New Xbox Live sign-up promotion offers free games for referrals

Microsoft has announced details of its latest promotion for the Xbox Live online gaming service, with the firm offering a free Xbox game to existing members who persuade a friend to sign up.

The promotion runs from now until the end of January, and is open to Xbox Live members in European countries who get their friends to sign up a paid subscription to the service.

Xbox Live has been receiving its toughest workout yet in the past week, thanks to the launch of the Live-enabled Halo 2, while football fans are keenly awaiting the arrival of Pro Evolution Soccer 4 on the platform next week.

However, the list of games on offer in the promotion doesn't include Halo 2 - instead, gamers can choose from recent titles including Fable and Sudeki, or older games such as Ninja Gaiden, Rallisport Challenge 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Counter-Strike, Midtown Madness 3, or Links 2004.

The Xbox Live service now has well over a million players worldwide, and has formed a core part of Microsoft's promotion for the Xbox console since it launched around a year after the arrival of the platform itself.