XBL down..no wait its up again...errr..down.

[metalhead212]

So I guess XBL has been having some troubles this week. I guess since the 22nd users have reported being unable to connect / access the xbox live net work. Has anyone else been affected by this? I am unsure what caused the issue, but I know I have had a lot of problems these last few days getting on the xbox website and getting on live. Great job dropping the ball right after thousands of people just bought brand new xbox's and games. Not exactly the first impression MS wants to make.

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/12/29/xbox-live-status-12-29.aspx

[Michael Corvin]

Mine randomly connects, but it's never more than for a few minutes at a time.

[wildcatlh]

Mine randomly connects, but it's never more than for a few minutes at a time.

Same here. Kinda annoying.

Ah well. All I've been doing is playing Rock Band for the last week anyways.

[Giantrobo]

I've had troubles since Friday with not being able to find matches, not being signed in when i should be, and network loss messages. But it's no big deal. Like i said in another thread, LIVE is up most of the year and it's not down that much. Even when it is down we often have advance warning.

[dgmayor]

I love it when it tells me it can't connect, then goes on to tell me which of my friends are online ;)

[glasschicken]

Same here. Got a good connection for a while yesterday. Won't be able to try again until tomorrow.

[PixyJunket]

$50 a year. Jump in!

[Draven]

$50 a year. Jump in!

You've never had cable, satellite, or phone service go out for a few days total during the year? How is this any different?

In fact, it's not as bad, since that stuff is $50+ a month.

I don't have any concerns over a few issues during an entire year.

[PixyJunket]

You've never had cable, satellite, or phone service go out for a few days total during the year? How is this any different?I cannot recall having my phone or internet down at all in at least six or so years, probably more. The electricity went out once recently during a massive wind storm but it was back up in two hours. I've had Xbox Live for five months and it's been screwed up at least half a dozen times. It is not a stable service.. hell, the last time it went down you couldn't even play games offline.. now THAT was an achievement (for 250G, I believe).

[DJ_Longfellow]

I cannot recall having my phone or internet down at all in at least six or so years, probably more. The electricity went out once recently during a massive wind storm but it was back up in two hours. I've had Xbox Live for five months and it's been screwed up at least half a dozen times. It is not a stable service.. hell, the last time it went down you couldn't even play games offline.. now THAT was an achievement (for 250G, I believe).

Half-Dozen times? When? This is the only major time when it has been down I can recall....I have had LIVE since the beginning also. I know it goes down for updates, but this is the one of the first major times it has been "down" for more than a day.

[Rob V]

Dear Xbox Live,

You have raped my Xmas vacation.

Regards,

Rob V

[brianluvdvd]

I cannot recall having my phone or internet down at all in at least six or so years, probably more. The electricity went out once recently during a massive wind storm but it was back up in two hours.

Where do you live? Sounds like Shangri-la.

[PixyJunket]

Half-Dozen times? When? This is the only major time when it has been down I can recall....I have had LIVE since the beginning also. I know it goes down for updates, but this is the one of the first major times it has been "down" for more than a day.When? I don't mark insignificant events on a calendar or a FaceSpace or whatever the hell it is people use these days. You are correct that this is the first time it's been down for days but I was actually low-balling the number of times I've had issues with the service which is usually just for the night it's happening.

[Apollo]

I cannot recall having my phone or internet down at all in at least six or so years, probably more. The electricity went out once recently during a massive wind storm but it was back up in two hours. I've had Xbox Live for five months and it's been screwed up at least half a dozen times. It is not a stable service.. hell, the last time it went down you couldn't even play games offline.. now THAT was an achievement (for 250G, I believe).

I live in a metropolitan city and I've had my electricity out 4 times(longest was 15 hrs). Cable has been out at least 6 times. Telephone service was out at twice(outgoing calls were fine, but not incomming calls). Xbl has been pretty stable for me. Now have notice things can get pretty slow whenever a new service is rolled out or a AAA game demo is released before the production version is released.

XBL like any service hosted on the Internet, it's performance is really based on a lot of factors beyond its control.

I going to assume your statement that you couldn't play games while XBL is down is related to XBL arcade/DRM issue. Yeah that needs to be resolved.

[Easy]

I'm interested to know what caused the issues. Was it really the influx of new users? Doesn't MS know how many units they manufacture and plan accordingly?

[metalhead212]

I think the fact that this has happened over X-mas break for many people has helped to inflate the issue. Personally it just seems that since they incorporated the last major update they have had nothing but troubles. Maybe some more testing was needed before they implemented it.

[Giantrobo]

Dear Xbox Live,

You have raped my Xmas vacation.

