Xbox 360 with Kinect now $99 with annual contract at Microsoft Stores

The rumor has become real. You can now get a brand new 4GB Xbox 360 console with Kinect for $99. Of course, there's a catch.

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The rumor has become real. You can now get a brand new 4GB Xbox 360 console with Kinect for $99. Of course, there's a catch--you'll have to agree to a two-year Xbox Live subscription agreement, charged at $15 a month.

The offer is being made at Microsoft Store locations nationwide. Unfortunately for many, there are only 21 locations across the US. Also, do note that taking advantage of this deal will have you spending more than buying an Xbox 360 with Kinect and two years of Xbox Live at its regular rate.

As we noted earlier, the subsidized bundle would cost $459 versus $419 buying it upfront. In addition, taking advantage of this offer may trigger a credit check, according to the terms and conditions of the promotion.

Whereas the earlier rumor suggested additional services would be added to make the $15 monthly fee more palpable (Xbox Live normally goes for about $5 a month), that does not appear to be the case. If this package included some sort of extra premium service, it certainly would be a deal. However, without one, it definitely seems less enticing.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 7, 2012 10:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Xbox 360 with Kinect now $99 with annual contract at Microsoft Stores.

    The rumor has become real. You can now get a brand new 4GB Xbox 360 console with Kinect for $99. Of course, there's a catch.

    • reply
      May 7, 2012 10:02 AM

      So the equivalent of a phone contract. Just one more way to buy it for those who are capital-strapped but with reasonable stable cash flows. Interesting.

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      May 7, 2012 10:10 AM

      [deleted]

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        May 7, 2012 10:17 AM

        [deleted]

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        May 7, 2012 10:39 AM

        except you can pay it at $15 a month.

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        May 7, 2012 11:59 AM

        Depending on your capital, this might be the only way to do it. So, the 4GB Kinect bundle is $299.99, usually, right?

        You're paying $99, and then paying a net $10 per month for the fee above and beyond what Live normally costs per month. In short, that's an extra $39.00 going to MSFT, by the end of your 2 year term.

        My uneven cash flow skills are super-rusty, but I think that's an IRR of about 18% on the initial outlay of not charging you the full $200. Treating the $200 as a negative on an IRR and then throwing off $10/month for 24 months comes out to 18%. Note that I am starting payment in the same month of purchase, which I think is fair for this calculation.

        So, really, it's the same rate as a crappy credit card. Neither wonderful nor evil, just debt, like any other.

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      May 7, 2012 10:34 AM

      Are all games even playable with the 4GB version of the console?

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        May 7, 2012 11:20 AM

        I'd imagine that each game would have to be playable on the 4GB 360 to pass cert. How many of those you can play on the stock 4 GB is another matter; the 4 GB internal drive is just big enough to fit Disc 2 of Forza 4, and it leaves a few hundred megabytes, which means you can't play much of anything else without adding a flash drive or a hard drive. But my 4 GB 360 only plays Forza 4 and Bayonetta, all offline, so it works perfectly for me.

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      May 7, 2012 10:54 AM

      It's worth a shot. I wouldn't go for it, but I avoid long-term contracts as much as I can.

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      May 7, 2012 11:23 AM

      [deleted]

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      May 7, 2012 12:38 PM

      This looks like an attempt to test the waters to see if consumers will opt for a higher Xbox live subscription fee for next generation. The same was done last gen with collectors edition titles for an extra $10, enough customers took the bate and hence the price of software today.

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      May 7, 2012 8:24 PM

      http://www.amazon.com/Kinect-Sensor-Adventures-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336447144&sr=8-1

      This $99 bundle is a cheaper way to get a Kinect peripheral though yes?

      Keep the camera and game, throw away the console... or just use it in offline mode? Or this is not possible? I wonder if a hack is possible?

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