Hmm? I certainly don't need to play M. It's a nice addition, but its not the reason I bought the Wii (great party game system, very pick up and play friendly, great atmosphere playing with it). Me and M have been talking about playing each other for a long time, but we've never got the chance. Just reminding him incase he's still up for it, we haven't talked for ages. =/. I certainly don't need to go on WiFi and play him, we've theorybrawled a bit and hey if it's there why not take advantage of it. It's free, and there's no hassle for me to play him for it. If I had to pay an extra 50 a year to play Brawl, MKWii, etc online, no thanks, I'm fine.
I don't need live because the 360 provides the same party atmosphere than with it. What caused me to pick it up was definitely that Rock Band deal, Lips, and analog control of Madden and the 2k sports series. With all my friends having the 360 guitars and drumsets, it's a no brainer for me to have those people as backups incase mine breaks. I don't see the need to pay 50 for things like online matchmaking, online co-op, chat, paid DLC, etc, that's unnecessary (and even less necessary considering the last game I played to completion on a "story mode"was Pokemon Pearl, and even then, it was Elite 4 completion, not Pokedex completetion).
If I wanted to play with friends online, I'd go for an MMO with some sort of chat system.
Recent game played: NBA 09 Dynasty Mode