Xbox Live Gold To Get Paid Content First?

As the fuss over Lumines Live! dies down (until they release another booster pack, at least), Microsoft's kicking up another bit of Xbox Live controversy as the fall gaming season kicks into gear by premiering downloadable content to XBL Gold subscribers before Silver members are allowed access. This practice started last night with the fantastic new Gears of War trailer.

"So here is the deal..Silver members WILL get access to this..probably in about a week. This is going to happen more and more (Gold getting things before Silver) so you may want to think about upgrading if you want all the latest and greatest trailers, demos etc." -- Major Nelson

Let's get this straight: out of nowhere, just as Microsoft's under close scrutiny for its marketplace content as it is, they decide to start charging for exclusive early access to downloadable content? At least Q Entertainment could've taken much of the blame for Lumines scenario, but not here. Scarier, the next step would be to start making content completely exclusive to paying members, rather than migrating the content over eventually.