Xbox Live Gold free this weekend

Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live Gold will be free to Xbox 360 users in many regions this weekend.

The offer begins Friday 4 October and runs through to Sunday 6 October.

Anyone with an Xbox Live account in the following territories will have access to all the benefits of a Gold account, including multiplayer and party chat functions:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.

The free weekend is perfect timing for GTA players after GTA Online launched yesterday, albeit with some problems.