I really didn' t know the NA was still $40, I was thinking they lowered the price. Maybe they haven' t. As far as a mouse/keyboard goes, if you have a USB one you can hook it up to the front of the PS2. If not you can get a PS/2 to USB adapter.
I don' t have LIVE, but from what I hear it' s a great system for online gaming. In your case, i don' t know that I would recommend getting the NA. The only advantage to having it is that there is no subscription since it is up to the developers to come up with their own online systems.
Anyone who has the NA for their ps2 but doesn' t play Socom II, I would highly recommend it. I play a lot of online shooters, and none of them have held my attention for such long periods of time. I could literally play the game for 10 hours a day if there wasn' t a real world around me.
*edit:: Oh, and as far as the mic goes, any USB headset will work in the ps2, I am still using the one that came with Socom I. I' m not sure what the xbox headset is like, but I would assume that if it is USB it will work in your playstation
< Message edited by PS2Poodoo -- 6/13/2004 4:59:44 AM >