New Halo and Free XBox Live Weekend

New Halo and Free XBox Live Weekend

Amidst rumors of a March 2007 release for the next Halo game and the release of the GRAW demo on XBox Live, Microsoft is offering gamers a Free Xbox Live Gold Weekend where every U.S. Xbox 360 gamer is awarded Xbox Live Gold status for the entire weekend.

Starting today and until April 2nd, XBox 360 owners have 72 hours of multiplayer gaming to look forward to as anyone who owns the console can join in the fun with a variety of events scheduled to keep everyone busy. These include:

- Beat Ubisoft: You've got two opportunities to take on the Ubi-dudes who brought you Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Own them and you could win some Ubi-schwag.

- Game with Fame: The Roots. Play NBA 2K6 with Kamal from the Roots on Friday, March 31 starting at 3:00 pm Eastern/noon Pacific. Look for the gamertag: RootsGWF.

- Lucky 7 Play & Win: You could win simply for playing! Play a total of at least seven hours over the weekend to be entered into a drawing for sweet Xbox Live gear.

- Frag Doll Friday: Take on Ubisoft's fierce gaming crew on Friday, March 31, starting at 6 P.M. Eastern (3 P.M. Pacific) in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

- Beat the Xbox Team: Challenge Xbox insiders to College Hoops 2K6, Marble Blast Ultra, and EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3. Earn bragging rights and win awesome Xbox prizes!

Ubisoft has also released a Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter multiplayer demo through XBox Live Marketplace, weighing in at about 360 MB.

With all that going on over at XBox Live, the story released by IGN regarding the so-called March 2007 release of the next Halo title seems to be already fading. A Microsoft insider has apparently stated that the game is scheduled for March 2007; now, forgetting that April 1st is just around the corner, it would seem odd that Microsoft would choose to release the game just a few months before the release of the movie. Then again the game may tie in the previous titles with what we will see in the movie so it all seems to be guess-work until E3 2006 where we have been promised some sort of Halo 3 footage.

If the rumor proves true however, we would have to question how much Bill Gates really knows since the delays will end up proving him right as the release of the next Halo game may happen at the same time as that of Playstation 3.