Xbox – transfer gold in local multiplayer

No, every character needs to have their own profile. but you can power level the other accounts if you have a higher toon that can fly through the levels

What's mostly missing from these recommendations are all the amazing digital download coop games, which quite frankly take up most of my time.

Games like:

Castle Crashers (Xbox 360 only right now) ilomilo (Xbox 360 only) Trine (PS3 only right now) Fat Princess (PS3 only) Bomberman (both platforms)

If you don't own either PS3 or Xbox 360, then either console will have enough new games you haven't played that you ultimately won't feel short changed, because both have a catalog of games quite big now. If you have to pick a console, then look at the exclusive games you see above and decide if there are certain games you must have, ie. Gears of War, which is an Xbox 360 only game.

For even more coop games you should check out the site: http://www.co-optimus.com It's dedicated towards cataloging all coop games, and has a great system telling you if a game has local coop or not.

I will say this: If you enjoy entertainment with a partner, maybe you should go with PS3, because then you can watch BluRay movies, which is always more fun with people around:)