[MrReinhardt]

I don't have one, but seems like M$ is back to its old tricks.

Quote

Microsoft has confirmed that it will be increasing the price of Xbox Live Gold in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States.
From November 1st 2010, the price of an annual Xbox Live Gold subscription will increase from $49.99 to $59.99 in the US. Monthly charges will also rise to $9.99, up from $7.99.
In the UK, it only appears to be the monthly cost that's set to increase, rising from £4.99 to £5.99 a month.
There's no word on a price increase for an annual Gold subscription in the UK.
"Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same," said Microsoft's Major Nelson.
"We're confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry."
An annual Xbox Live Gold subscription in the UK currently costs £39.99.
A free Silver service will continue to be available.

Source:clicky

It might not be news to some, but it appears not everyone has seen it.

[Littlebender]

Yeah it's bull shit. People are saying they are raising the price because of such features as ESPN, Kinect, Twitter, Facebook and LastFM.
I only use LastFM and that is once in a blue moon because I can already do that on PC. They should just charge extra for those features
instead of lumping everyone into the same group and hiking the price up.

[Vigilous]

I doubt it's because of the social apps (which kind of suck n the 360). It is most likely because they had to pay a premium for ESPN licensing rights. I doubt ESPN came to Microsoft with the idea. Which will fail, because streaming on the 360 is akin to having eye surgery without anesthesia - and the doctor is going through you rectum to do it. And I don't know how some people have not seen it. It's all over XBL.

But seriously, two or ten dollars more? People are raging over that? Oh, boohoo. No, not boohoo. Boo-fucking-hoo. People still bought that outrageously priced map pack for CoD: MW2. The amount of people who would rage quit over this would amount to pissing in the rain.

Oh, and Bender: Kinect is a peripheral, not a feature. But I can see why that might be a reason for the subscription rate increase. No one's going to buy that damn thing.

This post has been edited by Vigilous: 01 September 2010 - 12:03 PM

[Velhart]

Well good thing I cancelled my subscription before this happened. Most things on Xbox Live I like are on PSN also, and paying monthly is only an option on PSN, so...you know, haha.

[Vigilous]

The monthly for PSN is really nothing more than a Fan Club rate. You get special stuff because you're special for paying a special price. Considering what they've released so far for PSN+, $50 a month isn't worth it. Also, odds are PS3 players will have to buy in to PSN+ to play the FFXIV beta. Unless SE manages to convince Sony to not be a bag of dicks.

[Velhart]

PSN+ has done nothing to prove how much better it is than regular PSN. Better quality demos? Demos are meant for you to try out and lets your determine if you want the game or not, without purchasing it. And they say people get stuff earlier, have they release anything early on PSN+ that people actually care about? It is a big rip off, but who knows it could be better, and even then I still will not use it.

I don't see how they could get away with putting the FFXIV beta on PSN+. People are not going to pay to play a beta of a game, at least not people with common sense.

[Vigilous]

Except that's the key factor of PSN+: players will get to participate in betas. Besides, if you bought FFXIII, you essentially paid to play the beta anyway.

[Rhayve]

Hmm... that quotation lists the UK as the only European country, but what about the others? Will they be charged the UK rates or will their fees remain unchanged?