Xbox 360 owners in the UK who aren't already members of Xbox Live Gold have a chance to try the service this weekend. From 12pm BST today (Friday May 3) until 23:59 BST on Sunday (May 5), even those 360 owners who don't pay for the privilege will be able to play online multiplayer and actually access subscription services that they may well already pay for, like Netflix and Lovefilm.
While Microsoft is keen for you to try out multiplayer on any game, in the hope that you'll be so bowled over you'll want to pay up after the weekend is over, we're specifically told to look out for a few special events taking place over the next couple of days:
“Football fans can take part in the EA SPORTS FIFA 13 Ultimate Team Spring Classic in-game tournament all weekend for the chance to win 1,000,000 in-game coins plus other prizes. Petrol heads should check out the Forza Rivals Mode events for both Forza 4 and Forza Horizon. On Halo 4, play a total of ten Spartan Ops or War games missions over the weekend and receive Double XP on your next ten missions!”
Several games have double XP over the weekend too, including Gears of War: Judgment, Assassin's Creed 3, and Far Cry 3, but then if you don't subscribe to Xbox Live Gold and thus don't usually play online that probably won't be much of a draw for you.
Have you refrained from paying up for Xbox Live Gold? Will you give it a try this weekend?