Now this may change again with the Xbox. Potentially you could download updates and store them on the hard drive. Ease of use. Plug it in, start playing. That's the long and short of it.
Consoles are much easier to get up and running than a computer.
In which case you need a good kick in the teeth and a life. After all, the vast majority of people already have a television. Consoles do tend to have tons of games avaliable. Anyhows, lets get off the topic of consoles and onto more interesting things. For one thing, potential for more money.