If you’ve been thinking about getting a shiny new Xbox One but you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger than today is the day you may want to get to your neighborhood Gamestop.
Tomorrow (June 9th) is the day that the new Kinect-less Xbox One hits the stores and in celebration (or to blow out as many Xbox Ones with Kinect that they can) Gamestop is giving customers 50% extra trade credit if they are trading up for any number of Xbox One related accessories or an Xbox One as pictured in the ad below.
Outside of a Google Nexus 7 tablet and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, everything in the one day only promotion is directly Xbox One related. And again, even though it’s hard to decipher it has been confirmed the Xbox One itself is part of the action.
There are two different offers for Xbox Live Gold memberships. It’s important to note that there are significant changes to the Xbox Live Gold Membership that actually start Monday as well.
Microsoft has announced that they will start issuing refunds for people who want to cancel their Xbox Live Gold membership. Customers will be able to get a credit for the time they did not use the service. The purchase of an Xbox Live Gold membership wasn’t required to buy the Xbox One but many online and streaming features required the Gold membership, multiplayer gaming still does.
Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and YouTube were also protected behind the Xbox Live Gold membership when the console launched in November. CNet reports that this is no longer true. Any Xbox One user will be able to access those services without a Gold membership, provided they have an account for each corresponding service. Other premium services will also be free including access to Internet Explorer, OneGuide and Skype, a move definitely made to entice more customers. Although the price at launch was $499 for the system and Kinect, most felt a $560 price tag was more fair since most services, aside from strict game play, required that Xbox Live Gold membership.
Microsoft will still make the gold membership lucrative though, and if you’re into multiplayer gaming you still need it. Gold subscribers still have the “games with gold” program, cloud game saves, and game dvr. Microsoft is giving away a free Xbox 360 game in June to celebrate the one year anniversary of the “games with gold” service. The new “Deals with Gold” service will arrive later this month for the Xbox One.
If you’re not trading anything and you’re looking for the Kinect-less Xbox One they hit the shelves Monday morning.