The same old story repeats itself yet again at the start of every month, where a new list of games are drawn up to be made available to those who happen to subscribe to Xbox Live Games with Gold. Basically, if you love surprises or happen to be one of those folks who love to take your chances in life, such as feeding one of those gashapon machines with quarter after quarter, hoping to obtain the missing item or character that is offered in one of those capsules to complete your collection. The same can be said of your Xbox Live Games with Gold subscription. At the start of each new month, Microsoft will reveal four titles that Xbox One owners will be able to enjoy, as long as you are subscribed to the Xbox Live Games with Gold service.

Two of the titles will be made available for the Xbox One, while another two titles will be for the older generation Xbox 360. Needless to say, Xbox 360 titles can be played on the Xbox One thanks to the Xbox One with Backward Compatibility feature, while it does not work the other way around. This means you get four free games each month that you can indulge in. Unfortunately, you would not be able to pick just which title that you want to play, since it is all up to the prerogative of the folks over at Microsoft to want to release the titles to the masses.

Of course, there will be duds at times, where the games made available for nothing are not exactly the best titles that everyone would rush to play, while from time to time, there would be a great classic that is worth checking out. Since we are in the Christmas season, it would be nice to see some of the more notable titles make their mark. For the Xbox One, things are looking up this Yuletide season, with Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition being made available for free -- with the title carrying a recommended retail price of $29.99 a pop. Sleeping Dogs:Definitive Edition will be free for the entire month of December. Not only that, you will also be able to enjoy Outlast that will normally cost $19.99, where the free download applies within the time window of December 16th to January 15th next year.

As for Xbox 360 owners, from the start of December onward, the $9.99 Outland title will be free all the way through to December 15th. Once that date has passed, then we can look forward to Burnout Paradise for some adrenaline pumping moments all the way till the end of the month. Burnout Paradise is a $14.99 title which you can now enjoy for free.

Do take note that these are titles which qualify as free downloads for Xbox Live Gold members in markets where the Xbox Live service is available, and select regions could have different titles on offer depending on the market.