Gamers in UK, France and Germany will be able to take part in trials of the service, ahead of the full commercial launch in March.

Microsoft is investing about $2bn over five years into its online gaming service, which lets Xbox owners challenge friends over broadband internet connections.

It hopes the Xbox Live service will help boost sales in Europe, where the console has lagged behind Sony's Playstation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube.

But who will be playing? Will you take up the early offer? What is your experience of online games? Do they live up to the hype?

Want to know more about the Your Choice experiment? Click here.

This Talking Point has now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

It sounds fantastic!

Mark Mitchell, England

As soon as my broadband connection goes live next week I will be purchasing my live pack - from initial reports on the Internet it sounds fantastic!
Mark Mitchell, England

I will be getting online as soon as possible. The Xbox service has loads of great new features like voice comms which I would like to try out. Opinion on the internet message boards from America seems to be very favourable towards the service.
Patrick Flynn, UK

Xbox is going the same way as the Dreamcast and the Sega Saturn. At the end of the day, the most important thing is knowing that new games are going to carry on being released for years to come. The fact that Xbox sales are known to be bad can only make them worse, no matter what they offer. No-one wants a console that's going to be obsolete in two year's time.
Jo, UK

Online gaming has already been proved to be great fun by some of the software previously created for the Dreamcast and PC. I hope to be playing networked games on my Gamecube sooner rather than later!
Chris Gissing, UK

There are so many new possibilities

Chris Davison, England

As a long time gamer, I am really looking forward to Live. Yes there are bound to be problems at the start, but that's to be expected. The main thing is that it opens up new areas in terms of game play, social contact and competitions. There are so many new possibilities. For example, downloadable extras, both free and pay per download, could be good for both game players and game developers.
Chris Davison, England

I can't wait to sign up for Xbox live test drive tomorrow. I have played live in its beta stage and I couldn't fault it, everything is brilliant, with the broadband connection it makes the games run lag free. The voice communicator sets the Xbox apart from the rest, and with broadband being taken up in large number now, Xbox live are sure to be a huge success just as it is in the USA!
James, UK

No I will not play Xbox online. I will not even buy an Xbox. That's because I have a life.
James Tandy, UK

I used my Sega Dreanmcast online when the service was available and it very found enjoyable and simple to set up. If Microsoft can provide the same service then I will very interested in taking my Xbox online.
Dex, UK

The service is incredible

Andrew Torrance, Wales, UK

I already have the early beta-testing version of Xbox Live and can confirm that the service is incredible. I've played online via my PC for many years now but because of the lack of infrastructure the quality has always been hit and miss. Not so with the Xbox, everything is ready to go "out-of-the-box" and the headset is a fantastic addition that adds a whole new dimension.
Andrew Torrance, Wales, UK

Been playing on Xbox Live for about a month now as part of the beta test, absolutely amazing. Coming from PC online gaming, this is a totally different experience the way everything just fits together in a single central service, you can see what games your friends are currently playing and everything, and join them.
Paul Smith, Yeovil, UK

Online gaming adds a whole new dimension to gameplay - the chance to communicate and compete with other human beings of all ages. Sometimes you can strike up a rapport and then find out that your competitor(s) are from a complete variety of age groups. It makes competing and succeeding more personally satisfying to my mind.
Ian Grace, UK