Major Nelson has just reported that the price of Xbox Live will be increased to $60 a year in the US and will have increases in some other locales as well. Anyone not angry? Here is a breakdown:
 
 

It's worth it. No complaints here.

" Anyone not angry? "

That's absurd - I though their counter to PSN+ would be to make more people want live, not gauge those who already do.

That's kind of annoying, especially since they don't even have things like 1 versus 100 anymore to help justify the costs of live.

You have to expect things like this, it is Microsoft. I like how he waited until the end to name the UK and USA, since they're the most populous, and probably the most mad.
 
Does this have something to do with the voice chat update? Even if it is, they don't need a price increase. It's not even worth what it is now.

"That's absurd - I though their counter to PSN+ would be to make more people want live, not gauge those who already do. "

Ah well. Not like I'm much willing to pay for GOLD to begin with.

It's barely worth paying what it is now for the 'privilege' of online play (free on every other platform) and the honour of being able to buy other games (paying in order to give them more money, insane!)  
 
This seems like a dumb move

" It's worth it. No complaints here. "

" You have to expect things like this, it is Microsoft. I like how he waited until the end to name the UK and USA, since they're the most populous, and probably the most mad.  Does this have something to do with the voice chat update? Even if it is, they don't need a price increase. It's not even worth what it is now. "

 "This price increase only affects Xbox LIVE Members in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom or the United States. "    

Not that big of a deal, mainly cause I'll just go ahead and purchase a 12 month card before the price spike. Besides, I'm sure I'll still be able to find websites selling them on the cheap (or in this case, their original prices).

Maybe if they were making up the costs for selling Kinect cheaper it would make sense. Are they adding new features or anything? If not, I hate you Microsoft but I will still continue to give you my money.

They need to justify it somehow like do more 1 vs 100 stuff or something.

Well, I guess I'm done playing on Xbox LIVE.

I don't think it's THAT big a deal, as most retailers already discount the price.  This has probably been done to bring the cost back up to what it's actually supposed to be.
That being said, I really can't understand why they'd do this.  With PSN growing in features and users, you'd think they'd be trying to give people more reason to keep their Gold subscriptions.
 
This isn't going to help MS at all.

I don't think I'll pay for gold for a long, long time again. Then again, I wouldn't have done so if it there wasn't an increase in price.

Isn't it already 60 bucks for a year? 
Looks like there just raising the price if you pay by month.

" They need to justify it somehow like do more 1 vs 100 stuff or something. "

" Isn't it already 60 bucks for a year?  Looks like there just raising the price if you pay by month. "

" Well, I guess I'm done playing on Xbox LIVE. "

" @SumDeus said:

" It's worth it. No complaints here. "

P2P gaming with ads on the consoles main menu. Yeah... so worth it. "

WHAT THE FUK THIS SUKS? 
 
But seriously, 10 dollars is nothing if you care about multiplayer on the xbox. I pay double that price(60 dollars) to play World of Warcraft, and I'm sure there's people just as crazy for Halo or MW2 as I am for WoW. It's frightening to see gaming becoming more and more expensive like this, but it's sadly the way it's going. 
 
At the same time, it's wierd that Sony offers their online service for free and Microsoft can't. I mean XBL users do receive unique demos and such sometimes but it happens pretty often for Playstation owners too, especially now with Plus. That said 60 dollars a year isn't much. I spend more than that almost every month for new games. People like to blow minor increases like this out of hand without comparing it to the reality. If its such a biggie just lay off $1 from your food budget every month and bam, you got the money needed for this and 2 dollars extra! Since people whine about 10 dollars then surely 2 dollars must be quite a lot too? Yeah. Thought so.

" @Hitchenson said:

" @SumDeus said:

" It's worth it. No complaints here. "

P2P gaming with ads on the consoles main menu. Yeah... so worth it. "

What's wrong with having ads on the main menu? Just ignore them. It's not like they're pop-ups or anything annoying. It's worth it to me, because I can easily play with friends or chat with them while we all play different games. If you want to be stingy and complain about the excellent service that Microsoft is supplying, then just don't buy it. You may call me a fanboy now. "

I don't really care about this considering it is only $5 per month if you pay full price. I spend more than that everyday for lunch. It is also not hard to find discounted cards at retailers. 

" @SumDeus said:

" @Hitchenson said:

" @SumDeus said:

" It's worth it. No complaints here. "

P2P gaming with ads on the consoles main menu. Yeah... so worth it. "

What's wrong with having ads on the main menu? Just ignore them. It's not like they're pop-ups or anything annoying. It's worth it to me, because I can easily play with friends or chat with them while we all play different games. If you want to be stingy and complain about the excellent service that Microsoft is supplying, then just don't buy it. You may call me a fanboy now. "

I wouldn't call you a fanboy, I'd call you delusional.  "

" @natetodamax said:

" Well, I guess I'm done playing on Xbox LIVE. "

Wow, really? It's $10... per year, more. "

I'm in Canada, but unaffected since I don't renew month to month.  I'm actually happy to see us paying prices comparable to the US since our dollars have been close to even for years now (though I'd much prefer if we were all paying 50 instead of 60).   
 
