Free Live weekend canceled?

Yesterday, next-gen gamers on a budget were happy to hear about a new promotion from Microsoft. The Free Xbox Live Gold Weekend was designed to do exactly what its name says--give all Xbox 360 owners a chance to experience the benefits of a Gold membership on Xbox Live--and was scheduled to begin April 1.

Silver subscribers were happy to hear the news, as they would be able to take on other gamers in online multiplayer games without paying for the service, which costs $7.99 a month or $49.99 for a year. Many Gold-level subscribers, on the other hand, weren't exactly looking forward to sharing the space with "noobs."

Now it looks as though the division between the rich and the richer may remain. The 72-hour trial was first made public on Xbox.com's calendar of upcoming events but has since been removed.

When asked to comment on the weekend yesterday, a Microsoft rep said the company had not yet announced such a thing and was unaware of its existence. So was the posting on the Xbox.com calendar a cruel April Fools' Day joke? An error on the part of an employee? Silver subscribers had better save their pennies, as nothing is certain now.

[UPDATE] On Gamerscore Blog, a blog written by Microsoft employees, a post clears up the confusion. Apparently, a free Xbox Live Gold weekend is indeed in the works, but details have not been finalized.

"The Xbox.com team pulled [the calendar announcement] down, because the dates were tentative...We'll share details as soon as we can," reads the post.