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Print 21 comment(s) - last by BillyBatson.. on May 11 at 9:59 PM

  (Source: slashgear.com)
There will be an early termination fee of $250 that decreases after 3 months

The Microsoft Store officially posted an offer for a $99 Xbox 360/Kinect bundle on its website.

Last week, rumors circulated that Microsoft was planning on selling a 4GB Xbox 360 bundle with a Kinect sensor and two-year Xbox Live Gold service subscription. The only catch was that there'd be a $14.99 monthly service fee for the service, but gamers would receive the regular online gameplay features of an Xbox Live Gold subscription along with extra content from cable providers.

The total cost of the two-year bundle is $459, which is a bit of an increase from the current $418 4GB Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle with two years of Xbox Live Gold.

The Microsoft Store online published a redeemable coupon for the $99 bundle today, where offer code 885370366266 can be brought to a local Microsoft store in exchange for the latest deal.

Last week's report also noted that there may be an early termination fee (ETF), but the amount had not been specified at the time. Microsoft has now confirmed that there will, in fact, be an ETF that is set based on the number of months passed after the start of the two-year subscription. If the service is terminated within the first three months, the ETF will be $250. At the fourth month, the ETF is $240. From there, the ETF decreases by $12 each month until it hits $0 at 24 months.

Source: Microsoft Store


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RE: rip off or not?
By retrospooty on 5/7/2012 3:52:09 PM , Rating: 2
No different than buying a cell phone. You get the $600 smartphone for $200 now with an agreement to keep paying x amount for 2 years.


RE: rip off or not?
By kleinma on 5/7/2012 4:27:52 PM , Rating: 2
except with a cell phone, you have no choice in the matter except for the carrier (and possibly which overpriced data tier you want to be in).

Here with xbl, you can get a 1 year subscription for 48 bucks and no obligation.

When you do all the math, it really doesn't work out in your favor, especially considering most people would want the model with a hard drive in it. That 4GB fills up pretty quick when you can buy full games with your shiny new subscription that are larger than your entire storage pool.


RE: rip off or not?
By retrospooty on 5/7/2012 4:33:11 PM , Rating: 2
"except with a cell phone, you have no choice in the matter except for the carrier "

With the X-box you have the choice to pay the normal cash up front and have no contract. I don't get the issue. Either buy it outright, or pay installments. or don't buy it at all. It's a choice, all you need to do is pick what suits you.


RE: rip off or not?
By Mitch101 on 5/7/2012 4:51:09 PM , Rating: 2
If the X-BOX 360 replacement comes out within the next 2 years its going to feel like your paying for old tech.

The Sony Orbis is rumored to be coming out this year along with Wii-U. Microsoft keeping you in a payment plan while these other consoles are released is an interesting plan if that's what this is really about.

There is a rumor that the 360s replacement was submitted for manufacturing but I think more would have been leaked by now so I think this payment plan is to keep you hooked into a console until a 360 replacement is ready. I have to say 2015 is too far out as originally mentioned. It would be a surprise this year but most likely next year holiday season we will see the 360 replacement arrive.


RE: rip off or not?
By StevoLincolnite on 5/7/2012 4:34:35 PM , Rating: 2
Not entirely correct, you can buy smartphones that aren't on contract or tied to a provider... The outlay is fairly hefty though.


RE: rip off or not?
By Samus on 5/8/2012 12:24:13 AM , Rating: 2
Although this is far from a good deal, it's a genius marketing move by Microsoft because it will A) forcefully increase the number of XBOX Live (Gold) subscribers, which is currently only 46% of XBOX owners and B) fit in well with the economy where many people don't have up-front cash for anything.

This is why prepaid cell phone plans are virtually non-existant in this country compared to other places where the concept of credit doesn't run culturally deep. Most places, people buy their cell phone (for a lot of money) and have a cheap, no contract plan and take care of their phone to keep it as long as possible.

I personally wouldn't do this deal, because I don't believe you should own 'toys' if you can't afford them. The only things that anyone should get a 'loan' for is a house and an education. Even vehicle loans are ridiculously impractical, if you can't afford to buy a $40,000 car, get a reliable used $4000 car until you can, this isn't an investment, it's a money pit. There is almost no circumstance a vehicle will ever appriciate in value, in the same way a cell phone or an XBOX won't, so why pay for it after its obsolete?


RE: rip off or not?
By kleinma on 5/8/2012 9:28:10 AM , Rating: 2
actually i would say prepaid cell service is non existant because it is super expensive and not easy to do something like take out a sim card that has your pre paid minutes on it and put it in some other phone. Even though it is prepaid, it is still all tied down like a regular plan.


RE: rip off or not?
By StevoLincolnite on 5/9/2012 4:16:10 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The only things that anyone should get a 'loan' for is a house and an education.


Loans for an education? I assume you live in the states... But that seems ridiculous, is education really THAT costly you need a loan?
I recall only having to pay something like $3000 AU for college here, which isn't really worth getting a loan out for unless you're a low-income earner. (Even then the minimum wage is $15 an hour.)


RE: rip off or not?
By jRaskell on 5/9/2012 10:38:26 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
is education really THAT costly you need a loan?


Not sure what your definition of THAT costly is, but it's far more expensive than 3 grand (I assume that's annual).

State colleges average over 10 grand a year in tuition/room/board for 4 year degrees.

Private colleges, 2-3 times that (average). The more prestigious private institutions, even more.


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