Regards,

Rob V


rotfl

[MrPink]

I've had problems with Live for a week now. While I am not happy that something that I pay for, regardless of the price, is down. What really bothers me is that my console was replaced a month ago and I can't play any arcade games unless I am signed into the Xbox Live. So yeah I am pissed when the service goes down. I wanted to finish Castlevania while I'm on vacation.

[FusionX]

I haven't had any problems getting signed in, so I can always access my arcade stuff. I've just had issues getting matchmaking to work.

[Michael Corvin]

I can't believe the "I can't play my arcade games" complaints. Who has time for those with the recent deluge of triple A titles on all three systems? :D

[DJ_Longfellow]

Are people still having issues? I am....just curious.

[Kicker_of_Elves]

I am. COD4 was the worst, constant freezing and getting booted. I got some games in on Halo 3 but it kept acting shitty so i said fuck it and turned it off.

[Mok]

I'm still having problems, I keep getting signed out of Live and the Market Place is slow as hell. According to the xbox support site all is well.

[Giantrobo]

I played all day Monday with no problems.

[fumanstan]

I haven't played much since i've been busy with other family stuff, but the few times I tried I didn't have many issues.

Either way, shit goes down. It's not really a big deal for me, since it's not like I can't do other things.

[SteelgearX]

I had problems this weekend, but today I was able to log on just fine during the day. We'll see what happens when I get home tonight.

[abrg923]

I had problems this weekend, but today I was able to log on just fine during the day. We'll see what happens when I get home tonight.

Steel, you planning to play tonight? If so, I may crack open COD4 and let you kick my ass all over MP. :)

[dvdsteve2000]

The other day it was telling me my profile was invalid. I kept trying to sign in like 10 times and it finally let me in. Once I was in, I played H3 for about 2 hours without a problem.

[Giantrobo]

So far no issues for me today. (Tue)

[SteelgearX]

Steel, you planning to play tonight? If so, I may crack open COD4 and let you kick my ass all over MP. :)
Actually, YES! It's been forever. I told Ronin I plan to play some COD4 when I get home from work tonight. So, see you
in a bit.

Spider2099 will probably join us tonight too.

[abrg923]

The gang's getting back together. :lol: Sounds good. I should be around about midnightish.

[matome]

I get the rotating dots on my screen forever when I boot up the 360, even though I get online and the online friend notifications popup. Can't access anything but the media tab, though when I start up a disc game I can see the normal interface once I hit the Xbox button. If I leave the disc game I'm back to the rotating dots on the blades.

[Mok]

Well this is a kick in the balls, I have been having problems with my arcade games. So I was told by xbox support to delete my gamer profile and recover it. Well guess what I can't recover it since live is so spotty they disabled account recover till further notice. Now I have no gamer tag to play my games. Great job Microsoft! and I pay for this crap ?

[metalhead212]

Well this is a kick in the balls, I have been having problems with my arcade games. So I was told by xbox support to delete my gamer profile and recover it. Well guess what I can't recover it since live is so spotty they disabled account recover till further notice. Now I have no gamer tag to play my games. Great job Microsoft! and I pay for this crap ?


I would for sure call and complain on that one. That is total bullshit.

[foxdvd]

This is starting to get ridiculous. I understood it being down or slow after Christmas. I held my tongue the next day when Team Fortress 2 was almost unplayable. I held back for the next 5 days as the service was spotty. I tried getting on a few minutes ago, and it STILL F*****NG WILL NOT WORK!

If this was free, I STILL would understand. If this was anyone other then the LARGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD ASSOSIATED WITH COMPUTERS I would still understand, but this is Microsoft!

MICRO$OFT, GET OFF YOUR ASS AND PUT UP SOME EXTRA SERVERS!!

[Liver&Onions]

This is starting to get ridiculous. I understood it being down or slow after Christmas. I held my tongue the next day when Team Fortress 2 was almost unplayable. I held back for the next 5 days as the service was spotty. I tried getting on a few minutes ago, and it STILL F*****NG WILL NOT WORK!

If this was free, I STILL would understand. If this was anyone other then the LARGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD ASSOSIATED WITH COMPUTERS I would still understand, but this is Microsoft!

MICRO$OFT, GET OFF YOUR ASS AND PUT UP SOME EXTRA SERVERS!!

Rather than read through the thread - has a reason for the service disruption been disseminated?

[foxdvd]

In my anger I might have missed it, but I think the general belief is that the influx of new Xbox 360 customers from Christmas has but a big load on the servers.

[Liver&Onions]

In my anger I might have missed it, but I think the general belief is that the influx of new Xbox 360 customers from Christmas has but a big load on the servers.

Belief != real reason however. Didn't it start before Xmas though?

