Tag: free

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Aerosmith’s “Dream On” Free for Guitar Hero III

After mentioning that I got Rock Band yesterday, Angel-grrl pointed out to me that for a limited time, I can get Aerosmith’s “Dream On” for free! You can read more details on Xbox.com. Sweet! Given that many of you come here looking for free Xbox Live Arcade Games, I thought I’d shared this with you guys.

Aerosmith always comes ready to rock.

“Dream On” was the first major hit for the rock band Aerosmith, appearing on their debut self-titled album in 1973. And now, avid Guitar Hero™ III: Legends of Rock players will be able to try out their chops on the power ballad, by downloading it free of charge from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. The song track will be free for a limited time only: Saturday, February 16, 2 A.M. PT (approximately) to Monday, February 18, 2 A.M. PT (approximately).

The song is a free download through the weekend in celebration of the upcoming Guitar Hero®: Aerosmith® game. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be the first music-based game to feature a single band, and gamers will be able to experience Aerosmith’s GRAMMY® winning career, from their first gig to becoming rock royalty.

Update:
How appropriate that today’s Foxtrot comic strip is on Chamber Music Hero.

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Book Rental…

So these past few weeks, I’ve been hearing this commercial on the radio touting that they’re the Netflix of books, where you pay a monthly subscription and you can rent out 2, 3, or 4 books at a time. There’s no late fees and the books are mailed to your door. This struck me immediately as very odd since this sounds like a service that wants to replace the library which is a FREE service.

Fuzzywuzzy posted this screenshot:
book rental service

book rental service? – Selekta

was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like…video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person has read the next person can get enjoyment from it etc

And this prompted me to blog about it. I don’t exactly recall the name of the book rental service that was advertised on the radio, but BookSwim sounds awfully close. There was also Booksfree.com, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the one that was advertised on the radio. I understand libraries can sometimes be horrible, but as library gets more and more modernized, I can’t see a book rental service as hardly useful. The libraries here in Seattle allows you to reserve books online and when the book is ready for pickup, it sends you an email.

I talked this over a bit with RayAlome, and there are some downsides to the library:

  • Books have due dates (usually ~2 weeks). They can typically be renewed, unless it’s new or someone else has reserved it.
  • There might be a long queue for new books (i.e. Harry Potter), but just like Netflix, I don’t think a book rental service can guarantee you’ll get new releases immediately either, but they might be faster than the library in getting you the book.
  • You have to actually go to the library to pick up your book, instead of having them mail it to you.

I also found some problems that a book rental service has that a DVD service doesn’t. First, books comes in different shapes and sizes, while DVDs are a 1 size fit all. Therefore packaging material needs to be customized or be highly flexible. Books aren’t exactly light either, though with medial mail, you can still ship 2lbs for under $3. However, that might mean it’ll take up to 8 days for the book to get to you and going back also takes that amount of time. I don’t see them having warehouses in different parts of the country set up like Netflix, since they’re barely starting, but maybe they’ll have some sort of agreement with USPS or UPS to have faster shipping for cheap.

We also talked about the Amazon.com Kindle, but that’s a story for another time.

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WaMu Credit Card – Free Monthly Credit Score

You can already get 3 free credit reports a year, but getting free credit scores hasn’t always been easy.

Speaking of the 3 free credit reports, I was talking it over with Ungsunghero and Derek and it appears they’re both smarter than me about it. Every year I would get all 3 of my credit reports at the same time to see if there’s any problems in any one of the credit bureaus, but the real smart way to do it is to get them separately. That way you can get updated credit reports every 4 months instead of once a year. I now have appointments scheduled in Outlook to remind me to get my credit reports from a particular credit bureau every 4 months.

Anyway, back to the free monthly credit score. WaMu (Washington Mutual) has been offer credit cards that come with free monthly credit score updates as a bonus feature if you have their card. The feature’s rather nice and doesn’t have any fees or require any monthly purchases. Once you log in and click on “FICO Credit Score”, you’ll be shown your score along with other data such as Accounts, Open Accounts, Closed Accounts, Inquiries, Derogatory Items, Delinquencies, and Total Revolving Balances. You can also see the history of your credit score for up to a year.

