Product Description

With this Xbox 360 Live Gold Card you'll get a year's access to Xbox Live - the place where gaming, entertainment, and competition converge. With features like intelligent matchmaking, leagues, ladders and tournaments, you'll have an incredible online gaming experience. Best of all, you can renew at your pace, without charges to your credit card.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2236 in Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: 882224058650
• Released on: 2005-11-15
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 5.25" w x 7.50" l, .20 pounds

Features

• Buy 12 months and receive an extra month free
• Sign up with or without a credit card
• Gold lets you experience all Live content the day that it is put up
• Use Live Gold to play all of your multiplayer enabled games online
• Voice and video chat enabled

From the Manufacturer

Retail Exclusive: get one free month when you buy 12.
Go for the Gold and enter the online multiplayer gaming arena. Millions of gamers are online to meet, chat, play, strategize and compete together. With subscription you can get the most out of Xbox LIVE including online play, text, voice and video chat as well as access to exclusive game content. You'll also have access to instant streaming from Netflix*.

• Great online multiplayer game play.
• Exclusive and early access gaming content.
• More entertainment choices with access to instant streaming from Netflix in November 2008 (Netflix Unlimited Subscription required).
• Revolutionary TrueSkill^TM matchmaking.
• Enhanced gamer feedback.
• Enhanced friends list management.
• Enable video chat (LIVE Vision camera required).

* Streaming from Netflix requires Xbox LIVE Gold membership and a Netflix unlimited subscription plan.

The Xbox LIVE Experience

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		Xbox LIVE® connects you to friends, family and the world's largest online entertainment center, allowing you to play games, watch movies, and share moments on the couch or around the world.1 Be Entertained Instant Movie Night: Xbox 360® offers instant streaming of some feature films and television shows from Netflix; free to Xbox LIVE Gold members who also have a Netflix unlimited subscription plan.2 Extensive On-Demand HD Library: The Xbox 360 Video Marketplace has over 1,000 hours of HD movies and TV shows. Download the latest hit television shows like 30 Rock, and The Office, or even get a little old school with A-Team. If it's HD movies you crave, check out the latest blockbusters, the best in family films, cult classics, horror and much more. Movies and TV shows are also available in standard definition. Your Personal Game Room: Play classics like PAC-MAN, Galaga Legions, Bejeweled 2 and UNO as well as innovative new titles like Braid and Castle Crashers exclusively for download from Xbox LIVE Arcade. Where Community Plays First: The Community Games channel on Xbox LIVE will include creatively diverse games developed by the community, for the community only on Xbox 360. The Game Goes On and On: Xbox LIVE extends the life of your favorite games through the ability to quickly and easily download additional levels, map packs, songs and more.3 Downloadable content and entertainment is available on LIVE Marketplace as well as xbox.com. Be Social Leading Social Network: Xbox LIVE is the world's largest social entertainment network on your TV. Use text, IM, voice or video chat to connect your friends, family and the entertainment you love. Entertainment Shared: Xbox 360 allows you to create a virtual party on your TV with up to eight friends. With LIVE Party, voice chat while you play games, share photos real-time and entertain friends across town or around the world. Online Multiplayer Gaming: Play your favorite games with your friends, no matter where they are. Halo® 3, MaddenTM NFL 09, FIFA 09, Call of Duty®, Gears of War® 2, Fable®II and other hot games suddenly have a whole new dimension. Be Expressive Express Yourself: Create a customizable, animated Avatar and literally jump into the world of Xbox LIVE.4 Your Avatar is your game face throughout the new Xbox experience — whether you're a LIVE Party host, playing online or chatting with a friend. Show Off Your Skills: With new ways to earn achievements and set yourself apart with your ever-growing Gamerscore, Xbox LIVE continues to be the best place to play games online. Master Your Entertainment: Take charge of your entertainment, any day of the week — movie night on Sunday, game show contestant on Monday, share new photos on Thursday, and play video games on Friday. It's ALL at your fingertips with Xbox LIVE.
Click any image above for a larger screenshot

 

Xbox LIVE Membership Overview

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Xbox LIVE features two levels of membership, the free Silver and the paid Gold. Xbox LIVE® Silver Memberships A Silver membership is included with the Xbox 360® console. All you need is a broadband internet connection to access exclusive game content! Download standard and high-definition movies, TV shows to enjoy great entertainment on your Xbox. Enjoy text and voice chat. Membership is free. Xbox LIVE® Gold Memberships With a Gold membership you get all of Silver level benefits PLUS much more. Experience great online multiplayer game play including additional exclusive and early access gaming content. More entertainment choices with access to instant streaming from Netflix in November 2008 (Netflix unlimited subscription plan required). Features video chat along with text and voice chat. Membership for a monthly subscription fee. Xbox LIVE® Gold Packs and Subscription Cards Pick the membership that best fit your needs. Get more for your money with a 12- or 3-month Gold Pack or pay as you play with 12-month+1, 3-month, or 1-month subscription cards. Microsoft® Points Microsoft Points enhance game play and entertainment on Xbox 360®. Redeem them on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for exclusive game content, arcade games, themes, HD movies and TV Shows, and more. Microsoft Points can also be used to purchase music in Zune® Marketplace.

