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Free Xbox Live Codes: Step-by-Step Guide to How to Play Xbox Live Gold Free Unlike its major competitors in the console business, playing online on the Xbox 360 is not free. Gamers need an Xbox Live Gold Membership to compete online. For those with empty pockets, all is not lost. There are a few ways to gain free access to the service. Xbox Live Gold is the standard to which other console's online gaming services strive to measure up to. Combining the ability to play and chat online with all your friends with awesome features like Netflix and the upcoming ESPN integration, Microsoft's premium gaming service has a lot to offer. The downside to all this great content, however, is the cost. For many, the $50 (going up to $60 this coming November) is more than they are willing to pay. For cost-conscious gamers, there are ways to gain access to Microsoft's Xbox Live network without paying, in small doses, anyway. One way to get a free Xbox Live Gold membership is through registering a new gamertag on your Xbox 360 console. Each unit comes with the ability to gain a one free month of Gold simply by registering a new gamertag on the console, and this process can be repeated up to three times. To register a new gamertag and gain your free first month of Xbox Live Gold, follow these steps: After completing the steps above, keep going to finalize the setup of your 1 month Xbox Live Gold trial: After confirming your gamertag, your free trial will be activated. You're now all set up and can access all the great Xbox Live Gold membership features for one month without cost to you. Many of Xbox Live's most popular games ship with a free 2-day pass to the service. Most of these games have a sticker on the outside advertising this fact. You can use any trials found in games you've purchased to gain free access to the service, and many people who buy these games but already have Live Gold memberships are willing to post them online for other people's use. Cheapassgamer.com, for example, has a lengthy thread devoted entirely to members posting these codes for the use of other members. With a little Google magic, it isn't too hard to find similar places all around the web. http://woolyu.com/members/laustsenchilders2/activity/8160/ There are a few ways to get a taste of Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold Service for free, if you're willing to do a little legwork. Whether you're taking advantage of the free one-month trials offered with your console or tracking down a free 48-hour Xbox Live Gold trial somewhere online, you can find ways to play your favorite games online, at least temporarily, without spending a dime of your own money.