Anybody can develop a game on a PC right now, for free. Write a game, throw it on Steam, start selling it. People can just play it. For an example, look at Vein. Two guys in Sweden just wrote it and put it up there.
To develop on a console you need to apply for developer status. If you are approved, which is not guaranteed, you will be allowed to buy a development rig, which run a couple of thousand, and when you have a working game, the console company has to approve it and sign the executable or it won't run.