MICROSOFT Is Going to “Further Monetize” Xbox Live This Holiday Season. ADS IN YOUR BRAIN.

I don’t usually admit this, but what Microsoft requires you to pay for  on Xbox Live is bullshit. Feel a bit guilty in intimating that. It’s double-bullshit now that they have horrible (albeit expected) ads across the dashboard. If the LinkedIn profile of some Microsoft Money Wizard is correct, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Joystiq:

Microsoft will implement another way to take your money through Xbox Live this holiday season, according to a description on group product planner Praveen Rutnam’s  LinkedIn profile. It reads: “Developed strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that will be implemented for holiday 2012.”

Without jumping to any rash, outlandish conclusions based on this vague statement, we can’t help but consider what this change could be. One innocent possibility is a phasing-out of Microsoft Points, an event that was  rumored  in January and refuted in translation by Microsoft Switzerland. A more sinister possibility involves a console-based “online pass” and sacrificial spellwork.