Microsoft is trying to increase the sales again of the Xbox 360 by offering it at a cheaper price.

Buyers can now get Microsoft's Xbox videogame consoles for $99. The four-gigabyte consoles bundled with Kinect voice-and-gesture sensing controllers are available in selected Microsoft stores in the United States.

However, the catch is that buyers must subscribe to Xbox Live Gold online service for games, films, music and play for two years. The monthly subscription for the online service is $15 that would sum up to $360 in two years. The subscription is mandatory and the whole unit costs $459.

Microsoft confirmed that it wanted to test some pricing strategy but did not confirm if it has plans to offer the console at the same price in the future. However, you can buy the console straight from Microsoft and you get $15 off per year of Xbox Live Gold and this would cost you around $389, which is $70 cheaper than the contract plan.

Moreover, you can also save a lot if you buy everything up front. Most retailers sell the Xbox 360 4GB/Kindle Bundle for $299, although Walmart in the US sells a similar package online for $229. If you add in the Xbox Live Gold service, it will be $120 for two years (billed at $5 per month). If Americans will go with Walmart's deal, they will spend $110 less over two years.

Microsoft said in its quarterly earnings report last month that market-leading sales of Xbox consoles dwindled down. Money taken in by the company's Entertainment and Devices Division that had been ablaze due to Xbox and its Kinect accessory dropped 16 percent to $1.6 billion in the recently ended quarter.

There is a reason why Microsoft is offering Xbox at a cheaper price. This is because the company will be launching a new Xbox in 2013.