Games with Gold is a program that Microsoft started over the summer of 2013 to give two free games a month to digitally download for members of the Xbox live community with a gold membership. Sony has the same program for PlayStation subscribers, but that’s for a different article. The concept of giving out free games seems to be interesting, but when you think about free video games the first thing that comes to mind for the most part is these games are terrible, right? As in the words of famous collegiate football athlete and commentator Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.”

The games that have been spotlighted on games with gold have varied from top down shooters like Halo Spartan Assault, to Xbox arcade games like Dungeon Defenders. Don’t think that the games are short games that have little to no popularity, or playability either; Microsoft released big name hits like Halo 3 and Dead Island, along with titles from the Gears of War, and Hitman series’. The most recent games to come out for games with gold are a Crimson Dragon, Motocross Madness, and Strike Suit Zero which are a fun play though, some can lose their luster pretty quickly.

Although the releases on games with gold might not be what you have been waiting all summer to play, the break from the monotony of the old releases is refreshing, especially when they come each month. New games have been previously released each month on the 1st and 16th.

Sony put out its latest sales figures recently, and it seems that the PlayStation 4 or PS4 is outselling its Microsoft counterpart 3 to 1, which is a substantial amount of loss for the Microsoft Company. With the numbers that Microsoft has produced with their Xbox One console being so expensive, the Games With Gold program might be exactly what Microsoft needs to avoid what could be the costliest mistake in recent tech history. The recent addition of the Xbox One console without the Kinect and $100 cheaper may help to drive up sales, but only time will tell.

The games with gold program is most assuredly not the strongest selling point in Microsoft’s arsenal, but in a time where a marginal lead could be the difference of a crushing defeat or a great comeback, it could be an understatement that Microsoft needs to find a way to persuade consumers to choose the Xbox console over the PlayStation console. Stay tuned to Atomic Geekdom for all of your up to date information on all of the geekiest information.