MS has done pretty well out of the razor-blades method. I can see this pricing scheme help them to launch durango and keep the entry price low. The warranty also would soothe the nerves of early-adopters' worries about the RRoD past.

Also to those complaining about the $15 fee need to GTFO America and live in UK for few months, my phone contract in itself is 21 pounds or around $35 and i barely get anything with it, bottom line is, 15 a month is not THAT much at all, calling it a scam is blowing it out of proportion, by a good amount, as around $5 alone of that would probably account for gold membership.

Don't even get me started on the constant bitching about "gas" prices.

I've had a couple of ideas in the past that I posted on these forums. Both of them seem to have come true. The first was the concept for an online pass. To figure out how to make new games sell better and make companies profit, I posted the idea of an online pass almost exactly as it appeared. The only difference is that I said that the online pass should be available for the first 6 months to a year of a game's life. That way, when a game was out of production and used was the only option, anybody could still get the full experience.

The second was the idea that the next Xbox should be super powerful like the PS3 was (supposed to be) at launch. I said that it should adopt a cell phone model of selling at a HUGE discount as long as you subscribed to Xbox Live. Really, I stole the idea from Sega's Dreamcast when they were selling the console for dirt cheap as long as people signed up for Sega Net.

I'm like Nintendo. I don't invent some ideas. I use them when nobody else is using them and then everybody sees that it works so they copy me.

An unusual amount of hate in this thread. It's not like the regular deal is going away! It's just another option. Options are good, right? If the PS3 cost $600 at retail but you could get it for $200 as long as you subscribed to PSN plus or Netflix, you guys would have thought it was the best deal ever, right? The deal isn't as sweet but that's what the basic idea is.

Anybody that doesn't like the idea of "get it now/pay a little now/pay more later" should never use a credit card again.

Exactly what I am thinking, I love the outrage at the nominal fee of $15, I mean seriously. People would pick any reason to bitch and moan, the only possible reason I can see it being NOT a good deal is with the upgrade looming so close on the horizon, other than that, for the entertainment that you get $15 is well worth and considerably cheaper than even mobile contracts. I actually wonder if the same people bitching about the price actually HAVE phone contracts, good ol' cup and string.

Yeah, I do want to live in the UK for a few months. For (2) phones I pay $150/month.

I would love to pay $70 instead.

Feel bad for all the people who buy it, and didn't read the box where it says mandatory subscription.

It's definately - as described - not a scam.  The overall extra amount paid isn't huge and given at the end of two years you would have completed the contract I imagine you then simply purchase Live ongoing in the normal manner.

Assuming this isn't false (which it might be of course) then I'm now of the view that this is both a test of a model that ties people into their exosystem (which is clearly more important to MS than straight up console sales) combined with a model designed to make the initial cost of entry less (which always appeals to a fairly broad demographic).

So long as this doesn't interfere with the traditional model - i.e unlike a phone I personally am not going to tie myself into a contract for a games console to play online - I'm fine with it in principle, although I still think people should just save for 6 months to buy up front and save themselves some money.

As I said, my contract is an absolute minimum, I got a poor phone with it a year ago(Had to buy a new one with my own money), still paying it, all I get is unlimited text, 200 minutes and 100MB of Data for £21 a month. If I were to get a new phone - iPhone 4S/HTC one etc would be in the region of £37-39, model of the phone and the contract details increase the price of course. But the standard fee for a NEW, recently released phone would be about £150 - $250 up front and £35 - $60 a month thereafter for 24 months.

Add on top the subscription for some random TV services that they've also promised, provided it's ESPN or Netflix or something - which is quite big in the US, they'll save a bit of money if they already have a subscription in place, so it's effectively a loan, without any percentages.. With the Americans loving credit so much, it'll likely be a hit.