Another Microsoft Money-Maker

Microsoft has finally decided to respond to the strong consumer demand for a controller with a non-sucky D-pad. Let the world rejoice! ...As long as you have $65 lying around to buy one of them since it will only be available as part of a play-and-charge bundle out November 9. The product itself is pretty cool-looking as you have the choice of using the normal (sucky) flat D-pad or switching (via a neato twisting motion) to a more defined (non-sucky) D-pad a la Wii, PS3 and pretty much every other console controller ever. I just continue to be boggled by Microsoft's tyrannical pricing decisions. When the majority of your customer base hates an easily modifiable part of your product, you'd think a low-cost alternative might make a top 10 list of development ideas somewhere. Instead, if we want an improvement, we're saddled with a bundle that (let's be honest) we're not really interested in. Booooooo. I suppose with Kinect out we may as well wait for controllers to be rendered obsolete anyway?

Microsoft Raising XBox Live Gold Subscription Prices

In a questionable move, Microsoft is increasing its XBox Live Gold subscription prices starting in November. A one year subscription will cost $59.99 (up from $49.99), three months will cost $24.99 (up from $19.99) and one month will cost $9.99 (up from $7.99). This seems to be that favorite corporate action of charging consumers more and delivering less - in direct opposition to all major competitors. Online services are free for the PS3 and the Wii (and of course, for PCs), so aside from mulitplayer online gaming being free, this means that Netflix and hulu streaming are included at no additional cost from Nintendo or Sony, making the consoles versatile at a much lower overall cost. Granted, XBox Live is arguably the best online platform available, but when competitors are providing the service for free, I just don't feel the need to burn a hole in my pocket for slightly better quality. What is the fee for, anyway? Most games are hosted locally, not on their service, so it's hard to explain a monthly subscription fee and even harder to explain a price increase for it. Sadly, the popularity of online gaming on the XBox 360 doesn't look like it's going to be dying down anytime soon and as such, Microsoft will continue to reap the (increasing) profits. I'll be sticking with my PS3 for online content until (if ever) the tides change and gamers start refusing to be hosed.

Man Sues NCsoft Corp: No Warning of Possible Addiction to Mediocre Game

No, really. Apparently Craig Smallwood (name indicative?) is proceeding with a lawsuit against NCsoft as a result of his addiction to the game Lineage II. If I were the judge, I would throw this case out on the grounds that Lineage II is not even a particularly good game - it got a 6/10 from GameSpot and a 6.7/10 from IGN, and its unique user base is well under a million. For comparison, WoW also came out in 2004 and has a user base of roughly 11.5 million - try that for addictive, Mr. Smallwood. Looking at the larger issue, however, I just don't see how anyone can define a non-chemical-producing product as addictive. Cigarettes have nicotine and coffee has caffeine, but MMORPGs have... a power switch for those times you need to "function independently in daily activities, such as getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends." An analogy to this case would be a man with a rage control issue breaking his TV and blaming it on Sesame Street because there was no disclaimer that Elmo might really piss him off. All I'm saying is that the problem seems to lie with the user in these cases - learn some self control or get help, don't blame an industry that already suffers from massive amounts of scapegoating.