Microsoft's "Friendship Is Free" Program Offers Free Internet Play

Posted by Raymond Padilla - Thursday, December 04, 2008 11:30 AM

To entice people to upgrade to Xbox Live Gold and to show people how much fun online gaming can be, Microsoft has launched a program called "Friendship is Free". According to Microsoft's Major Nelson:

"This month, Xbox Live kicks off the Friendship is Free program. Over the course of this month, multiplayer will be available for all Xbox Live members for eight Xbox Live Arcade games. The Xbox Live Arcade team will open up the multiplayer functionality for A Kingdom for Keflings, Aegis Wing, Bomberman Live, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades, UNO, Small Arms and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix."

Do note that only the online play is free; you still have to purchase the games.

It's an interesting tactic by Microsoft and I'm curious to see if it'll create many new gold members. However, I can't get past the name -- it sounds like Microsoft is kicking off a hippie movement. Now where's the Sony Defense Force? I'm waiting for its members to say how you can play online for free on the PlayStation 3 and that this is a totally lame move by Microsoft. Flame on!

(For the record, I love that Sony's service is free and also feel that Xbox Live Gold is worth paying for.)

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Tags: Xbox 360

Comment(s)

Posted by RedRingOfDeath (BANNED) - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:51 AM

Not everybody is dumb enough to pay to play games online.

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Posted by Original67 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:52 AM

not a bad Idea, nice for my friends getting 360s for christmas, arcade + free uno= awesome uno parties. followed by gears, lots of gears.

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Posted by Original67 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:53 AM

ahem, this is a 360 post...please at least voice youre poinions in a respectful manner...jerk

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Posted by asthmagasm - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:53 AM

We should have gotten our Willie Nelson outfits instead of snowboarding and skiing outfits. What gives!?

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Posted by Original67 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:54 AM

opinions...ugh

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Posted by Sandrock323 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:57 AM

They should have done CoD4 and Halo 3 if they wanted to convince people.

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Posted by r_pad - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:02 PM

@Sandrock323 That's not really the point. In addition to getting people to upgrade to gold, Microsoft also hopes for some impulse sales for these XBLA games.

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Posted by MessiahOfPants - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:07 PM

So pretty much this is useless, except for those kids who have to wait for Christmas to get their gold membership present.

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Posted by DPsx7 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:17 PM

Wow they are really digging for scraps now. Too bad they can't make money on anything. Gotta bait gamers into joining Live, which only lasts for a month on some weak games. Even worse is that to take advantage of it you gotta buy the game. So what happens when the month is up? The game either becomes useless or you get suckered into paying for an online service. For shame. And for the unfortunate people who get a 360 for Xmas they get a whole 6 days outta it.

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Posted by rickybibble - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:21 PM

@DPsx7

what should happen? do you walk into gamestop, walk right up to the counter and have the guy working just give you the new ps3 title? didn't think so.

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Posted by r_pad - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:25 PM

@DPsx7 I wouldn't call all of those games "weak". Some of them are lots of fun.

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Posted by asthmagasm - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:29 PM

UNO is mega fun. This reminds me that I need to get Castle Crashers though :(

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Posted by AgentDrickel - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:31 PM

Every marketing scheme Microsoft comes up with is not them being desperate. They are a company. They want people to buy into their product. this is what they are doing. Deal with it and possibly learn some business tactics while you are at it

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Posted by Letters2Kay - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:32 PM

No thanks, I'll just stick to my PSN. I just don't play online often enough to pay for it. As I've said before, I buy every cross-platform title on my PS3, in part because if I buy them on the 360 and want to play online, I'll have to pay another $50, essentially making the game $110. I have no problems with the PSN- and I greatly prefer it to XBL. At least it doesn't shove ads down my throat and give me weak-ass avatars...

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Posted by Sandrock323 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:33 PM

@DPsx7
All of those games have offline play so they won't be useless. (except maybe bomerman, never played it)

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Posted by asthmagasm - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:38 PM

@AgentDrickel

If you honestly think anyone except a handful of people here have any grasp at business tactics, then I'd like the drugs you're on; or at least if they have them, they sure don't sure show anything other than rabid fanboyism.

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Posted by kikook - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:41 PM

What does Sony fans have to say? This is helping us more than 360 fans. This just shows PSN is becoming an opposing force.

