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.

XBox 360 Slim to be announced at E3?

Gofanboy has conjectured that Microsoft will finally announce plans for an XBox 360 Slim at E3 this June, and rumor has it that "fat" XBox 360s will be liquidated at the low price of $149 to make room for the updated system. This comes on the heels of the recent XBox 360 news of a firmware update to allow USB storage capability, affording gamers with a greater degree of flexibility in hard drive choice as they would not need the pricier higher-capacity 360 to have access to more space. From this information, it looks like Microsoft is making a strong attempt to lower manufacturing costs, allowing them to decrease retail pricing to make their console more cost-accessible to gamers. Efficiency of this sort can only be a positive thing for consumers, and the implied future increase in console sales would mean greater market share and the potential for increased profits for Microsoft. It's a win-win; nice work, Microsoft.