Xbox Live Gold subscribers get free Assassin's Creed II later this month

Assassin's Creed II will be the next free game offered as part of Microsoft's Games With Gold promotion, Microsoft spokesperson Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has confirmed.

Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to download the game from July 16 until the end of the month.

Microsoft earlier this week announced that XBLA tower-defence game Defense Grid: The Awakening would be the free game available between July 1 through July 15.

Microsoft announced the Games With Gold promotion during its E3 2013 press conference, and has pledged to run the promotion from July until the launch of the Xbox One in November. A new game will be offered to Gold subscribers on the 1st and 16th of each month.

Halo 3 will be included in the promotion in the coming months.

The service is a rival to Sony's PlayStation Plus, which is currently offering its subscribers the following games in Europe: Uncharted 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Little Big Planet Karting, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD, Demon's Souls, Catherine, Malicious, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and The Cave.