[Giantrobo]

I couldn't dl any New Demos and other stuff from the Marketplace this morning. (Wed) I kept getting the "can't retrieve info from the marketplace" message.

But I was able to get in several online games so I'm not freaking out yet.

[abrg923]

Belief != real reason however. Didn't it start before Xmas though?

It did, indeed...we had problems on 12/22.

[atxbomber]

Another one here that had problems prior to Christmas. For about three days while I was playing through HL2 and Mass Effect Live would randomly disconnect on me. It hadn't done it to me for a few days until this morning when Live died on me while going through co-op on Halo 3.

[RForte1189]

That and Call of Duty 4 is unplayable.

[Mikael79]

Well this is a kick in the balls, I have been having problems with my arcade games. So I was told by xbox support to delete my gamer profile and recover it. Well guess what I can't recover it since live is so spotty they disabled account recover till further notice. Now I have no gamer tag to play my games. Great job Microsoft! and I pay for this crap ?
By any chance, was this an Indian gentlemen that is called....."Tim"?

[PixyJunket]

Two weeks, eh? But I guess it's okay and we should put up with it since your phone and cable routinely go down for that length and there are competing phone and cable services that are free.

[fumanstan]

Two weeks, eh? But I guess it's okay and we should put up with it since your phone and cable routinely go down for that length and there are competing phone and cable services that are free.

It hasn't really been down for 2 straight weeks. At least not for me. At the various times i've hopped in I haven't really had any issues at all. Of course, I also probably don't play as much as some of you guys so I'm not really bothered by it. That and anyone that played WoW in 2004/05 had it much worse :)

But since you feel people shouldn't put up with it, I guess I imagine you're cancelling your subscription then :P

[Liver&Onions]

By any chance, was this an Indian gentlemen that is called....."Tim"?

This thinly veiled racism does not belong on this board. Take it back to IGN or gamefaqs please.

[FusionX]

I have had minor problems here and there, but Live hasn't been down for two weeks straight. Since Christmas, I've had three or four instances where I couldn't connect to a game, no big deal. I haven't had any issues whatsoever for the past few days.

[GreenMonkey]

It's been fine for me at night (post 9pm). A bit slow here and there, and an occasional long login time, but that's it.

[DVDsAreMyLIFE]

It seems to be getting better for me now. I had some problems last Saturday but since then I have been able to get into games with out too many issues.

[Mok]

Well finally got my profile recovered, but get this 2yrs wroth of game saves all gone. Do not whatsoever delete and recover your profile till this is fixed. It's weird my Hard drives is still showing the same amount of space used before the problem, you would think I would have gained some space.

[MasterofDVD]

I didn't have any problems playing COD4 the other night or sending voice messages but I still have issues downloading some content and I can't seem to send picture messages to any of my friends.

I've actually avoided playing with people recently because I figured these problems would hinder our fun and I hoped they would be resolved soon. I am curious to see how they compensate for this interruption. Free months of Live get tossed around for almost every issue they have, so while I am sure it'll be a reimbursement of monthly costs, I think another perk or freebie would be a nice gesture as well.

[foxdvd]

Two weeks, eh? But I guess it's okay and we should put up with it since your phone and cable routinely go down for that length and there are competing phone and cable services that are free.

If my cable and phone went down as much as this for as long as this, I would drop them. When you have over 700 $ tied up into Xbox, it is kind of hard to "drop" them.

[Nosmo Rex]

Looks like we're we're getting a free Arcade game for our trouble:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp sold 4.3 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in the last three months of 2007, helped by hit titles such as "Halo 3" and "Mass Effect," according to company data released on Thursday.

But the software giant also said it was "disappointed" with problems that had plagued its online gaming service for days and offered a free downloadable game to more than 8 million worldwide users of the network.

A total of 17.7 million Xbox 360s had been sold worldwide since it first went on sale in late 2005, Microsoft said. Earlier sales data from the software giant showed 13.4 million consoles sold by the end of September.

"Holiday 2007 was a blockbuster season for the gaming industry," Microsoft said, adding that the Xbox 360 has kept its lead over rivals in terms of total dollars spent on hardware and software.

Microsoft competes against Nintendo Co Ltd's wildly popular Wii and Sony Corp's 6758.T PlayStation 3 consoles for dominance in a global video game industry that is thought to have approached $40 billion in revenue in 2007.

Nintendo and Sony have not released holiday sales figures for their machines, but by the end of September, about 13.2 million Wiis and 5.6 million PS3s had been sold globally.

Microsoft has counted on its Xbox Live online service to set its console apart from rivals. The service lets users download hundreds of games, as well as television shows and movie rentals.

But gaming Web sites and forums have been filled in recent days with complaints from users frustrated by not being able to sign on to the service or play online.

Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten said the problems stemmed from a "massive increase" in new users of the service over the holiday season, when sales of video game hardware and software surge.

"While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance," Whitten said in a statement, adding that Wednesday had set a record for the number of users signed on simultaneously.

Whitten said that as a gesture of thanks to customers, all Xbox Live members around the world will be able to freely download one game over the service. Games sold on Xbox Live typically cost from $5 to $20, and Whitten said details of the offer would come in the coming weeks.

Before the holiday sales surge, Xbox Live had more than 8 million members, many of whom were paying $50 a year for the premium service that lets them play online against others.

The company also said "Halo 3," the final installment of its popular sci-fi shooting game that went on sale in late September, had sold 8.1 million copies by the end of the year.

Another Microsoft title, epic sci-fi roleplaying game "Mass Effect," had sold 1.6 million copies since its late November release. The games typically cost $60 per copy.

Microsoft's announcements came ahead of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this weekend, when Chairman Bill Gates and other executives are expected to give a peek into the future of the company's products, including the Xbox 360.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080104/wr_nm/microsoft_xbox_dc_3

[Michael Corvin]

The company also said "Halo 3," the final installment of its popular sci-fi shooting game that went on sale in late September, had sold 8.1 million copies by the end of the year.

:eek:

[PixyJunket]

I didn't contribute to that. :D2:

[GreenMonkey]

nice offer from Microsoft.

I bought Halo 3 and I'm not even a Halo fan. But that's what I knew all my online buddies would play, and it does have some good customizability and funny modes (Zombies, Rocket Race, etc) Of course, all of them moved to Call of Duty 4. I'm not going that far. I REALLY don't like realistic-style FPS games.

[DVDsAreMyLIFE]

I didn't contribute to that. :D2:


Me either, I just stole my brothers. I hope we get to chose whatever we want, not from some predetermined list.

[Draven]

Me either, I just stole my brothers. I hope we get to chose whatever we want, not from some predetermined list.

It'll be from a list, guaranteed.

[PixyJunket]

I have the perfect solution for this conundrum.

Geometry WarsWaves

[Crizzar]

nice offer from Microsoft.

I bought Halo 3 and I'm not even a Halo fan. But that's what I knew all my online buddies would play, and it does have some good customizability and funny modes (Zombies, Rocket Race, etc) Of course, all of them moved to Call of Duty 4. I'm not going that far. I REALLY don't like realistic-style FPS games.

Do you mean the setting? CoD4 isn't realistic at all, really. You don't have an energy shield and you'll die faster than you might in Halo, but as you rank up, you unlock so many different things to customize your kits that it's just insane.

CoD4 is far and away the most fun online shooter I've ever played just barely beating out TF2 :)

[mrglass]

http://blogs.chron.com/gamehacks/2008/01/microsoft_sued_in_houston_over.html

January 04, 2008
Microsoft sued in Houston over Xbox Live outage

"Three Houston-area residents filed a federal class-action lawsuit Friday against Microsoft, claiming a breach of contract after they couldn't connect to Xbox Live, the company's online-gaming subscription service.

The lawsuit, filed by gamers in Houston, Pearland and Beaumont, says Microsoft failed to live up to its promises in December, when strong holiday sales added more online gamers than its servers could handle.

Microsoft should have anticipated that the upswing in sales -- about 4 million units were sold in the last three months of 2007 -- would create issues that its hardware couldn't handle, according to the lawsuit.

"XBOX Live crashed and prevented Plaintiffs around the world from accessing online play for several weeks," the court documents states. "Specifically, interruptions in game-play kicked many Plaintiffs offline of XBOX Live and displayed messages such as "Server Error." Other Plaintiffs have been unable to sign into XBOX Live at all or use advertised features such as 'match-make" or "account recovery," despite paying for these services in their yearly subscription dues."

The lawsuit doesn't specify damages, but alludes that the claim will exceed $5 million.

Houston attorney Jason A. Gibson filed the suit on behalf of the gamers. Read the full document here.

Microsoft tried to appease angry Xbox Live users after the holiday issue by offering a free game from Xbox Live Arcade. These three plaintiffs, and who knows how many more will join them, aren't buying.

This isn't the first legal challenge of Microsoft's Xbox Live. Last year, an Atlanta man sued the company, claiming its renewal policy amounted to "systematic consumer fraud" because his underage son was allowed to renew a subscription using his debit card.

Did any of you out there have problems using Xbox Live over the holidays? Are you still having those issues?"


