Well the good people over there at XboxLiveTrial.com just contacted us today and told us that the glitch is fixed. They’re prepared to handle increased traffic and the system is up and running.

So with that said, here’s the original article text that we had written:

That’s right, you can grab some of those always desireable Xbox Live trial codes from a new website that we found. It looks like you can get both the 48 hour trials and the 2 month trials. The site says they’re free, and while that’s true if you want just one 48 hour trial, they offer multiple codes or the 2 month codes if you visit some of their sponsors. The sponsors don’t look too bad. They consist of deals like a free GameFly trial, free Netflix trial, free credit report, and so on. Not bad if you don’t mind trying a few free trials.

We’re actually going to try signing up for the weekly trial code distribution list. Free trial codes each week sounds pretty enticing.

Head on over to the site: www.xboxlivetrial.com

(A few of our site staff had received single codes. No one here has finished the trials for the distribution list yet. We’re still waiting on hearing results from anyone else that’s signed up for the distribution list.)

However, it is possible to get a little more for your games when trading them in at stores like Gamestop. Not many people realize that stores like Gamestop run promotions from time to time on trade-ins. As it turns out, right now Gamestop is running one of those trade-in deals. Until 10/04/09 you can trade in games towards the pre-order or purchase of Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 ODST, Assassin’s Creed 2, New Super Mario Bros, Tekken 6, and a few other new titles and get an extra 25% tacked onto your trade-in value.

The problem is that Gamestop doesn’t really broadcast these deals. Furthermore, many stores will ignore these promotions unless you actually mention it to them at the counter. The secret here is to check their website before going into the store. They have a section where they list the current trade-in promotions. There is almost always some type of promotion going on at Gamestop.

For example, in addition to the trade-in deal I mentioned earlier, they’re also running one where you trade in three games and you get an extra $10 on your trade-in value, or four games for an extra $20. It’s deals like this that actually make trading in your old games worth it.

Much like our earlier post on DJ Hero, a source tells us that this vendor will be one of the first to receive the new Band Hero game in stock, days before the release date. They’ll promptly ship it out to you once it’s in stock. This means that preorders will actually arrive to the consumer early.

If we don’t get our names on the early release list for the press, we’ll be sure to place our preorders through the site so that we’ll have it as early as possible. We suggest you do the same if you’re a diehard fan of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band genre.

That’s why we want to re run our post about GameFly. I can’t stress enough how cool their service is. It starts at $8.95 per month and allows you to rent up to 3 games at a time, with no due dates. One of the cooler things about GameFly that some people don’t know is that you always have the option of buying the game if you really like it. Just tell GameFly and they charge you the difference before shipping the case to you. The best part: The game costs less than retail price.

What’s even better is that we have a free trial for you. It’s a 10-day free trial at GameFly so you can see if you really like it. If you do, then continue the service at whatever level you choose. If you don’t, then cancel and never pay a dime.

We really encourage gamers looking to save their dough to try this out. You could drop hundreds of dollars this fall on new games, or you could simply sign up for GameFly and spend under $50 to play all of these games… all fall long.

This was reported originally over on SlickDeals.net, so they have all of the updated info on what’s available and what’s not.

Additionally, Best Buy is planning on running a very similar deal on PS3 games starting Sunday. Again, SlickDeals.net reported this one and is following developments on it in the thread dedicated to this deal.

Even if Best Buy has disqualified preorders from this deal, you can supposedly get free shipping on the orders. It might not be a bad idea to pick up some games that you never got around to buying (may we suggest Madden 10, NCAA 10, The Orange Box, Mirror’s Edge, Assassin’s Creed, and/or Dead Space?).

Hopefully this kind of deal sticks around for the fall. We’d really like to see something like this with the fall lineup of game releases: NHL 10, Halo 3:ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Guitar Hero 5, Assassin’s Creed 2, Forza 3. It’d be nice to drop just $270 on that list rather than the full price value of $360. Here’s to hoping…

We gave Charlie the intern a little bit of cash to spend just in case any of the sites he went to research had sign up fees. To our surprise, only a few had signup fees and Charlie brought back most of his money. However, the first thing Charlie said when giving his presentation to us was that the 100% free sites were scams. In total, Charlie signed up for 15 video game testing sites. Only 8 of those were free. Now, we’re definitely not saying that the paid sites are all gems. Only 5 of the sites actually worked out. But all 5 that did work were pay sites.

