It's not often you get something for free but when you do, you don't take it for granted. If you've got nothing better to do this weekend, you may be interested to know that for the next few days (8/3/13-10/3/13) everybody's membership will be upgraded to Xbox Live Gold, allowing them access to all the benefits that entails.
While the WiiU and Playstation 3 allow you to take your games online and play with your friends for free, Microsoft has always operated its online services on a subscription basis instead. While a free account will let you access the internet, send messages to your friends, and download demos or trailers from the store, most of the online features on the console are locked to those who pay £40 a year. If you haven't yet splashed out the cash, for this weekend only, you'll be able to enjoy the benefits of Gold membership, from Party Chat, that lets you chat with your friends privately, no matter what game they're playing, to online play across hundreds of games, and even the BBC iPlayer.
Throughout the weekend, a number of special events will be taking place across a variety of games, with competitions, and matches against a game's developers being set up for you to take part in. With games including Halo 4, Borderlands 2, Tomb Raider, FIFA Ultimate Team, Forza Horizon, Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed 3 hosting various events over the weekend, there's almost literally never been a better time to check out Xbox Live. You can find a full list of events at http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/Live/free-live-weekend
Thanks to sponsorship by Bioshock Infinite, all you need to do is turn on your Xbox this weekend to join in with the fun, with no sign ups, subscriptions, or details required. When Monday rolls around, though, your newly Gold account will revert back to being a bog standard free account - so best make use of it while it lasts.
