the weird thing is the XBL cost comes up time and time again. It's like we are having to pay for it for every single game that comes out. *baffle*
The cost came up this time because some dickwaver was asking for a rebuttal to the supposed dead certain superiority of the Live system. It's superior in terms of features, assuming you are willing to pay for those features. It's really amazing how expensive even a relatively cheap service can feel when its main defining strengths aren't of interest to the potential subscriber.
I wish MS and Sony would just get naked and produce an uber-console already. 
thanks for calling me dickwaver, asshole. and yeah, there's no question about it-- Live is better. You can wrestle over the value of $50 all you want, but with the way PSN works, fuck it, I'll drop $50 for a fully integrated online component (not that I've ever paid full price for a year of live, but that's a different story.)
If fully functional in-game XMB ever happens, sure, then I'll concede. but just as much as Live's price is a factor, PSN's shittiness is a factor to some people. People who don't wonder "well, is live really worth 3 weeks of my allowance..."
Screw the theoretical/supposedly "objective" analysis bullshit.
This is all pre-emptive damage control for NPD day. Which is why all these little rules for determining the better version are suddenly in place--make sure the PS3 version is considered the best, so when NPD day comes around and the Xbox version outsells it by some ridiculous number, there's a tiny little thread to hold on to. It's gonna be a fucking bloodbath.