5 million dollars? rotfl

[sracer]

If my cable and phone went down as much as this for as long as this, I would drop them. When you have over 700 $ tied up into Xbox, it is kind of hard to "drop" them.
Hard... but not impossible. I knew that SOME elements of the 360 experience were tied to Live (like playing arcade games after receiving a different console for RRoD)... that was bad enough. But when I couldn't play some of my disc-based 360 games because a "required" update could not be downloaded and it took multiple attempts to get the dashboard responsive (waiting for it to timeout) that was just too much (and a surprise) for me.

I've had my 360 since launch day. I've had a blast with the games that I've played. But it's time for me to move on.

[lordwow]

I Hope they give out a new game, not something that's been out a while (or at least offer an option). I wasn't really happy about not getting anything when Carcassonne came out for free (since I bought it on launch day), but I didn't lose any sleep over that. But to lose services, I just want the number of days it's been shitty refunded to me (either monetarily, through points, or an addition of days to my account). An 800 point game would certainly be renumeration for that, but getting another "free game" I already have like Catan would piss me off royally.

[Michael Corvin]

two weeks is roughly $2. Personally I'd rather them give me a $5 or $10 game.

[jiggawhat]

I was trying to play some SF2 and that crap was laggy as hell.

[dtcarson]

I can see being pissed, but I think suing for 5 million is juuuust a bit overboard. How often and for how long has Live been down (unplanned) in the past? I do think some remuneration would be a good thing; I wouldn't mind a free game from a list, as long as the list is somewhat long.
If you were playing an offline game, couldn't you unplug the network cable (or disconnect the wireless adapter)? You'd still log in to your gamertag, and if you needed an update for a game, it would download the next time you logged in to Live, wouldn't it?
I can see being pissed, but I can't see getting rid of my 360 because of this. If I were a hardcore online gamer, maybe.
Hopefully this was just a seasonal surge and Live actually does have the infrastructure to support everyone going online. I know that since I plugged in the network cable, if I'm on the 360, I'm online (granted not really transferring a lot of data, but still). I wonder if that will continue to affect this.

[Mikael79]

This thinly veiled racism does not belong on this board. Take it back to IGN or gamefaqs please.
I think it's a stretch to call joking about how Indian reps often use American names "racism".

[Applejack]

I wish they would just give us Xbox points so I could DL more songs for rockband

[corbin dallas]

At this point I could care less about the free game. Just fix the damned thing. Shut it down for a day or whatever it takes to fix it but just fix it !!!!!!!!!!!

[MasterofDVD]

I think it's a stretch to call joking about how Indian reps often use American names "racism".

I filled out the comment card that came with my returned 360 and gave them the lowest marks I could because, regardless of race or grasp of the English language, they had some of the worst CS agents I ever tried to get a honest and complete response from.

[matome]

I still get the rotating dot screen on all my blades except for media, even though I apparently do log in since my friends show up on the popups. If I start a game from disc I can get to the gamertag panel that way. As soon as I back out to the Xbox dashboard, I get the rotating dots again. Is anyone else having this issue? Pisses me off since I can't get t o my Arcade games.

[lordzeppelin]

I still get the rotating dot screen on all my blades except for media, even though I apparently do log in since my friends show up on the popups. If I start a game from disc I can get to the gamertag panel that way. As soon as I back out to the Xbox dashboard, I get the rotating dots again. Is anyone else having this issue? Pisses me off since I can't get t o my Arcade games.

This was happening to me last week when they were having issues, but not since.

2 things...try refreshing all of your network settings, or completely re-do them. I'm talking a hard reset on your modem and router, set a static IP, set the 360 into a DMZ on your router, use openDNS.org for your DNS. I've had only minimal issues since doing that, even last week. In fact, most of my issues have been with CoD4 in particular, regardless of Live issues. I have had no issues with Halo, Rock Band, or Guitar Hero III.

[Mok]

I still get the rotating dot screen on all my blades except for media, even though I apparently do log in since my friends show up on the popups. If I start a game from disc I can get to the gamertag panel that way. As soon as I back out to the Xbox dashboard, I get the rotating dots again. Is anyone else having this issue? Pisses me off since I can't get t o my Arcade games.

Try this I found it on the xbox forums.

THINGS TO TRY

If the Xbox LIVE Marketplace is unavailable because of system maintenance, waiting several minutes resolves this issue.

You may have to delete some cached Marketplace data that is stored on your console. This will not delete the Marketplace content that you have purchased.

To delete cached Marketplace data, follow these steps:

1. In the System section of the Xbox Dashboard, select Memory.
2. Select your storage device, and then select System Items.
3. Select Marketplace Data, select Delete, and then press the A button.
4. Select Yes, and then press the A button.

[Save Ferris]

COD4 is still very problematic. Saw this the other day:

"An Open Letter To Microsoft: So really, what *ARE* we paying for?