 

Xbox LIVE Services Overview

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		Xbox LIVE® Marketplace Xbox LIVE Marketplace is your one stop gaming and entertainment shop. Download new game content, try out game demos before you buy, watch trailers of upcoming games, try and buy great arcade titles, and purchase new themes and gamer pictures to customize your Xbox 360® Dashboard and Gamercard. You can also download and watch the latest HD movies and TV shows, music videos and more. Free Demo Games - There's no need to wait for a disc in the mail! Grab playable game demos from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and check them out now. New Game Content - Use Microsoft Points to download new maps, vehicles, characters, weapons, and more for blockbuster titles like Halo® 3, Gears of War® 2, and Call of Duty®. Even download your favorite tunes to play on Rock Band™ and Guitar Hero™. Xbox LIVE® Arcade Xbox LIVE Arcade is the place to check out a variety of games for your Xbox 360 console. Try challenging puzzle games, family board and card games, retro arcade favorites, and more! Download fun and easy-to-play classics like Frogger and Sonic The Hedgehog, or with a Gold membership play online with friends and conquer games like Castle Crashers, Geometry War 2 and Assault Heroes™ 2. Get the family together for UNO or Marble Blast Ultra. Xbox LIVE Arcade has the largest collection of fun social games.

¹Hard drive recommended for LIVE, and is required for some features. LIVE Gold membership and/or other fees may apply. See xbox.com/live.
²Streaming from Netflix requires Xbox LIVE Gold membership and a Netflix unlimited subscription plan.
³Games and downloadable content sold separately.
⁴256 MB memory unit or greater required to customize avatars.

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Customer Reviews

Best Deal for Xbox Live
To sum it up quick, this is the best deal you can purchase for Xbox Live.

Here is a quick breakdown:
1 month via Microsoft = $7.99 = $7.99/month
3 months via Microsoft = $19.99 = $6.66/month
12 months via Microsoft = $49.99 = $4.17/month
12+1 months via Amazon = $45.00 = $3.46/month

This card comes with THIRTEEN (13) months of Xbox Live for cheaper than directly from Xbox. I fully recommend purchasing Live via Amazon, but the choice is yours.

Great Price. No Problems At All.
I spent quite a bit of time reading the reviews for this Gold Card. The single biggest problem I read about was how people needed to scratch off the back of the card to access the 25-digit code needed to activat it. If a person scratched too hard, the code became unreadable and the card was no good. There was supposibly no way retrieve the numbers once they were illegible. When my card arrived, I was expecting to have to go through this process. But to my plesant surprise, all I had to do was PEEL BACK a piece of perferated strip from the back of the card. No scratching involved at all. Maybe due to so many complaints, they decided to fix the problem and make it easier. Who knows, but at least I did not distroy the card or scratch so hard the numbers became unreadable.

Another concern I had was WHEN to use this card. I only used about 1 week of my "Free One Month Gold Membership" that came with my new X-Box 360. Should I risk renewing now and possibly loosing my remaining 3 "free" weeks included in my month long trial? Or should I wait until the free month is almost over and use my card then? I have read that if you let your month expire, all the stuff you have accumilated on that user profile is gone. You will have to start over from scratch. I decided to take a chance and use my card the next day. After I followed the simple instruction on my card, and entered the 25-digit code on my 360, I got an email from the email address I used to register with. It stated that I had extened my memberhsip until October 15 of 2009. Since my origional membership WOULD HAVE expired on September 15, and the card I purchased was for 13 Months, that would put me at October 15, 2009. So for anybody who is worried that the Gold Membership will not let your trial month "run out" before it activates, dont worry about it. You wont loose any time. It will run concurrently with your free month, or any membership you already have, before it activates.

The only other complaint I have seen in regards to this card is how long it takes to recieve it from Amazon. This I cannot really help with because I use Amazon Prime. I spend enough money with Amazon, and do enough of my shopping through them, that Amazon Prime is just about the only way to go for me. Expecially since I live in a rural area and do not have alot of the electronic stores or discount outlets you would normally find in larger cities. I can tell you this: It took me 4 days to get my card. Normally Amazon Prime has everything at my doorstep within 2 days. I was not too worried becasue I still had 3 weeks left on my trial membership. But if I did NOT use Amazon Prime, or if I only had a couple days left before my membership expired, I might have considered purchasing it locally for the extra money. So my advice is to either buy early and expect the longer than usual delays, or go Prime and get it within 4 days.

With the price of this card being about 10 dollars cheaper then Wal-Mart, and also giving you the extra month for free, this card is definately worth the money. ANYBODY who already has Amazon Prime would be a fool to buy this card at the store. If you DONT have Prime, and your membership will expire soon, maybe it would be better to get it at your local store and eat the difference in price. But for me and MY experience, I could not have asked for a easier time. That is why I am giving this review 5 Gold Stars. I hope this review helps.

Great value
It costs more to sign up online on Xbox Live than to buy this card and signing up online only gives you 12 months instead of 13. That doesn't make any sense to me but it's a good deal!