You can apply for the WaMu Platinum MasterCard online.

I have actually tried applying for this card for a total of 3x, being rejected twice initially. They always mail me a postcard apologizing for rejecting my application and that if I had any questions, to contact them. However since I never really needed the credit card, it wasn’t one of my priorities to get this straightened out. However, I decided I really wanted to see what my credit score was and called up WaMu and asked them why I was rejected. Unfortunately my previous request was over 60 days old so no information is available. I went ahead and reapplied and this time I was instantaneously accepted. No idea why, but I’m not complaining.

One thing I do dislike about their website is the fact that they’re like American Express and limits your password to be 6-8 characters.

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Free Xbox LIVE Arcade Game: Undertow

undertow Due to the fact that XBLA was having a lot of problems over the holiday season, they’ve decided to give away Undertow for free (regularly worth 800 points) to compensate for users inconvenience. Not only do Xbox Live Gold members qualify, but so do Silver members. This game is free only for a limited time:

Regularly 800 points, Undertow is free of charge beginning 2:00 a.m. PST Wednesday, January 23 and continuing through 11:59 p.m. PST Sunday, January 27.

This game has gotten really good reviews, with a metascore of 79/100. Be sure to get it!

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Xbox Live Turns 5ive – Freebies for Everyone!

I first saw this on angel-grrl’s blog, but then realized that it’s pretty much scattered across the web, especially on deal sites. I’ve been stuck in a meeting since 1 and didn’t really have time to check deals during that time.

Apparently today marks the 5th anniversary of Xbox Live and they’re giving a way a bunch of freebies: Xbox Live is 5IVE: How to Get the Free 500 MS Points

Microsoft is celebrating the fifth anniversary of Xbox Live in a big way. It has released Carcassonne for free and it is also giving away 500 Microsoft Points to every active member who joined the service in 2002. If you were wondering how to get those precious MS Points, we have the answer.

To claim your 500 Microsoft Points, all you have to do is register on this web site using your Windows Live ID associated to your gamertag. You can register until midnight (Pacific Time) on November 29, 2007, and after you do so, you will receive an e-mail with a 25-digit code that lets you to activate your Microsoft Points through your Xbox 360 console. Don’t expect that email to arrive instantly as the deadline for that email is December 21, 2007.

It is also worth mentioning that these 500 Microsoft Points expire on June 30, 2008, but we are sure you’ll spend them way before that date.

If you missed the Carcassonne freebie link above, here it is again: Reminder: Get Carcassonne for Free

Microsoft is celebrating the fifth anniversary of Xbox Live and as a gesture of thanks to the gaming community, all eight million Xbox Live members will have the opportunity to download Carcassonne for free between 12:01 a.m. PST on Nov. 15 and 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 16. In addition to this, every active member who joined the service in 2002 will receive 500 MS Points for free.

Named after the medieval fortified town of the same name in southern France, Carcassonne is the video game adaptation of the classic tile-based German board game. Designed for two to five players, Carcassonne is set in a medieval landscape made up of tiles. Players start from a single tile and then draw from a pool of remaining tiles to create a growing landscape and gain points for ultimate victory.

Carcassonne features the complete 72 tiles from the original board game, all rule sets, and the 12 additional tiles found in the Rivers 1 Expansion Set.

I’ve played Carcassonne in real life with a bunch of friends, and although I suck at it (still haven’t really figured out the strategies yet), it’s rather fun. I haven’t tried to play it via Xbox Live yet, but being free makes it tempting now.

According to Kaos, they are also giving away themes and gamerpics which usually cost money for free.

Since this probably expires tonight, I decided I would post it now, instead of later.