I won’t pretend that this is a completely original idea and no one else has ever raised the question of why Xbox Live is a pay service. In fact, I used to be one of the people who argued against them and supported Xbox Live. But, with recent Xbox Live troubles and news, it’s becoming significantly more difficult to do this. Having taken the time to really look at the state of Xbox Live is making me have to start agreeing with the people who I used to argue against.


Let’s start with the recent Xbox Live downtime. It is, quite frankly, absolutely unacceptable for a pay service. Until a few days ago, my brother had a two week period where he could not recover his GamerTag from Xbox Live. That’s two weeks of no Xbox Live access whatsoever. He tried deleting the profile of his Xbox and recovering it again, but this didn’t work either. Now he couldn’t even access his game saves or earn any achievements. Although I had my account on my Xbox, that’s not to say everything’s been great. Like the rest of you, I’ve been experiencing a lot of trouble with Xbox Live. Inability to join games, sign in to Xbox Live, load the dashboard blades, sometimes problems bad enough to freeze my 360 entirely until I pulled out the Ethernet cable.


Yes, we’re getting a free Xbox Live Arcade game as compensation for nearly 3 weeks of Xbox Live downtime. Woohoo. No details have been given, and as a result I suspect that this free game will be a specific title or list of titles which Microsoft will choose. I feel that at the very least we deserve to be either refunded for a month of Xbox Live or given a free month on top of this. Think about it, if your cell phone service had trouble for a month, dropping calls, refusing to dial numbers, etc., you wouldn’t be satisfied with a free cell phone game. The first step would be a refund for that month and then some sort of compensation for the inconvenience on top of that.

Connection troubles aside, there’s other reasons why I feel Xbox Live shouldn’t be a pay service. As of March 1, 2008, Xbox Live Diamond will become an additional $6.95 fee. No thanks. Not only was this service close to worthless, but to charge for something that was supposed to be a benefit of paying for the Xbox Live service is absurd. It was pathetic as a freebie and to think anyone is willing to pay for this is ridiculous.


Next up, Xbox Live is full of ads. Even when you first boot up your Xbox 360, you’re greeted with ads on the Xbox Live blade. While this may not seem like a huge issue, how would you feel if your internet service provider, who you pay a fee to, placed ads on the desktop of your computer (which you also paid for)? Gold members should at the very least be given an option to disable these ads.


Xbox Live also feels the need to wrap content in restrictive DRM schemes that limit users’ access to the items they’ve purchased. Worst of all, this is done without proper warning of just how restrictive it is. Xbox Live Arcade titles and dashboard themes are unusable when not connected to Xbox Live unless you are on the same Xbox they are purchased on. So, as a reward for being a loyal customer and upgrading to the Halo 3 edition of the Xbox 360, all the content I purchased on my previous content is now unusable when I’m not signed into Live on the account I purchased them from. This means that when Xbox Live is having trouble or when I’m on vacation or anywhere else I don’t have steady high speed internet access, I can’t play the games which I have paid for.


Despite the fee for Xbox Live, networking is almost entirely peer to peer reliant. There are no dedicated servers for games, something which has been long available to PC games with no online fee. The average residential high speed internet connection often does not have an upload bandwidth capable of properly supporting large amounts of players. This results in lag and allows for exploits relying on network manipulation, for example the standby cheating which plagued Halo 2.


One would think that the fee for Xbox Live would entitle users to extra content to justify the fee. However, Microsoft allows companies to charge often high prices for nearly every single piece of downloadable content for games. This setup for the Xbox Live Marketplace encourages developers to either purposefully withhold content or release games lacking content with the intent of later releasing and charging an additional fee for the rest of the content. Xbox Live’s content setup may even discourage free content. Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney is quoted in a 1Up Podcast as saying that “We've been wanting to give them away for a long time, but actually Microsoft has been pushing back on us for that.” The video game magazine Game Informer supported this in a 2007 issue where they also claimed that Microsoft forces companies to charge for content they wish to distribute. I do not doubt this to be the case, as free content for online PC games has long been the standard. Call of Duty 4 currently has a new downloadable map available for PC users which is absent from the 360 version.


So, what exactly is Xbox Live offering its paying customers? A unified friends list? The same feature has been available to PC gamers through free applications such as XFire and Steam. Put simply, the features of Xbox Live simply do not justify its price when considering the free services offered by the competitors and the robust structure of online PC gaming.


Although I’m sure many are likely to disagree with me and simply respond with “if you don’t like it, don’t pay,” it’s not quite that simple. Without an online service, my games and the console itself lose much of their playability and worth. I also lose contact with my friends who still use Xbox Live. So unless I’m willing to cut off contact with my friends and make my system no longer worth playing, no longer paying for Xbox Live isn’t really an option.


