Now this was unexpected.

According to recent reports from some gamers, certain games on the Xbox Live service (which normally requires a paid subscription to play games online) are now free to play

The three confirmed titles are Universe at War, Shadowrun and Lost Planet: Colonies Edition. All of them can now be played online with a Silver Live account, without any need to upgrade to a Gold Account.

All three games are cross-platform titles that allow play between Xbox 360 and PC users, and likely has to do with Microsoft's decision to make Games for Windows Live a free service, so we probably shouldn't get our hopes up and expect this to become a regular habit.

Tags : free : Games for Windows Live : Lost Planet: Colonies Edition : microsoft : pc : Shadowrun : Silver Account : Universe at War : Xbox 360 : xbox live

Comments

By: Evren

Video Game Chat Member Avatar

On: 06:11 Jul 28th, 2008
Offline

But you have to admit, the titles they have started with, are pretty...um...well...****.

By: boa

On: 07:15 Jul 28th, 2008
Offline

Lost planet's alright.

shame about the rest...

What about gears/gears 2?

By: Samuel

On: 11:08 Jul 28th, 2008
Offline

Nah, Xbox exclusives won't go this way. Just the crossovers. Shadowrun was alright, there just wasn't enough of it.

By: Dragonsoul

On: 07:18 Jul 29th, 2008
Offline

**** as they may be (and I trust the word on this) free is never a bad price, though it does seem like a marketing tool to get more people to buy the Xbox Live...

Ah, well, what move by a gaming company isn't? xD

By: Evren

Video Game Chat Member Avatar

On: 03:52 Jul 29th, 2008
Offline

Just a quick note, this isnt going to be a permanant thing, it's only for a short period.
Makes it...pretty useless really.

By: Dragonsoul

On: 07:50 Jul 30th, 2008
Offline

Whoa, now that does make it crap. I mean, it sounds like the "loss leaders" created by supermarkets to get you in their stores, only for you to realize they sold out of the item days ago and you decide to shop there anyways since you're already there.

Sneaky ****, IMO.

By: Dragonfly

Video Game Chat Member Avatar

On: 02:29 Jul 30th, 2008
Offline

Dragonsoul;55553

Whoa, now that does make it crap. I mean, it sounds like the "loss leaders" created by supermarkets to get you in their stores, only for you to realize they sold out of the item days ago and you decide to shop there anyways since you're already there.

Sneaky ****, IMO.

*laughs* It's not quite like that.

Xbox Live has always required a subscription to play games online, but they realised that making you pay to play these kinda games online on a PC is a bit stupid. Since Games for Windows Live is free, it seems they've made the PC / 360 cross platform games free to play online on both PC *and* Xbox 360. Probably just to "test the waters".

They haven't said how long they'll be doing this though. It could be for the next week, month, or even longer.

By: boa

On: 04:51 Jul 30th, 2008
Offline

"Last week we announced that we were taking off the Gold-only restriction for multiplayer gaming over Games for Windows- Live," a Microsoft spokesperson told CVG.

"For a limited time, we are offering free online multiplayer on Xbox 360/ Games for Windows titles that offer Live cross platform play. This promotion won't last, so we encourage everyone to take advantage of it while they can."