, and to confirm your account information and payment options, go to: http://billing.microsoft.com
If your account information is still accurate, there's no need to do a thing. Sit back, relax, your membership will automatically renew and we'll see you on Xbox LIVE! For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

Xbox LIVE Team