Why Sony really wants you to buy an Xbox - by David Hughes

One of these is a lot friendlier to own.

Forget the Move/Kinect debate, free vs. paid multiplayer, and system exclusives-- a recent Ars Technica article highlights the single biggest difference in the ownership experience of the two HD consoles: mandatory downtime.

Ben Kuchera describes an experience I've had a lot: "The last time I tried to play a game on the console, I was forced to download a mandatory update, which added a feature I didn't care about. (The update gave Sony the ability to suggest things to me. Gee, thanks.) The process took 30 minutes."

There are three egregious forms the PS3 delays take:

The system OS updates (like the experience Ben highlights above). From my own experience, 30 minutes is average--especially when you factor in the download and install time combined. The worst Xbox update was the one where they rolled out the New Xbox Experience (NXE). NXE was a re-write of the entire OS and I remember it taking maybe 15 minutes.The incredibly slow downloads of title updates for individual games (average: 10-15 minutes). The same updates for the 360? Usually done in under a minute.Mandatory installs of many games. I expect to have to install PC games, but consoles--to borrow a Microsoft phrase--should "just work". If I buy a new game (or play one from my huge back catalog) I want to play it now. Nothing's worse than having to wait 30