It’s been eight years, friends. Eight years where, for half a Benjamin, you could get your online gaming fix on Xbox LIVE for an entire year. Those days are now officially numbered, however, with the service’s scheduled price increase on November 1.

Major Nelson gave the details of the change today via his blog. This spelled out the changes for users in the US, UK, Canada and Mexico. So far, the United States is the only territory that will see increases in every subscription level. The changes are as follows:

The US is now in line with what Canadians have been paying since the beginning, but if you want to avoid the increase for as long as possible, a special deal’s been set up that will let you add another year to your current subscription for $39.99. Better jump on that one, folks. (Another option may be to stock up on 12-month subscription cards from Amazon, where they usually retail for the more wallet-friendly $40, as well.)

No word on how (or even if) this will affect the pricing of the upcoming “Family Plan.”

What do you think about this move? Are you going ahead and coughing up the dough, or has Microsoft just made a misstep that will cost them thousands of users?

Personally, I’d been thinking about upgrading to a Gold membership, but with this on tap…well, I guess I wouldn’t use it, anyway. That money’s better spent on the games themselves – and I’m fine with playing alone if I have to.