As sales of Microsoft’s Xbox console dwindles, the company came up with a new plan to pick things up a bit.

Gamers can now purchase a 4GB Xbox for only $99 as part of a test program in 17 of their branded retail stores in the U.S. but here’s the catch, they need to agree to a two-year Xbox Live Gold contract that would cost $15/month.

The Xbox Live Gold subscription will allow gamers to play with one another, stream videos and other contents from companies like Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and Hulu LLC.

For some, this new offering is the answer to their Xbox prayers as you’d get to own an Xbox for just $99 and paying $15 every month but for some, being tied to a company for two years is enough to make them go nuts – people want their freedom.  If people get tired of their Xbox Live Gold subscription, they can terminate it but they have to pay the $250 termination fee.  Getting the $99 Xbox with the two-year subscription would amount to $459, $40 more than if they just paid the $299 upfront for a 4GB Xbox and paying $5 per month for an Xbox Live Gold subscription for two years.  The point is, if you have the money, you’d probably just pay for the console on full and get a paid subscription or just settle for the free subscription but this offering is for those gamers that don’t have enough money but want an Xbox.

Plus, this new offering brings Xbox as the best internet TV platform for every home which was probably their main focus last year.  Verizon’s FiOS TV service and Comcast’s video-on-demand service are already available on the game console.   But if you’re true, hard-core gamer, do you really need internet TV?  I’m sure you’d be glued to your console playing Call of Duty for hours, not even knowing what time it is, or giving a damn if your stomach is already protesting due to extreme hunger.

Last December, Microsoft brought a lot of new things in the Xbox such as integrating Kinect and Bing for a more human-Xbox interface while searching, social connectivity, personal cloud offerings, mobile connectivity and more.  But what people are actually looking for, aside from new features on their game console, is actually a new game console.  The Xbox 360 came out in 2005 and had several versions with some minor modifications but nothing really revolutionary.  People are asking, “When will the Xbox 720 come out?”

During the Consumer Electronics Show last January, gamers were expecting that Microsoft will be launching the Xbox 720 but went home quite disappointed as the much anticipated game console did not make an appearance.  Though gamers were disappointed, they did not lose hope as rumors about the device surfaced like the next-gen Xbox will be tablet-based like the Wii-U.  Unfortunately, this rumor has already been dismissed so don’t expect any tablet controllers for the next-gen Xbox.  Actually, don’t expect the Xbox 720 to come out this year as the company already stated that 2012 will be all about the Xbox 360.