xbox 360 Microsoft officially launches $99 Xbox 360 with two-year contract

[compl3x]

This is - quite literally - the smartphone contract applied to consoles.

And this is bad *why*? Because "it's never been done this way" - sure it has.

With consoles? No it hasn't. I know of no subsidized or contracted consoles.

This sucks for consoles the same reason why it sucks for phones, ultimately it doesn't really favour the consumer one iota. Lock-in contracts are a ****ty idea.

The 360 will probably be outright $99 in less than 2 years.

Something like this might be a little more appealing day 1 of a new console launch ($599 PS3 anyone?), but now? No thanks.

Agreed. You might be able to convince people to drop $99 on a new console and sign a 2 year contract at the start of a consoles life, but coming towards the end? **** outta here.