Black Friday may be what's on everyone's mind at this point, but if there's one thing better than getting games for cheap, it's getting games for absolutely nothing. As per the usual, Microsoft has announced the free Games with Gold promotion for December, and it's certainly a unique mix. One may expect a lot of holiday cheer and jolly old Saint Nick, but aside from a little wintry weather, December's free games are a rather odd selection.
For Xbox One users, the turn-based strategy game Worms: Battlegrounds will be free all month long, and considering it's usually $25, it's a great discount. There's nothing quite like the Worms series out there, so if you like a bit of cartoon silliness with your strategy games, there's no better choice. It's a shame that Microsoft still isn't offering two separate games a month for its newest console yet, but then again, it's hard to complain about free stuff.
Xbox 360 users will get the traditional choice between two games: starting Dec. 1, The Raven will be free; on Dec. 16, SSX will take its place. The Raven is a traditional point-and-click style adventure game, while SSX is the reboot to the massively popular extreme snowboarding game that debuted back on the original Xbox. The games are usually $10 and $20 respectively - while there's probably a cheaper price somewhere online most of the time, for December, there's no beating that $0 price tag.
Remember, the Games with Gold promotion only works if you're signed up for Xbox Live Gold - a free Microsoft account isn't going to get you anything. It's easy enough to sign up, but know that Xbox Live will cost you $60 a year - make sure to consider if signing up is worth the price.
The sale goes live on Dec. 1, and for all of the details on December's Games with Gold selection, head on over to the official Major Nelson blog.