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January 26, 2016
The new free Games with Gold lineup for February 2016 has now been revealed. Players with an Xbox LIVE Gold account will be able to help themselves to a number of free games throughout February. The first two titles available for Xbox One players will be Hand of Fate - this title will be available for download from February 1st, all the way to the end of the month.
Starting from February 16, Styx: Master of Shadows will be the second exclusive Xbox One title available via the Games with Gold February lineup. Styx will remain available until March 15.
As for Xbox 360 titles, Sacred Citadel, an Xbox 360 arcade title, will be available from February 1 till February 15. After Sacred Citadel gets taken off the lineup, it will be replaced with Gears of War 2 which will remain on the lineup until February 29. All four of the titles cost just under $80 for the digital versions.
Both Gears of War 2 and Sacred Citadel can be played on the Xbox One via backwards compatibility
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May 27, 2014
Microsoft has just announced a whole list of changes to their Xbox Live service that will completely overhaul the overall experience for their average user. One of the biggest changes in this new move by Microsoft will allow gamers who make use of quarterly or yearly Xbox Live Gold subscriptions to receive refunds for any time they did not make use of on their Xbox.
If an Xbox Live Gold user cancels their yearly or monthly subscription, they will receive a refund for the remaining time available on that subscription, which should then go into their Xbox Live account balance.
On top of the changes to subscriptions, Microsoft is working hard to remove any paywalls on their current entertainment offering. Whilst Xbox Live Gold will still be needed for online multiplayer, services like Hulu Plus and Netflix will now be accessible without an active Gold subscription.
These brand new Xbox Live changes will go live in June, and it's another portion of their efforts to make
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March 14, 2014
As it stands right now, the PS Plus loyalty offering completely trumps what Microsoft has to offer to their monthly Xbox LIVE subscribers, but Phil Spencer has tried to explain why at SXSW. However, no matter how much explaining is done, there is no denying that the PS Plus offering is miles better than the Games with Gold offering.
One reason why Phil Spencer feels as if the Games with Gold offering is a little different to the PS Plus games collection is that players can still get access to games, even after their subscription ends. Whilst this is true, surely Sony is putting a lot more effort into their deals to even think about allowing players to get access to games that are only a year old. In the case of Microsoft, most Games with Gold titles are five to eight years old already.
Phil Spencer stated at SXSW that, "One of our issues with Games with Gold, differences between the other system we get compared to, is the fact that with Games with Gold, you get to keep that
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October 27, 2013
The fairly recent loyalty program, Xbox Games with Gold, has been confirmed by Microsoft as a permanent feature that will continue on past the Xbox One's launch. Before this confirmation, it was discussed by Microsoft that the promotion would only stay till the end of the year, but it looks as if somebody has managed to convince the big M to keep us a little bit happier with our monthly Xbox Gold subscriptions.
The Xbox Games with Gold loyalty promotion offers two free games each month to everybody who has an Xbox Live Gold account. It started out with little mention from Microsoft when Fable III mysteriously appeared on the Xbox marketplace for free, but it was later revealed that the game was part of the ongoing Games with Gold loyalty service.
Since then, Xbox Live Gold members have been treated with a bunch of fairly outdated games over the last few months, including games like Halo 3, Assassins' Creed II, Dead Rising 2, Crackdown and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes.
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October 09, 2013
If you want to give Battlefield 4 a go to help you decide whether you want to purchase the game or not, a new playable BETA for Battlefield has been release this month for both Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network and it's available to download and play by anybody that has an Xbox LIVE Gold account or a PSN account.
The BETA only includes the Siege of Shanghai map, and two game modes- Conquest and Domination.
This can get boring pretty quickly, but it certainly gives you a feel for what Battlefield 4 is going to play like. It's important to note that this is an open BETA so that DICE can test server stability, so you may come across bugs and server issues, but you can't really complain for free access to the multiplayer game.
The Battlefield 4 BETA will only be available till October 15th, and after that point you will have to wait for the release date on October 29th to be able to play the full game.