I’d like to hear the thoughts of the rest of the community. I feel that now, in light of the recent Xbox Live downtime, is a good time to start changing Xbox Live for the better."

http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=17809534

[DVDsAreMyLIFE]

What is Xbox Live Diamond?

[sracer]

COD4 is still very problematic. Saw this the other day:

"An Open Letter To Microsoft: So really, what *ARE* we paying for?

[ snipped ]

Although I’m sure many are likely to disagree with me and simply respond with “if you don’t like it, don’t pay,” it’s not quite that simple. Without an online service, my games and the console itself lose much of their playability and worth. I also lose contact with my friends who still use Xbox Live. So unless I’m willing to cut off contact with my friends and make my system no longer worth playing, no longer paying for Xbox Live isn’t really an option.

I’d like to hear the thoughts of the rest of the community. I feel that now, in light of the recent Xbox Live downtime, is a good time to start changing Xbox Live for the better."

http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=17809534
Microsoft does it because they can. Pure and simple. Your choice is (A) suck it up and accept it, (B) avoid Live and use your 360 in a lesser capacity, or (C) Sell/trade your 360 setup and move to another platform.

I chose option "C" because I know that I'm in the minority of 360 owners who find it unacceptable. Being in such a minority means that there is no incentive for Microsoft to make the changes necessary to make things acceptable to me.

[FusionX]

I wasn't pleased with the on & off problems, but it is rare and I was able to play as intended 75% of the time, even during the three weeks with issues. Even at full price, its like $4 a month. I can barely rent a movie for that price, so I can't complain too much. I enjoy Live and for $4 a month (and that is IF you pay full price, which I doubt many do), it is well worth the slight cost.

[fujishig]

Although I’m sure many are likely to disagree with me and simply respond with “if you don’t like it, don’t pay,” it’s not quite that simple. Without an online service, my games and the console itself lose much of their playability and worth. I also lose contact with my friends who still use Xbox Live. So unless I’m willing to cut off contact with my friends and make my system no longer worth playing, no longer paying for Xbox Live isn’t really an option.


http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=17809534

This is exactly it. They have a captive audience for the service. While I agree that the outage was ill-timed and should not happen for that length of time on a paid service without some kind of compensation, I can't see complaining about the rest of it. It's true, if you don't like it, don't pay. If you pay because the console being online and your xbox live friends are too important, well, then you're paying for that privilege, ads and all.

[gimmepilotwings]

This is exactly it. They have a captive audience for the service. While I agree that the outage was ill-timed and should not happen for that length of time on a paid service without some kind of compensation, I can't see complaining about the rest of it. It's true, if you don't like it, don't pay. If you pay because the console being online and your xbox live friends are too important, well, then you're paying for that privilege, ads and all.

I think that he used the downtime to vent about other issues that he would like changed about Live. May not be the best time to do it, but the points are still valid.

[Michael Corvin]

I think the outage made those that didn't care previously, painfully aware of DRM issues. Can't hop online for a few weeks for multiplayer? 'Eh, I'll deal, but if you can't even use games and content you bought in an offline environment, then their are major issues.

[PixyJunket]

I think the outage made those that didn't care previously, painfully aware of DRM issues. Can't hop online for a few weeks for multiplayer? 'Eh, I'll deal, but if you can't even use games and content you bought in an offline environment, then their are major issues.I sure fucking hope so. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[sracer]

I think the outage made those that didn't care previously, painfully aware of DRM issues. Can't hop online for a few weeks for multiplayer? 'Eh, I'll deal, but if you can't even use games and content you bought in an offline environment, then their are major issues.
There is no outcry about that. I raised those issues on various forums, and the overwhelming reply was, "no big deal", "go do something else", "must be you".

The whole "must sign in to Live to play arcade games on any system other than the one it was originally purchased on" has been around since day-1. And considering that the RRoD issue has caused a lot of us to receive different consoles, Microsoft has done squat to change that behavior. And having that issue outstanding hasn't prevented others from continuing to buy downloadable games.

Continued XBLA sales = no problem.

...and hey, that's fine if people find that acceptable. I just have to do what I believe is right for me.

[Demontooth]

It's down again...for me anyway

[brianluvdvd]

This is weird. It is not signing me in automatically to Live as usual. I push to sign in but it doesn't give me the screen where I actually signed in but it tells me I have 15 friends on line. I can't see them, can't got to the marketplace...technically, I am not signed in but it seems to be acting like I am (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

[Demontooth]

This is weird. It is not signing me in automatically to Live as usual. I push to sign in but it doesn't give me the screen where I actually signed in but it tells me I have 15 friends on line. I can't see them, can't got to the marketplace...technically, I am not signed in but it seems to be acting like I am (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

That's what mine is doing.

