- Cost per-seat to even get your hands on the SDK, check. $99/year for Apple, rumors put the 360 Dev Kit at $10K+ per seat, which is in line with historical numbers for Playstation also.

- Strict review and approval process, often taking a very long time. Developers have long complained that much-needed patches have been submitted to MS, but are stuck in approval/QA limbo.

- Strict control over distribution channel, onerous rules on what can or cannot be included.

- "App Store" model where MS handles all transactions between customer and developer.

"Microsoft reserves the right to take down a game retroactively without notice. Microsoft encourages peer reviewers to report objectionable content in a game."

"Peer reviewers will reject your game if:

-Your game contains prohibited content, which is content not allowed on Xbox LIVE services -You misrepresent what is in the game play or in the promotional materials for the game. All games must have a trial mode that showcases the actual game experience. If you fail to do so, or use this method to provide your game for free, your game will be failed in the Peer Review process. Games are NOT available for free currently on the system. This system is NOT a video hosting service and should not be used as such. -The promotional content for your game ( for example, the box art, description, banner or title) is not appropriate for all ages on Xbox LIVE Marketplace -The game crashes, it has too many bugs, or it is technically defective in some way"