Since last fall when they started offering 99 dollar Xboxes on 2 year cXbox live contracts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Xbox-Subsidy-Program-Discount-Xbox-Contract,18635.html

You probably missed the fine print that states "With 2 year XBox LIVE Gold Membership at $14.99/month"

Yes, because we all know how much people love subscription based models!!! I know I do!1

anyone know how they enforce the subscription? can you get this price in brick and mortar stores? if so whats stopping someone from buying one then never hooking it to the net?

People are probably smarter than Microsoft gives them credit for.

You have to put a valid CC on file. So they're going to get that $15 a month whether you hook it up to the Internets or not.

You can also cancel and get hit with an early termination fee.

yeah but if you look closely it says "with a 2-year contract"

americans are super critical with anyone selling anything with fine print.

I had some friends ready to jump on that till they saw the 2 year contract. Seems to be a big turn off.

You serious?

$99 then $15 a month for 2 years locked in?

You can get 12 month subs for £25 in the UK anytime you want = approx $40 a year x 2 = $80

$15 x 24 = $360

So you're saying $99 upfront then $360 over 2 years is a better deal than $190 upfront then $40 over 2 years?

Well in the US people routinely buy electronics on subscription based packages and "rent to own" plans.

And people crap on this offer from MS but you compare it to what phone companies do with their plans and what rent to own places offer and it's actually a pretty good deal. You save money on buying the stuff retail. Yeah if you look for sales and specials you'd spend less retail but then it's all up front. That's why these types of things are good deals for some people. They might have a limited amount of money to add into their budget. You have $100 right now and can spare $15 a month for a couple years, that's easier than $500 up front.