Get Your Friends Online for Free

The Guest feature is one of the coolest parts of Xbox Live®. It allows you to have a buddy join in, on your Xbox®, with no online account of his own—just an extra controller. Let's say you have a friend named Phil. Invite Phil over to show off Xbox Live.

Phil claims to love shooters, so he really wants to try Halo® 2. You stick in the disc and mash the A button past the logos and intro screens. Xbox Live auto-detects your two controllers, either of which can be used to join as yourself or as a guest. You pick your Gamertag and let Phil select Guest. Moments later you're both logged in and ready to frag.

Turns out Phil can't hit sand in a desert, after all, and starts picking off friendlies out of boredom. You don't want such activity on your account, so you unplug his controller, order in a couple pizzas, and switch over to Burnout® 3: Takedown™. You and Phil have a blast the rest of the evening.

Setting up a friend as your guest is super easy and tons of fun. Needless to say, your friends will get hooked. That's what you want. They'll get their own Starter Kits, choose their own Gamertags, and pretty soon you'll have all your friends on Xbox Live!