Free Xbox Live for three days

The best things in life are free. Free as a bird. Get on the freeway. Pick your favorite I'm-a-cheap-bastard cliche this weekend and put it to good use, because a special promotion will give every Xbox 360 owner unrestricted Xbox Live access for 72 hours.

From Friday March 31 to Sunday April 2, Verizon and Microsoft will unlock the gates to anybody with an Xbox Live Silver account (which is free to all Xbox 360 owners) and give them temporary Gold status, so they can play against other gamers instead of merely downloading demos, games and trailers from Xbox Live Arcade and the Marketplace.

Special events include Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter matches against the development team and the lovely Frag Dolls, an NBA 2K6 Game With Fame event with Kamal from The Roots, special song downloads from Xbox Live Artist of the Month Natasha Bedingfield and various prize drawings. Check www.xbox.com/livegoldweekend for a full calendar of events.

March 30, 2006