Ok, I pose a question to the community, particularly to those who have either Xbox 360, PS3, or both.
I am just about done with Xbox Live multiplayer. I've had it with the player base there. Playing MW2 has been an absolute nightmare. Heres my experiences within the last 24 hours:
- Kids screaming into the mic
- Kids singing their favorite rap/hip hop song
- ...and failing
- Extremely obnoxious players
- People constantly talking about how stoned/drunk they are
- Friends talking over voice chat like they are having a phone conversation (FFS, thats what a phone is for)
- Kids dropping the N-bomb
- Lots of tough guys (Ex: Someone earlier said he was going to com where I live and stab me, blah blah blah. He sounded like he was 15 and like a young Eminem)
Now, I'm not naive. I know that ALL multiplayer is going to have its share of fuckwits in it. But keep in mind I played Counter-Strike since the very first Beta, and played it ALOT in the last 10 years. I've never seen the amount of stupidity in those 10 years than in 1 day of being on Xbox Live. It seems like Xbox Live takes the worst examples of John Gabriels Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory and throws them all into the games I'm playing.
So, does anyone have this experience on PSN? I've already changed my preorder for AVP to PS3, and my wife and I have pretty much decided to buy all of our games for PS3 from now on, but still getting 360 exclusives for the 360. I've never played any PS3 game online, so I have absolutely no idea about how it is.

PSN > nobody talks, nobody has mics, most multiplayer games are unjoinable or are difficult to join because of a shotty network.
you really get what you pay for with the service.
which is nothing.
I hope they improve the service, if it means charging for it, I also hope they sound how get people motivated to buy a mic. you buy an extra controller w/ 360 you get a mic, you buy a years gold subscription, you get a mic, you blow yerself up in halo3 you get a mic.
that's why so many idiots have mic spam.
but with the ps3 - nobody hardly has a mic so it's hard to get organized. If it means all the 12 year olds have mics and make racist comments, that's fine, let 'em, I'll leave the game or kick 'em.

Yeah the voice thing in the PSN appears to be a developer responsibility whereas the functionality is implemented into xbox live itself rather than the individual games.
That said, I think the problem is the fact that the games you're playing are attracting twats. Might I suggest either dumping the mic entirely or sorting out a group of gamers who you actually get on with and only playing with them?
The best option I've found with games like Gears of War is to have an xbox party as my team and have the chat channel on the party chat only, that way we can coordinate and generally crap on whilst having fun without hearing the bullshit from the other team. IF there's good people on the other team, they'll normally send you a 'good game' type message and you can play with them again & see if they're something other than complete rejects
The PSN is also rumoured (based on some sony survey that has happened a few times before with no result) to be going paid next year and the suggested prices are actually higher than xbox live with less functionality or moving some free functionality into paid memberships. They'd better massively improve the service to justify that. Or at least make the PSN store something less than shit

I recently changed from xbox to PS3. On PSN its more quiet but so far it has worked fine for me and the games I have with multiplayer.

Well, i was already planning on getting the PS3 Bluetooth headset since I heard it got really good reviews. As far as 360 goes, I had to buy the wireless headset since the one that comes with it sucks and is very uncomfortable to wear.
Also, most of these twats have been on Modern Warfare 2...a game where you can't kick them, and if you leave, YOU get penalized (Leaving a game, be it by choice or connection error, counts as a loss). I've played other online games on 360 and I never saw an option to votekick a player off.
Also, I don't have a dedicated group of gamers. All my old friends were die hard PC gamers, and the only one that has a 360 got it permabanned for modding it like a retard and going on live with it. Most of my friends in college don't really play games, save for one, and she is into JRPG's.

have you utilized the rating system on xbox live?

You have no idea how much I've used it.

I currently do not own a PS3 but hopefully next year I will but I can answer for the Xbox 360.
As for online, you'll encounter people like that but I don't seem to encounter your problem frequently. You probably just had bad games keep coming up. You can always mute them which is what I do.
Keep playing Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 and your experience should get better. I'm currently around level 12 and prestige once.
As for Counter-Strike. My theory is that it is because it is a PC, it turns a lot of people off because it doesn't have the simplicity of console gaming where you just stick in the disc. Also, most of the kiddies have moved onto the next big game, Modern Warfare 2. I believe too that Counter-Strike requires more skill then the kiddies can handle.

PSN is free. That in itself carries it over XBox Live. But yeah, XBox Live is all right if you like paying for what should be free.

I was lvl 64 after one prestige. Needless to say, i've played alot of games. I've pretty much given up on MW2 entirely because I'm tired of getting killed through lag. That and firing at someone, hitting him the face with a perfect headshot, but it not registering, and instead him killing me, while my killcam shows I didn't even fire a single bullet.
I've also noticed that the 360 seems to be the preferred target for hackers and such. Alot of game breaking hacks have been exclusive to the 360's thanks to modded consoles. While the PS3 version had some hacks, it was never as bad as the 360 version.