Am I cheap or am I being a Fanboy?

Resident Evil dropped on Xbox LIVE Tuesday of last week and will be on PSN February 5th. I currently own a launch day Xbox360(no RROD yet..as I knock on wood) and have been paying $49.99 every year since. Now this is my dilemma, I would love to get a chance to play Resident Evil 5 demo now, but my LIVE gold membership expired December 2007 .

If I want to play Resident Evil 5 now this moment, I will have to pay $29.99 to play a demo? Now, I understand that $29.99 gives me access to play games online with my friends and first dibs on all new demos. But why should I pay $29.99 per year to play with my friends? My Sony PS3 is free and I am very used to free. All Microsoft Window Live players play their counter-parts online for free. So why is Microsoft still charging to maximize your gaming experience online?

Microsoft Xbox 360 should be in the black in terms of turning a profit per console. So why still charge millions of gamers $29.99 to play online every year? Now I am very fortunate to own a PS3 which helps me tremendously to justify not renewing my Gold LIVE membership. I also understand that many may not have the chance to own a Sony PS3 and Microsoft 360.

I understand everyone needs to make money and that's why we all play this game of life. Microsoft will need to make Xbox LIVE free for all, Nintendo does it, Sony does it, and Microsoft does it with all of the PC gamers. If there is anything that will hurt the almighty Xbox 360 in the future it will be the charging for Xbox LIVE.

Now besides being charge for Xbox LIVE there is a heavy amount of micro transitions on LIVE market place. If you want to upgrade your theme or avatar your are charged, if you want to change your GamerTag you are charged, if you want to download the latest demo you need to pay $29.99 to become a Gold Member. If I am paying a premium price to game I should be able to get more price breaks on LIVE market place. Give me discounts on LIVE arcade games or maybe one free game per month. Give me discounts on all Video content. Give me a discount on all Netflix video. Give me more free choice for my avatar. You get the point, "WTF" do you get for $29.99 every year beside playing with a friend?

Sony PS3 PSN is free to play online with friends, to access HOME, photo gallery, change your Gamertag, use Life with Playstation access the Video store, get online, go to different regional stores all for free. Now I'll have to agree that Sony is very heavy on micro transitions but at least their main services are free. And you have the option to pay for it or continue to enjoy the reminding free services.

Seriously if you own a Sony PS3 and Xbox 360 why would you pay $29.99 per year to play videogames online?