Xbox Addict

First Games with Gold game will NOT be AC2

It just seems to get better and better...NOT.  Remember that official announcement from Microsoft via Xbox Wire that we posted on June 10th that first announced the Xbox Live "Games with Gold" program?  The one that promised two free Xbox 360 games a month with an Xbox Live Gold subscription, starting with "Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3"?  Here’s the quote directly from the article we posted:

"As a gesture of thanks to the millions of Xbox fans around the world for their passion and loyalty, Xbox announced that every Xbox Live Gold subscriber will receive two free Xbox 360 games per month until the release of Xbox One, starting with a pair of popular titles: “Halo 3” and “Assassin’s Creed II.” And to celebrate E3 in the month of June, Xbox Live Gold members will receive a free download of “Fable III.”"

While this messaging seems to be pretty clear that we should have expected to be getting Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3 in July following Fable III, it didn’t quite echo Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi’s preceding explanation of the program, in which he described the two above titles as just two of the many we could expect to receive as part of the program up until the launch of the Xbox One:

As we and Microsoft have come to learn over the weeks following E3, wording is EXTREMELY important, as Mehdi’s official explanation of the program was siginificantly different from the Xbox Wire announcement that was posted the exact same day, only shortly after the conclusion of the E3 Media Briefing.  Apparently, someone at Microsoft realized that they got it wrong, because if you revisit the Xbox Wire article TODAY, you’ll notice that the wording was changed to more closely reflect Mr. Mehdi’s wording:

"As a gesture of thanks to the millions of Xbox fans around the world for their passion and loyalty, Xbox announced that every Xbox Live Gold subscriber will receive two free Xbox 360 games per month until the release of Xbox One, including the pair of popular titles: “Halo 3” and “Assassin’s Creed II.” And to celebrate E3 in the month of June, Xbox Live Gold members will receive a free download of “Fable III.”"

SOOOO....it’s unclear as to when Microsoft changed the wording of the article that clearly misled just about everyone who read the original version into believing that the first two "Games with Gold" games in July would be Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed 3, but you can imagine that those who weren’t up to speed with the change were not happy by yesterday’s announcement by Major Nelson that the first GWG game would in fact be an obsucre Xbox Live Arcade game from nearly THREE YEARS AGO...

Major Nelson: "As part of the “Games With Gold” program announced at E3 in June, I wanted to give you a heads up the next title will be Defense Grid: The Awakening. Normally 800 Microsoft Points,Defense Grid: The Awakening will be free for Xbox LIVE Gold members July 1st through July 15th .  As a reminder, the program gives Xbox LIVE Gold Members 2 free games to keep each month. A new title will be available the 1st and 16th of each month."

Confused?  Disappointed?  Don’t blame you.  Oh, and just in case you actually are excited about downloading Defense Grid, you should also know that the game still has yet to "go free" on the Xbox Live Marketplace, even though Games With Gold are supposed to be available from the beginning of each month until the 15th, and the 16th to the end of the month.

Uhh....Happy Canada Day?