If you can afford a console and game(s), why not fork over another $50 a year for Live service? It costs less than a new game, and you might as well be playing with a Wii without it.

Yeah, I really don't see the point of a 360 without Live. I don't even play online that much anymore but £40 a year for the patches and content downloads alone wouldn't be extortionate, let alone that I can annoy random people trying to play Guitar Hero online pissed out of my skull on a friday night. I mean, Halo 3 without the mutliplayer be it co-op or versus is not a full price game in my eyes. With most things these days you're paying for the online when you buy them so not having it is shooting yourself in the foot rather.

All the downloadable content is available in Silver, sometimes you just have to wait an extra week for it. Patches and title updates are also handed out over Silver.

Really?

That shoots down half of my argument then but it's still a small price to pay for what you get in my opinion.

For myself, the $50 a year for Live is a no brainer, and I get every penny's worth out of it. Online play has added hundreds of hours of gameplay to games like CoD4, Vegas 1 and 2, Halo 3, Burnout Paradise, etc. Assuming you have a decent friends list of people who also join online sessions, you easily get more out of a year of Live than you would any single $50 game purchase.

Indeed. It's wasted value for a lot of games, since many these days are driven towards the online experience. Single player for most will usually last anywhere from 8-15 hours, but I've put days of time into numerous online games. Paid for itself right there.

Plus, I remember getting the 360 near launch and thinking "fuck online, not really interested" and then I took a couple weeks off work, used the free month it gave you because I was bored out of my skull and now I can't imagine a console without online. 98% of the fun I get out of games these days is playing multiplayer with a good group of guys I picked up over the years.

You can get by without Xbox Live, but as the guys above have pointed out you do miss out somewhat. Online options can add a fair bit to any given game, and so it's a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

96 cents a week.

worth it