Why do I think Microsoft raising the price on XboxLive would be in order to get people to sign a 2 year gold contract to get a 'free' 360?? (Figuring, people would think it was a scam to pay a monthly rate on live if it were only $50 a year - and that wouldn't cover the costs of the system if the contract was for only $50 a year)
I keep thinking this is where Microsoft is going, and I don't like it - sure the cell phone model works extremely well with your broke average joe idiot in business.. but I don't think it works well for the people actually paying for the service. It's deceptive and misleading designed to suck you into an expensive contractual obligation that you really didn't realize the costs of. Microsoft is already pulling that angle to some degree with the expensive proprietary peripherals and online fees - along with the hdd-less arcade model.
