Microsoft will be running a Free Xbox Live Gold membership the weekend starting on May 1st and ending on May 4th. Of course, during the time of what has come to be anticipated as an annual event, Xbox Live players have the ability to overdose on multiplayer gaming for the weekend.

Really, this is nothing more than a membership drive for Xbox Live in Europe to give those with a Sliver membership a taste of what all of the fuss is about to have a Gold membership. From our understanding, a big focus of this event is to also get those members that have a Gold membership that lapsed to renew back to the Gold level, and this is done by trying to get members to experience the fun of multiplayer gaming that they have been missing.

While we really have no way of knowing how successful these free Gold weekends are for the company, it should present the company with a lot of free publicity for Xbox Live for a very minimal cost.