Today's NOT Cool Award ....

... goes to Microsoft.

Those greedy bastards don't seem to think they have enough money. For those of you who haven't heard; Microsoft has said they will increase the price of X-Box live from the previous $7 a month to $10 a month. Now, while most of you will say "What's the big deal? It's only $3." With their current 25 million subscriptions they boast, every $0.04 earns them $1,000,000. so at $7.99 they get $199,750,000 per month. However, the reason for the increase is what has me upset, not the price.

They say they are providing more services now than they did when they increased it to $7. So far, the only services they provide for "free" when you have a membership, are either free on every other system or free to anyone with a web browser. They have "Last FM", "Twitter", "Face book", demos of games, videos on demand (that you usually have to pay for), and now they are adding ESPN (which I won't even look at).

This sounds like a big list except that on the PS3 for free (without a monthly fee) you get a web browser that allows you to visit everything from twitter to you-tube, free game demos, themes, etc. The only thing that the PS3 doesn't have that the X-Box will, is ESPN. And to add insult to injury, on the PS3 you can pay for a plus membership (about the same as X-Box live) and you get free games (whole games), discounts on downloadable items (some drop from $50 to $5), early access to demos and beta invites, and, if you get the year subscription for $49.99, you get 3 bonus months.

To me, the PS3 offers much more bang for your buck.