[MasterofDVD]

This is weird. It is not signing me in automatically to Live as usual. I push to sign in but it doesn't give me the screen where I actually signed in but it tells me I have 15 friends on line. I can't see them, can't got to the marketplace...technically, I am not signed in but it seems to be acting like I am (if that makes any sense whatsoever).


Same thing happened to me tonight. I signed on and it showed me I had friends online but there was no way to check them. It only gave me the option to connect to Live. I "connected" about 3 times and then finally just gave up and ran the Live connection test. It ran slow as hell but after it was finally done I was able to see my list.

[crazyboy_al8]

Anyone else having trouble right now?

[Giantrobo]

There is no outcry about that. I raised those issues on various forums, and the overwhelming reply was, "no big deal", "go do something else", "must be you".

The whole "must sign in to Live to play arcade games on any system other than the one it was originally purchased on" has been around since day-1. And considering that the RRoD issue has caused a lot of us to receive different consoles, Microsoft has done squat to change that behavior. And having that issue outstanding hasn't prevented others from continuing to buy downloadable games.

Continued XBLA sales = no problem.

...and hey, that's fine if people find that acceptable. <b>I just have to do what I believe is right for me.</b>


And you did that by giving up and selling your Launch 360 so why do you still care about these issues? Most of us are dealing with the outages in stride. Granted, the issues do makes the DRM situation obvious, but hell, even with that most can deal with the situation.

I don't buy Arcade games so it's be no big deal to me and other than this recent on/off outage issue, LIVE has been pretty reliable since I first joined it. Also, when all is said and done I'm sure MS will do more than just offer the free game to compensate for the recent outage.

Mind you, all this is not to say that LIVE couldn't use some "tweaking" and improving.

[Easy]

... LIVE has been pretty reliable since I first joined it. ...
Mind you, all this is not to say that LIVE couldn't use some "tweaking" and improving.

Good for you. I wonder how many thousands like me are approaching the end of the 30 day free trial of xbox live for their holiday 360 and thinking; "Damn, I haven't had one trouble free day with this service. I think I'll pass."
I'll bet I'm not the only one.

[Giantrobo]

Good for you.

Yes, good for me.

[Michael Corvin]

Me too!

[xmiyux]

Good for you. I wonder how many thousands like me are approaching the end of the 30 day free trial of xbox live for their holiday 360 and thinking; "Damn, I haven't had one trouble free day with this service. I think I'll pass."
I'll bet I'm not the only one.

True, and that is something that does impact MSoft's bottom line. But, like Giantrobo and Corvin said, it doesn't affect me. I'm sorry if new gamers aren't getting the best Live experiences but that is more MSoft's issue than any end-user issue.

[Silkk_34]

I for one, know that when my 360 RR, I will be extremely pissed if I'm out my Arcade games and DL content unless online. I have bought a ton of games and even more content. It would be the end of MS systems for me. For now, I love my 360.

[Mikael79]

I for one, know that when my 360 RR, I will be extremely pissed if I'm out my Arcade games and DL content unless online. I have bought a ton of games and even more content. It would be the end of MS systems for me. For now, I love my 360.
My 360 hasn't needed service, but haven't people been able to call MS customer service and get them to provide the points to re-download games and such, thus avoiding the issue you're talking about?

[Draven]

...It has been so long since I've fired them up, but I don't think I've tried Symphony of the Night or Worms (the only XBL games I've purchased) since I got my 360 back after redringing a few months ago.

So I'm clear, the issue is that my console needs to be online now to play those games? I'll give that a shot tonight.

[xmiyux]

Yes and no. Some people have spent time arguing and/or gotten a helpful CSR who did do this for them. Many have just butt their heads against the wall of the CSR.

It is a shame, because crap like that is something nobody should have to deal with. We shouldn't have to call CS and even argue the case.

[GR13]

My console was having trouble a little while ago. It wouldn't sign in, but it didn't matter I just started playing ESPN 2k5, which finally made it to the backwards comp. list. Best football game ever.

[movieking]

I haven't been able to automatically to sign into Live for quite a while now. I always have to do it manually. Aside from the downtime, is there anything else that has changed? Is there an option to say connect automatically?

[Michael Corvin]

I haven't been able to automatically to sign into Live for quite a while now. I always have to do it manually. Aside from the downtime, is there anything else that has changed? Is there an option to say connect automatically?

Are you sure have it set to 'auto sign in?' I know at least once mine had reset and defaulted to 'no' somehow.

[Draven]

My auto sign-in is also flaky. Sometimes it works right away, sometimes it doesn't do it until I start a game.

And I definitely have it set correctly. Just annoying.