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Posted by c1001z - Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:55 PM

geez padilla, your really desperate for a anti-xbox story, huh?
bottom line; more hours will be logged on XBL then on PSN during this console generation. see halo3 and GoW

Sony's only prayer to catch the amount of subscribers M$ has is to offer PSN at no charge. Still wont help them..

USAUSAUSA!!!

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Posted by SilentSniper - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:07 PM

aegis wing is free.
dont forget that other cros-splatform games like shadowrun already have free online
is this another step towards free XBL??

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Posted by Sandrock323 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:11 PM

@asthmagasm
I was talking about business tactics, yesterday. It isn't G4's fault you only read the comment sections that begin with, "blah blah sucks blah blah nuts. blah blah FTW".

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Posted by IBloodstormI - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:13 PM

no one plays arcade game live (or very few do) so it wont be much of a convincing matter.

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Posted by asthmagasm - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:26 PM

@Sandrock323

That's why I said handful. I know there are people on here who do know business tactics and make intelligent discussion. I wasn't lumping you or the other people that can make decent discussion with the "blah sucks ftw nuts" posters.

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Posted by FLS_Carnage - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:29 PM

they should have just made it free to play any game on live for december. xbox live is worth paying for also with titles like Halo 3 Gears of war, Gears 2, Fable 2, and a bunch of others.

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Posted by RedRingOfDeath (BANNED) - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:33 PM

@lBloodstorml

Have you gotten your broken Xbox 3FixMe back from the shop yet?

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Posted by r_pad - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:39 PM

@c1001z It's not an anti-Xbox article at all. Only a retard would think that. How the hell is reporting about Microsoft offering free online play for a month considered anti-Xbox?

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Posted by LJbloaded - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:43 PM

Why the F is the conversation on Business Tactics? I know for a fact that if anyone says that they know why Microsaoft is doing this they are wrong. Do you have Microsoft's quartly planning squeduals. Their Qouta's for getting Gold Memebers? Do you even have their income statements, their rate of return, their production overhead balance sheet. No. So shut the hell up and stop trying to act like you had a dam brain and stick to things you do know.

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Posted by morbo1993 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:44 PM

what? no RROD yet? he's the only one with good opinions here :(

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Posted by morbo1993 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:45 PM

oops, i stand corrected by myself

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Posted by SiK - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:05 PM

LOL The PSN dosent even have any decent arcade games, I always play arcade games I have metal slug, street figher, UNO(the camera is awsome), Aegis Wing, pacman, most of the sonic ones, castle crashers, braid. The games are only like 5 bucks and they last you for months.

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Posted by c1001z - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:07 PM

@padilla
im obviously on target for you to call your readers retarded.
The PS3 is a failure, suck it up and write about its failures to offset your most recent articles judging M$ business tactics.
you claim your sooo confused by what they did with arcade and live. were not here to give a lesson in marketing. go back to college or ask Brian Leahy how to mix up your articles so you don't make yourself look like such a butt.

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Posted by kangy3 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:32 PM

unless you already own those games, and still have silver, microsoft isn't going to create many new live users. Paying for live is worth it plus its not that much considering you can get it on amazon for $35

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Posted by Original67 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:45 PM

live 12 month is 35$ on amazon?

Sweet

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Posted by deathsdelivery - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:46 PM

@c1001z

USAUSAUSA to a company that loves out-sourcing jobs to save money, so yeah those jobs that Americans could have used, especially during these hard times, scream USAUSAUSA to company that would 5hit on you if it would save them/earn them $5.00.5hit Head

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Posted by r_pad - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:49 PM

@c1001z You're right. I shouldn't have hinted that you're retarded. That was wrong. I should have called your comment retarded. Explain how this was an anti-Xbox article? Where in the article am I judging? These are stupid conclusions you've made.

Calling the PS3 a failure is also a stupid conclusion. Certainly it hasn't done as well as Sony would have liked, but it's way to early in its lifecycle to be calling it a failure. That's not very smart.

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Posted by grunto - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:52 PM

Microsoft is a Hardcore gamers system. But they are trying to change their image. THe fact is that the games they are offering for free on XBL are softcore games even the newest of gamers can play. M$ already knows they extort money out of the Hardcore gamers. Now they are just trying to get the softcore gamers on the internet bandwagon to try and extort more money. I cant blame M$ for doing this however, especcially since they see a decrease in system/game sails coming.

