14 DAY TRIAL // A new Xbox Live Gold subscription offer has been made available by Microsoft in another effort to broaden the audience of the Xbox 360 before the launch of the casual gamer-focused Kinect. Xbox Live Gold Family Pass offers four Xbox Live Gold memberships for 99 dollars, that is about 25 dollars per subscription, half of the usual price.
The Family Pass also brings a family center on the Xbox 360 dashboard and on the official Xbox site that allows an easier access to account settings. Furthermore, the owner of the primary account can also purchase Microsoft Points from the Xbox Live Marketplace and distribute them to the other members of the Family Pass subscription.
The Xbox Live Gold Family Pass also expands the parental controls available on the Xbox 360. The console already allows parents to limit the time their children spend playing games and also restrict content based on the ESRB or PEGI ratings. This new type of subscription also adds the option to monitor the activities they take part in.
The Family Pass will also permit all four members to purchase various products through the billing information of the primary account holder. In addition to all of this, Microsoft promises that families that subscribe to Xbox Live Gold this way will have access to special family-friendly content and various discounts.
One can easily see how the games that will be available for Kinect at the launch of the device are clearly targeted at a more casual audience. With this new offer, Microsoft tries to cement a broader appeal and take Nintendo Wii's place in the living rooms of larger families. Kinect will launch on the 4th of November, so there is still time to bring the Xbox 360 in non-hardcore homes that may be more prone to buying the motion controller.