When you get your Xbox, not only do you get to play different games on it, you will get to walk through a whole new world out there in the gaming community. In order to do that, though, you will need a membership with Microsoft to enter into this world.

There are many kinds of memberships available to you. You can get the 12 month gold membership that allows you the opportunity to play for a full year. There are also the 1 month and 3 month memberships, which are good for trial runs — to make sure you really like playing online and will use it enough to buy the year’s membership. If you are only going to use your Xbox to play the games by yourself or with your family members, then you won’t need to go online.

You can also get the membership cards that have points on them. There is the 1600 points and the 4000 points card you can purchase. With these cards, you use them in the Xbox Live Marketplace to purchase all sorts of different things. You may want a new song or need a map for a game, and you can buy it with your points. You can also use the points in the Arcade games, or perhaps you want to buy something special for your Avatar. You will find many things in the Marketplace to spend your points on.

Uses for Xbox Live Deal

Now just what does this membership allow you to do? Well, you can use it for playing online games. You will be able to play with your friends online without having to be in the same room or house with them. It is like being right there with them, but you aren’t.

You can watch HD movies with your membership. Or you can watch TV shows with it. You may also get Netflix with it. Now with the Netflix, you have to get this separately; however, what you will do is use the Xbox as a receiver in order to be able to watch them.

Another thing you can use your membership for is social networking. This will give you access to Facebook to be able to actively keep up with your friends. Twitter is also available for you to “tweet” back and forth with. You can also video chat with your friends. The world of social networking has become so large and popular. It seems everyone is on Facebook and Twitter now-a-days.

The gold membership is probably the one most people get. If you have a trial one, and enjoy it and use it, then you will most likely upgrade to the 12 month gold. Not only will it save you money, you will get deals with it.

Another deal with the gold membership is you will get weekly deals from them. You will be able to get to try out new products first before they actually hit the market. And you will get “sneak peeks” are new products coming out.

If you are currently doing the online gaming through a monthly plan, you will want to change it through a prepaid card for the gold membership. It is highly advisable not to put it on a credit card that automatically charges you. You can save a month by using a prepaid card instead.

There is a great Xbox Live deal you can find when you order your online gaming with their Starter Kit. Now this is a great deal for you. You will get a free game with this package. Also you will get an Xbox live headset to use when playing your games online. This is really great to have when playing. You can talk to your friends while playing games.

My grandson came to visit this past summer and brought his Xbox and he had a headset with it. It was so much fun to watch him play and talk with his friends. If he couldn’t take out the enemy, he would ask one of his friends to do it. Or he would jump in and say, “I’ll get him for you.” So the headset is really great to have.

The chat pad is another thing included in the starter kit. It hooks up to your controller. You will also get 400 points you can use in the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy things you want. Truly the starter kit is a great deal.

Connecting to the internet is very easily done. Once you decide which membership you want, all you have to do is connect to the internet; then on your dashboard select My Xbox; then sign-on; then create your profile; then create your account; then select Join Xbox Live; after that all you have to do is follow the instructions on your screen, put in your code and start playing!

The only two things that are downsides to this would have to be that you have to get the Netflix separately and also that it doesn’t work outside of the US. Or at least they say they cannot guarantee compatibility outside the US, but they tell you to call their center for more information as to what you can do.

So if you are an avid online gaming individual and enjoy playing games with your friends — or meeting new friends online — the memberships with Xbox Live deal is probably what you want to do. Check them out and see which one will be the best for you.