Whilst it has officially been named a BETA,
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August 15, 2013
After we saw the official Microsoft unboxing for the Xbox One, a lot of gamers got angry at the extra paywalls and prices that will have to be forked out to access most of the features available on the gaming/media box.
If you're frustrated at this, here's a bit of news that may help you to calm down just a little.
Microsoft will be introducing a new family plan on the Xbox One. On the Xbox 360 gamers could save money by buying a Gold 'family pack.' However, users of this service would still have to pay for multiple Xbox Live Gold accounts but just at a discounted price.
On the new Xbox One, a family will be able to make use of the new 'Home Gold' feature that will allow a whole family with multiple gamertags to share the Xbox Live Gold status from one member on that Xbox.
For example, if one user were to buy an Xbox Live Gold subscription, all other gamertags on this Xbox would also gain access to all of the features that require Xbox
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July 30, 2013
One thing that Microsoft won't seem to drop when it comes to the Xbox One is the phrase "the power of the cloud." I've personally seen time and time again an Xbox One representative praise this power but apart from Forza Motorsport 5, we haven't really seen any reason to believe that there really is any power within the cloud, at least as far as the Xbox One is concerned.
I do hope that this changes in the future, and Microsoft will hopefully reveal more uses for their cloud capabilities as the Xbox One grows.
One such use has been revealed, and it will allow Xbox One owners to store an unlimited amount of data on their Xbox One straight to the cloud.
This is a similar feature already seen on the Xbox 360, however, Xbox Live gold members will be given unlimited storage as a benefit of being a paying Xbox subscriber instead of just 512mb. Microsoft has stated that -
"Xbox Live offers Xbox One unlimited storage space in the cloud
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July 24, 2013
As expected, Microsoft has now made Assassin's Creed 2 available to download for free for a limited period of time. This game is part of the "Games with Gold" program that is strictly for Xbox Live users with a Gold membership.
The Games with Gold program seems to be Microsoft's way of challenging PlayStation's PS Plus subscription service that has offered free games since launch. Many also believe that Microsoft are doing the Games with Gold campaign to try and claw back any customers they may have lost at their terrible pre-E3 event.
Although Assassin's Creed 2 is pretty old now, it still stands as a good, enjoyable game, and when not for free, can cost $20 to download digitally from the Xbox marketplace. However second copies from retailers such as Gamestop are probably selling the game for less than $10, and perhaps even less than $5 depending on the demand for the old game.
Players have so far managed to grab Fable III, Defense Grid: The Awakening and Assassin's Creed
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July 06, 2013
It's always nice to see more PC games cross the bridge to console gaming. And, as announced at E3, World of Tanks will soon be making its way to Xbox 360. The game is currently in a console Beta which will take place on a few different weekends and will be available to those who previously registered their interest in participating in the Beta.
It'd be nice to see how well the game ports over to the console, especially considering World of Tanks on the PC has quite a complex menu system and varying different tank controls in-game. Once World of Tanks is available to play for everybody, the game will be free to play, just like it is on the PC.
Xbox Live Gold members will be able to play it to their heart's content, whilst Silver members will have a 7 day 'trial period.'
World of Tanks features 15 a side tank warfare as each team fights over control of certain strategic points on the map. The game includes a complex tank tier tree branching into various different tank
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June 28, 2013
If you didn't know already, Microsoft revealed at E3 that Gold members will now be eligible to two free Xbox 360 games each month. There wasn't really much information on how this new promotion works, although some keen-eyed Gold members had already spotted that Fable 3 was up for grabs for free before Microsoft even announced the new promotion.
To clear a few things up, Microsoft has now given a few new details on their promotion, stating that "As our way of saying thanks, we're giving all active Gold members two bonus Xbox 360 games each month for the rest of the year. Each specially selected, fan-favorite game will be available to download only for a limited time, so grab them before they're gone and keep them no matter what."
A new game will be available on the 1st and the 16th of the month for free for a limited time, and every Gold member that downloads the game will then be able to play the game for free forever, even if there Gold membership runs