OK, raise your hand if you didn't see this one coming. After trying out a retail experiment to offer subsidized Xbox 360 consoles to Microsoft Stores in May, the company is X-panding the offer to Best Buy and GameStop outlets starting today. Major Nelson made the announcement official earlier today, which if you'll recall means you can now snag a Kinect-powered Xbox 360 console for just $99 upfront and a 2-year contract at $15 per month afterward. The program will also cover your Xbox Live subscription, extended warranty, but limits your onboard memory to a meager 4GB Flash and you'll still have to shell out for your games.
So is a contract-based subscription to get your Xbox 360 gaming goodness a good sell at this point? Hard to say, but interested parties should keep even closer eyes on what Microsoft is playing with here. Subsidized gaming consoles may be in all our futures, much like we've seen with cellphone carriers and their contracts. Watch for it.
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