You guys are going from a bit more than 4 bucks a month to 5 bucks.  The price of a few cups of coffee a month for a great service.  Our hobby costs money, you can't get something for nothing. 
 
It's also worth noting that if you renew now/soon, you get it for 40 instead of 60.  Do that, and your next two years average out to 50, zero change.

i dont play online with xbox so it cool, i still love the system and from what im tolled they are adding more stuff

Hahaha, from Ryan's twitter: "Hey, Microsoft has to offset the guaranteed loss on Kinect somehow!"

" Hahaha, from Ryan's twitter: "Hey, Microsoft has to offset the guaranteed loss on Kinect somehow!" "

" @Hitchenson said:

" @SumDeus said:

" @Hitchenson said:

" @SumDeus said:

" It's worth it. No complaints here. "

P2P gaming with ads on the consoles main menu. Yeah... so worth it. "

What's wrong with having ads on the main menu? Just ignore them. It's not like they're pop-ups or anything annoying. It's worth it to me, because I can easily play with friends or chat with them while we all play different games. If you want to be stingy and complain about the excellent service that Microsoft is supplying, then just don't buy it. You may call me a fanboy now. "

I wouldn't call you a fanboy, I'd call you delusional.  "

I'm not a PC gamer. How would you expect me to play online? "

This is absolute fucking bollocks. Trying to retroactively justify it with the inclusion of twitter, facebook, last.fm etc... is ridiculous, as they're free on the internet and most smartphones nowadays anyway. UK customers don't get ESPN (no bother to me, no interest in sports), and we can only get access to the Sky Player if we're pre-existing sky customers, or paying an extra £15p/m to Sky for the service. Nor does the UK get Netflix services.
 
Seriously, fuck this hike. If they're gonna lose that much money on Kinect, they can up teh price of that shit, so I can actively not pay for it there. Especially fuck this hike considering four months ago they were celebrating some 30 million Xboxes sold, meaning fuck knows how many paying for gold on an annual basis already.

Microsoft, since I've bought my PC at the beginning of the year, I have not touched your machine. 
 
I don't enjoy playing shooters with the gamepad. Those are pretty much the only games that are exclusive any more to Xbox. 
 
Don't like the look of Kinect games and no, I'm not going to dance. 
 
Live in UK so don't get many features as in US on Live. 
 
I have had a years subscription since January so I will cancel it next year. 
 
The Xbox is highly unappealing year after year. 
 
If I didn't have a PC and PS3 then I would probably use the Xbox more but now I'm seriously considering selling it so I can afford more games. (Although I won't because I regretted selling me Wii even though I wouldn't have been able to play tons of autumn 2009 games.)

As far as I'm aware of it, I've always been paying $60 annually for Xbox Live. 
 
Though with my gaming PC I think that might change soon.

" @Hitchenson said:

" @SumDeus said:

" @Hitchenson said:

" @SumDeus said:

" It's worth it. No complaints here. "

P2P gaming with ads on the consoles main menu. Yeah... so worth it. "

What's wrong with having ads on the main menu? Just ignore them. It's not like they're pop-ups or anything annoying. It's worth it to me, because I can easily play with friends or chat with them while we all play different games. If you want to be stingy and complain about the excellent service that Microsoft is supplying, then just don't buy it. You may call me a fanboy now. "

I wouldn't call you a fanboy, I'd call you delusional.  "

I'm not a PC gamer. How would you expect me to play online? "

OH NO TEN DOLLARS 

WHAT FUCKING MANNER OF WITCH CRAFT BE THIS

It's not like they made enough money already.

Im kind of surprised at the raise in price, but it doesn't really bother me.  It equals out to about $5 a month if you pay full price. I can find 5 bucks in my couch.  
If you spend some time looking around you can find plenty of good deals on cards. Not to long ago Dell had a sale for buy one get one free. Thanks to that I am now paid up until 2013

I am sexually dissatisfied by this decision.  Here is my lengthy rude response to Major Nelson: 
 

I still don't understand what paying for Xbox Live actually gains you to make it worth the cost. What exactly are you paying for here and why exactly are Microsoft raising the price? 

If you want a Gold membership just check amazon every now and then. You can get a year for thirty bucks. Most gaming news sites will make a post about it. Even Major Nelson makes a blog post. If you really want it then there is no need to pay full price.

" I still don't understand what paying for Xbox Live actually gains you to make it worth the cost. What exactly are you paying for here and why exactly are Microsoft raising the price?  "

" I still don't understand what paying for Xbox Live actually gains you to make it worth the cost. What exactly are you paying for here and why exactly are Microsoft raising the price?  "