So Charlie signed up for 15 video game testing sites and went on his way. Within about 5 days, we saw mail coming into the office for Charlie, including a couple of packages with what Charlie later confirmed as “test” games. We have to admit, Charlie impressed us. We saw packages from Bungie, EA, and Activision amongst others. Personally, I never thought Charlie would get anywhere with this assignment.

So it was apparent that Charlie was actually playing a few demos and helping out a few familiar studios. But the real question still lingered: Was he making any money from all of this? Well Charlie happily reported his first paycheck to us just 21 days after he started the assignment. I can’t post on here exactly which company paid Charlie, or what bad ass FPS modern war game Charlie played… but he made exactly $63.11 after tax. Not bad for a 20 year old kid who just sat around playing games for three weeks.

So the verdict is obvious: It actually is possible to make money testing video games. But it’s not just that simple. You have to know which programs to sign up for in the first place. Additionally, it helps to have a few other things handy. Lucky for you, Charlie wrote up a small guide to help you out. Here are Charlie the Intern’s tips to actually making money testing video games:

Section 1: The Essentials
You’re going to need a professional looking email address, a phone number, and a resume. Dump the childish email handles you’ve had since 7th grade and register a professional, mature email (try your first initial and your last name at a respectable email site). Also, make sure you have a phone number to fill out on the contact forms. Don’t use a home phone number if you’re at college. They actually do call you to interview you on the phone. And as dumb as it sounds, get a gaming resume together. It wasn’t required by any of the studios, but they were impressed when I actually had one.

Section 2: The Approach
Be ready to spend some time on this. It’s not as easy as it sounds. You’re going to have to actually interview over the phone and provide some tax information. Be ready for that. You don’t want to appear disorganized and frantic. Be professional throughout the whole process!

Section 3: The Sites
So here it is, Charlie’s the Intern’s list of sites to get started testing video games:

1. Only4Gamers.com – This site had the best system. They give you absolutely everything you need to get started. This was by far the best site when it boiled down to it. If I were ever going to try it again, I’d definitely use them for my resources. The contact lists were phonomenal.
    
    
    
    
    
2. GameTesterGuide.net – This site had a pretty good guide, but was less professional than the first one. The information was definitely useful, but it was a bit disorganized. It may have been more helpful, but this one cost a few bucks more. In the end I made more than enough money to cover my cost and still make a profit.
    
    
    
    
    
    
3. GamerTestingGround.com – This site was also pretty good. It had some good information as well as a HUGE contact list. If you’re confident with your interviewing skills, this might be the one for you. It really sticks to the specialized information about the actual gaming industry. This guy has to have worked with nearly every developer and studio out there. I only gave it the third best ranking here because it lacked some of the other resources on more general skills compared to the other sites.

The Conclusion
As Charlie has proven, it’s definitely possible to make some money on this stuff. You simply have to know who to contact, how to present yourself, and how to seem professional and competent. If you can do the last two, one of the above mentioned sites will give you the information you need to get started.

Oh, and exactly how much did Charlie make during his 31 day assignment? $312.88.

We’re actually going to try signing up for the weekly trial code distribution list. Free trial codes each week sounds pretty enticing.

Head on over to the site: www.xboxlivetrial.com

The promotion is very limited and expires 8/28/2009, so there’s only 6 days left. Head on over and use coupon code: NFLPLAY & NFLCHARGE.

$10 Off Xbox 360 & PS3 NFL Controllers | $5 Off Wii NFL Dual Charger

Coupon Code NFLPLAY & NFLCHARGE

If you’re anything like us here at FreeVideoGameDeals.com, then you LOVE the Guitar Hero series (or Rock Band for that matter). We can’t wait to get our hands on DJ Hero this fall. The official release date is 10/27/2009, but you don’t have to wait until then. According to our source, retailers will have the game early. Of course, if you know the industry at all, there are disclaimers and contracts that prevent retailers from actually selling the game until the official release date. Occasionally you can get lucky and find a retailer that will release the game early (most of the time uknowingly). Well you don’t have to rely on luck if you’re planning on picking up DJ Hero.

Our source has told us that over at GuitarHeroStore.com, not only can you preorder with free shipping, but the game will actually ship out a few days early. They can do this because they allow for shipping time. The benefit to you is that the shipping doesn’t take the full buffer period. So in the end, you’ll have the game in hand before retailers release it to the general public.

Many of our staff have already pre-ordered through the site. It’s worth a look if you plan on picking up DJ Hero in October anyway. What do you have to lose?

Head on over now and pre-order today.

I’ve heard good things about it. Lucky for us it’s on a free trial period right now. I’ve ordered mine today and I’ll post up about it once I get it in.

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