Despite being a great online gaming service, we all hate paying a monthly or yearly fee for Xbox Live. So if you are planning to signup, renew or add 12 additional months to your subscription, you might as well get a free game ( or Halo 3 Legendary map pack like us) for your troubles.

If you follow the 4 rules, you’ll have no problems getting your free arcade game.

1. Sign up for 12 months of Xbox Live Gold between now and January 5. This must be done directly through Xbox Live, and you cannot use any pre-paid cards. Meaning, get ready to whip out the old credit card.

2. Decide what Xbox Live Arcade game you want free.

Your game and DLC choices are:

Hexic 2

Poker Smash

N+

E4: Every, Extend, Extra, Extreme

Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack (I got this one.)

Crack Down Bonus Pack

3. Download a gamer pic or theme related to the game. Only the first one counts, so make sure you didn't skip Step 2 before downloading.

4. You will then receive an email confirmation and code to download your game from the marketplace. See that wasn’t too hard. And yeah you had to cough up $50, but your were going to do it anyway you Call of Duty / Halo 3 / Gears of War 2 junkie.