Just a thought: I can play real UNO with real people at my house, school, friends house, or family reunions. If I wanted to play UNO with other people. Id just get real people. Paying $50 to play UNO online is stupid for any1 who actually thinks about how they spend their money. Then again, they did buy a 360 in the first place, so they obviously dont think about the hidden fees of their purchase until after the big item is bought.

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Posted by samr64 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 2:53 PM

if you are too cheap to pay 4 dollars a month then how did you get the courage to splurge for a system?

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Posted by Sandrock323 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 3:16 PM

@grunto
I bought my Xbox with the intention of paying for Xbox Live. Also, there are three things you should know; live is worth the money, only a retard would think Live was free, and UNO doesn't cost 50USD. If you are going to waist my time writing a long post, the least you could do is not lie in it.
P.S. I don't think you actually have friends to play UNO with in real life.

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Posted by grunto - Thursday, December 4, 2008 3:16 PM

Wow, after re-reading that last comment I made, I realise how many typos and mispells I made lol.... Sorry about that one lol.

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Posted by IBloodstormI - Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:00 PM

@RROD

being I sent it out 2 days ago, no. but being i have only gotten the 3 lights 2 times in the 2 and a half years of my xbox's life (the last time being almost exactly a year before) im grateful.

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Posted by WhiteWolfAssassin - Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:03 PM

I just don't get RedRingOfDeath, he had an intelligent discussion with Brian Leahy when he was talking on the forums about the interview on PS3 Home. But when an Xbox 360 article pops up, he or she starts behaving like an idiot. What is with you RedRingOfDeath, you can act intelligent, but refuse to when ti comes to the 360. I just shows how childish and how much of a PS3 fanboy you are.

Yes, this is obvious a tactic by Microsoft to get more subscriptions for Xbox Live Gold, but Gold is definately worth the money.

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Posted by ProjektX13 - Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:12 PM

dont listen to DPSx7 hes just a whiny school girl on his period.

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Posted by newbman - Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:40 PM

This will work for them. And Gold is worth paying 4.17, or you can just get those free months like i do.

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Posted by Minuszero - Thursday, December 4, 2008 6:23 PM

Cool.. Live users get a taste of something free and what Sony users get all the time, i am surprised! Enjoy it while it lasts because something free from Microsoft is like winning the lottery.

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Posted by faygohero - Thursday, December 4, 2008 7:05 PM

Free is good, can't we all just enjoy it. Why make it a fanboy deal?

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Posted by grunto - Thursday, December 4, 2008 8:29 PM

@Sandrock323
I wasnt refering the $50 to the price of the UNO game. I was refering it to the price to play online. And The fact you assume I have NO friends what so ever, means you dont read much. This could be that you are illiterate, but im going to go with the other option that you just dont read many topics in this forum.

Because if you did. You would know I got to college. Meaning no matter how much of a douchebag you may be. There is atleast one person who will befriend you. Due to intermurals, studying, or working. I didnt attack you so please dont attack me. You know very little about me so keep your smartass comments to yourself.

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Posted by Silverweed - Friday, December 5, 2008 12:59 AM

I have a ps3 and a 360 but I'm a silver account holder with Microsoft. Now, being the target audience in this I can say that for me personally this is not enough. I could literally not care less about those games. And sure a Gold membership is pretty cheap but, unlike this guy, I didn't go to college and currently sit on a respectable salary for writing articles for Entertainment Television. I'm a bluecollar guy who has to watch his watch his money and seven bucks every month does add up. I honestly believe that all online gaming should be free because the industry in general is already over priced. Christ just to rent a game at blockbuster is, what 8 dollars?

This Friends deal does not excite me. I find it quite patronizing. If something like Halo or Gears was on the list then I'd be adequately impressed, but that is not the case.

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Posted by Thundercracker - Friday, December 5, 2008 7:04 AM

@padilla

that guy is a flippin tard. Dont retract your statement. You were right the first time. Anyone who would refer to something that has sold 20 million units as a failure is in fact a retard. No one said that this was anti xbox, cept the xbox crowd. I dont give a crap about the xbox, i could care less what they do, Im not in the business of reading an article and classifying it as either anti or pro xbox....keep up the good work. And if people are being retarded, call em out for it

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Posted by r_pad - Friday, December 5, 2008 8:49 AM

@Thundercracker Ha! Thanks for the support, but one of the rules I try to live by here is "attack ideas, not people".

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Posted by Thundercracker - Friday, December 5, 2008 10:33 PM

@padilla

lets hope your boy macquiao doesnt share similar philosophies....i hope he destroys that no talent assclown

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