The first game that will be given for free through the "Games With Gold" program announced at E3 for Xbox Live Gold users in July will be Defense Grid: The Awakening, according to Major Nelson.

It'll be free to download from July 1st to July 15th, when it'll cycle out and the second game for July will be introduced.

This isn't Assassin's Creed II or Halo 3. But it's free, so yay?

Haha a 5 year old xbla game.

i dunno. i think this game is dope!

You got to start somewhere, I guess.

Fable 3 is totally free right now on Gold over here

I added the precision of first free "July" game. I think Fable III was actually the first one? It's kind of silly that the first games they used to promote the service at E3 haven't been offered yet.

Edit: Apparently, Fable III was not part of this promotion while it was still available for free.

This is what I came to say.

Oh cool, that's the same value as

• Battlefield 3
• Payday: The Heist
• Saints Row the Third
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
• Unit 13
• Demon's Souls
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Ico

/troll

what? I got that like 2 years ago on Steam for $2-$3. Going to have to try harder MS.

Oh boy!

I just came here to post this. What a pile of wank. People I know who never had Halo 3 or AC2 were all excited and now they've been handed this pitiful crap. Don't you "It's free, don't complain!" shite (you will, though) because it's a complete bait and switch. Are Halo 3 and AC2 the main course stars of the show we're meant to be licking our lips for while we're given these stale rolls. What a shocker.

God, Microsoft just doesn't get it do they?

That's disappointing.

Playstation Plus started with a bunch of small titles as well, so don't expect some big games right away.

.............wow

Yeah uhhh I really hope that Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed 2 aren't suppose to be the biggest games we get outta this.

I feel like this game has been on sale a billion times, I'm pretty sure i picked it up for 100 space bucks at one point.

@captaintightpants: yeah, but this isn't even a service that's suppose to last past december. so clock is ticking.

What were the first free games given by PS+? And, unlike Games With Gold, the service for giving out free games that is PS+ won't only last a period of about 4 months.

@voxatron: @fluxwavez: It's two free games a month, at the very least. As for the first free games with PS+, this is the only list I could find. Wipeout HD was the first game offered on the Ps3 according to that.

Edit: And Rally Cross for the PS1, forgot that one.

Microsoft should have learned by now that you just can't make people happy these days and should've continued to not give anything extra for a service that millions of people will pay for anyway. It's free, who cares. Disappointing? The other alternative is that they wouldn't have done anything at all. I mean I won't be downloading this game - heck I've let my Gold actually run out several months ago after 5 years of dutifully renewing it and I still think it's cool that they're finally offering something extra.

You know, I keep trying to not be an ass about this re-surfacing "console war" business by staying neutral, but man, Microsoft sure is good at half-assing it.

I bought that off Steam long ago for basically a few dollars. We'll see next time I guess, since it's still a nice initiative.

Edit: that wiki article seems way wrong, officially it's like instant game's first year still? I'm almost certain in the states too it started with Virtua Fighter 5, inFAMOUS 2, Little Big Planet 2, Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Just Cause 2, Saints Row 2, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Hard Corp: Uprising, Choplifter HD, Zombie Apocalypse Never Die Alone, and Sideway NY.

That's what I thought. XBL Gold gave free games before this GWG, but so did PS+ before the IGC.

That's pretty pathetic.

Hopefully this big sale Major Nelson is talking about this week are actually good deals and not 10% off bullshit.

I put off buying the Witcher 2 to see if i could get it for cheap this week. It best get cheaper than a new copy off amazon or fuck them.

Meh, not horrible but not great either.

The one thing I can say about this promotion is at least you get to keep the games forever as opposed to PS+. (Though in all honesty you really can't compare part of a service to a one time promotion, can you?)

@fluxwavez: @voxatron: All the games you mentioned are part of the instant game collection (They were the 12 free games offered in June 2012). I have no idea what you're talking about apart from that, your post is kind of confusing.

