I mostly play offline single player games on my 360 - Like Skyrim, Fallout, GTA IV, etc.

I do not have xbox live, nor have I really looked into getting it.

Is there a way to download the patch and install it without getting a live account?

Is there a way to do this with only one live account, when my wife and I have separate profiles and both play skyrim? Or will we both need live accounts?

Anyone know of a cheap place to get a one month subscription? I've been lurking amazon for it.

Thanks so much for any help!

OK - Now I've found some mention through google that you can get updates and patches with a free Xbox live account.

This is odd as I swear I had to PAY when I got updates for a fallout game a year or two ago...

Anyone want to contribute some information to this that knows what they are talking about, maybe we can edit the post into something useful and get it tacked since I'm sure this question will come up again!

I googled it and got the same thing. I say try it. You've got nothing to lose since a silver account is free.

All you need is hotmail account ( email) and that's it... Also your first month is free (gold). The whole process takes 5 min. Enjoy

I only have a silver account (free account you automatically get when you make any profile on your Xbox 360) and I can attest to the fact that I can and have received updates for all of my games in the past. All you need to do is connect your Xbox 360 to the internet.

All the gold account does is allow you to play online with other people.
And you get an occasional discount on games or whatnot.

Everything else, like patches or access to Marketplace (Skyrim DLC Yay!) is free.

I don't think you get the first month free anymore. I think Microsoft has stopped that since I made a new account for my daughter and she never got the free month.

I don't have gold. I always get the upsdates for the 360 and patches for games. Everyone can get a Silver account for free. It's the Gold that you pay for to play multiplayer. I am sure when you paid to get Fallout updated, it was a DLC you bought and not a patch.