Interesting news, content that is only for Xbox Live Gold members… which even Tycho thinks is understandable, but I agree with his comments about what kind of content is being restricted.

they made a serious misstep with the content they chose to inaugurate Silver’s descent into squalor: a trailer for Gears of War. An advertisement. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is really quite a trailer. The term “trailer” may even be insufficient. But, um… When you make people pony up for instant access to ads? They might get the impression that you are taking advantage of them.

Don’t we put up trailers to help us sell the game? In which case, wouldn’t we want every person with a pulse (and a wallet) to view them? Can Silver members play Gears? (the answer is yes, by the way) Then why not show them ad and convince them to buy? Oh, you want them to move up to Gold… well, shouldn’t the cool multi-player gaming features of a game like Gear be the carrot for that type of move?

Some relevant comments from Major Nelson’s post… there were many “this is an amazing trailer, I’m going to buy the game” type of comments as well, but in regards to the gold vs. silver bit there were these:

  • You need to pay (gold) to download a commercial? What an idiots…..
  • Just gold members? I hope this doesn’t turn into a trend, videos were for all members before. It’s not like silver members aren’t buying the damn game you know.
  • Gold members only? Are you serious? That’s pretty crappy.
  • Cool, thanks. Finally some content for the paying members.
  • From the lack of registered silver members posting here I conclude that we are all crying in a corner.
  • Nice! I hope we see more exclusive Gold content, we are paying $$$ yearly for the service there should be some perks to it. You silver members complaining can always upgrade to Gold.
  • I hate to say this but i am glad it is GOLD members only, it’s about time Gold members got some exclusive stuff, silver members are using badwidth too and pay nothing, Xbox live is not expensive at all and worth every penny.
  • Of course it is GOLD ONLY… they want to sell Live subscriptions for a hyped out game. Shady yes, but business as usual with MSFT.
  • It’s pretty safe to bet this will eventually appear on Silver too, so I don’t see the big deal. Giving Gold members some things first isn’t such a terrible idea, but I guess that depends on which version you have yourself lol
  • I’m an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, but the idea that you have to be a Gold member to get content early does not sit well me me. I love Xbox 360 and Marketplace, but it’s stupid decisions like this which will make me rethink supporting it this console.
  • It’s $4 a month for XBL gold eh? Someone show me where I can buy ONE month of gold for $4. Idiots. Also, “there isn’t enough separation” between gold and silver? How about the fact that silver users can’t PLAY GAMES ONLINE? Isn’t that the ostensible purpose of XBL anyway? I say all of this as a gold subscriber.

The comments actually started out rather balanced, but head more to the ‘Silver accounts can play Gears too’ side as you scroll down… I can only assume that is because the most interested followers of Major Nelson’s posts are mostly Gold subscribers (which makes sense).