Edit: Ah, I believe you're referring to this part of the wikipedia page: "The PlayStation Plus Service changed models in June, 2012 to have a constant selection of 12 games always available, as opposed to the previously non-fixed number."

Those were the first games offered when the subscription model changed, so you may have thought that it was the launch of the feature.

I'm starting to take these insults from MS personally.

SCORE!

exactly, IGC didn't launch as a "official" benefit of "membership" till June 2012. so one shouldn't really retroactively add all the games that were distributed prior into it too, especially when Sony themselves only recognize it as being a year old or whatever.

this too.

I literally bought this game in 2009 on Steam for $2.50.

I realize you gotta start somewhere but come on.

I know for a fact i heard Halo 3 and Creed 2 for July games.

We'll probably get them both at the end of the month, or something.

aaaand sony's pitch continues to be more appealing

Sweet! A game I got for free four years ago and haven't played since I finished it in 2010. Way to go Microsoft!

Seriously though, you've gotta start somewhere, it's a really solid game. If more people get to play it now than before this offer, that's a plus. I'm pretty stoked they have moved forward with this as fast as they have.

Now all they need to do is make sure they are providing PS+ levels of quality games instead of Gamefly "Unlimited PC Play" quality. 18 Wheels of Steel. . . . . . . Nice one.

Ya I am 100% sure at E3 they said games for July where Creed 2 and Halo 3.

I'll need a quote or something, because I don't remember that at all.

@mooseymcman: Basically where I'm at. I have both a 360 and PS3 and overall I've more or less spent equal time with both and enjoyed both. But god damn if Microsoft isn't just really un-appealing to me lately I let my gold expire for the first time since I got it in the Xbox OG days.

Cool, I'll be over here playing XCOM and Saints Row the Third with my PS+ account.

@the_laughing_man : seems one game is getting cut for this month at least, http://majornelson.com/2013/06/30/games-with-gold-for-july-1-defense-grid-the-awakening/

might see assassins creed or halo on the 16th. but not both this month. hell, it doesn't seem like it will be this month at all.

but you guys are right, they did say they were gonna start off this initiative in full with AC2 and Halo 3, even the retarded MS support thought so

https://twitter.com/xboxkid510/status/351525397868986368/photo/1

http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/10/4414980/xbox-live-gold-two-free-games-assassins-creed-2-halo-3

but then according to major nelson it was "mentioned" not officially confirmed that those 2 games are for july.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/351472618001547265

Scraps from the table.

http://i.imgur.com/YtxRobb.jpg

Reminds me of the time MS sent me a whopping 50 points(25 cents) as a birthday present. They are the greediest of cunts.

Oh wow. Well, so much for that. ACII and Halo 3 are probably the biggest games they've got during the 4 month run.

not to start more conspiracy talk.

but the thing thats damming about it as Wario64 brings up the good point, why didnt MS address these inaccuracies to the press?

because ultimately it is true, those 2 games were never confirmed for this month.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/351472618001547265 (check the comments section of that tweet)

truly astounding.

And to kick off that program, I'd like to share with you just two of the titles that have absolutely fuck-all to do with kicking off that program...

@voxatron: What are you talking about? Sony themselves mentioned the free games as a feature of PS+ since the service was announced(They did it at their E3 conference for christ's sake.). The 2012 change wasn't an "official launch" it was just a change in the amount of games they offered, when that initiative actually became something worthwhile. Just because they decided to call it the "Instant Game Collection" that doesn't make it a different feature, it was just Sony trying to give new life to a --at that point-- forgettable feature in PS+.

Microsoft has never promised a consistent output of free games with a gold subscription (until now), so of course the free games they have given out in the past don't count.

I don't know why I'm still arguing about this. Maybe I just like arguing, but at some point this whole thing is just semantics.

Edit: Also, the notifications feature is all kinds of broken, right? I'm not getting any notifications.