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Yaris – Free XBLA Game

I apologize for not posting much recently. My blog topics have been accumulating. Here’s just a few of my draft titles: 5 Free iTunes Songs Followup, Fighting Dance Moves, Credit Card Update, Elliptical User Warnings, Dwarfs Count, Cute Cat Comic, Lucky Star, and File Server (yes, it’s still in queue to blog about). Here’s one that’s in my email box that I found.

I’m shocked that one of my most popular posts is 4 Free Xbox Live Arcade Games, generating about 200 unique views this past month.

A few weeks ago, while I was looking at the MSFT stock headlines (speaking of which, did you see the recent surge?!?!? We not only broke $30, but now we’re at $35!), I saw this: Want a Free Xbox Game?

If you’re still smarting after shelling out $60 for a copy of Halo 3 last month, relief is on the way. Xbox owners connected to the Xbox Live Marketplace are getting a free treat this week with a game called Yaris.

OK, maybe it’s more product placement than video game. The New York Times reports that Toyota bankrolled the game to promote its Yaris car line. There’s little for Toyota to lose here. Racing car games are popular. Electronic Arts has a killer franchise in Need for Speed. Activision recently bought the developer behind the Project Gotham Racing series, which has sold 4.5 million copies.

The Xbox marketplace provides developers with inventory-free distribution, so it’s not as if Toyota is going to have to eat a ton of returns. As long as players don’t walk into a Toyota showroom and wonder why the real Yaris can’t shoot missiles or claw away at other drivers with electronic tentacles, Toyota will accomplish its goal of reaching out to young drivers.

For more information on the Yaris game, check out Yaris (Xbox 360) and Toyota Yaris: Xbox LIVE Arcade Game.

I downloaded this game last week, but haven’t really had a chance to play it yet. Still trying to get through Halo 3. Given that I play about an hour or 2 a week, I’m not progressing that fast. Stanman and them were over this weekend to play multiplayer Halo 3 and they made fun of me for not having unlocked any of the costumes.

But here’s another free xbox live arcade game for you! Enjoy!

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4 Free Xbox Live Arcade Games

with purchase of new Xbox 360 system between 11/15/2006 and 1/15/2007.

Update:
Turns out there’s a code to get 3 FREE games instead of 2: XBXNG103

Update #2:
Apparently, there’s another code to get 4 FREE games: XBXNG102. Following this pattern, I wonder if XBXNG101 gives you 5 free games.

Update #3:
This appears to be an ongoing promotion. Visit Xbox.com for more details and to get the latest promotion code.

So I just got this in my email:

So give the gift of two free Xbox Live Arcade games with Xbox 360.
Having a hard time with holiday gifts? Let us thank you for being an Xbox 360™ system owner with this helpful suggestion:

Stop teasing them with your Xbox 360. Start sharing this offer.
The gift of free Xbox Live® Arcade games with an Xbox 360 system purchase: It’s what they want, it shows you care, and it gives you more friends to play with! Plus it’s easy to give:
• Share the code: XBXNG104
• Show them where to buy their Xbox 360.
• Send them to www.xbox360nextgennow.com/register.
• School them in two free Xbox Live Arcade games.

Enjoy the spirit of giving.
Give your friends free games with their Xbox 360 system purchase this holiday season.

Online offer valid in the 50 United States, D.C., all U.S. military bases with valid APO/FPO bases.

Offer expires 1/15/2007.

The person redeeming this offer must purchase a new Xbox 360 system 11/15/2006 – 1/15/2007, establish a new Xbox Live Account, then register on the promotion web site on or before 1/15/2007. Hard drive, Passport account, and high speed Internet access required for Xbox Live account. See Xbox Live system requirements at www.xbox.com. Limit 1 offer submission per person. Xbox Live Arcade game tokens will be fulfilled through e-mail by February 15, 2007 and will be for games selected by Microsoft. Fulfillment requires a computer with e-mail and a valid email address.
Not combinable with other Microsoft® offers or rebates. Proof of purchase required.

Thought it would be useful for those who were thinking about getting an Xbox 360 (especially since Amazon.com is selling 1000 Xbox 360 core systems for $100 on Thanksgiving)