AfterDawn: News

Microsoft experiences Xbox Live problems over holidays

Users of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live service have been reporting performance problems over the holiday weeks. The service, which offers downloadable games, multiplayer gaming and Movie/TV Show downloads, was suffering due to record breaking traffic and new member sign-ups, according to Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live. "We are disappointed in our performance," Whitten wrote on the Xbox 360 support web site.

The issues reported by users included problems connecting to the Xbox Live service, downloading multimedia content and establishing connections with other users of the service for multiplayer gaming. The company has not publicly detailed the exact problems with the service, nor has it given any information on how it has addressed the issues.



Xbox Live members will be offered a free game download as an apology from Microsoft for the issues. It is unknown what the game Title will be, but it will be available from the Xbox Live Arcade. According to figures released by Microsoft, the Xbox 360 has sold more than 17.7 million units worldwide since its November 2005 debut.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Written by: James Delahunty @ 4 Jan 2008 17:02

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• 16 comments

• ZimHosein

  Quote:Xbox Live members will be offered a free game download as an apology from Microsoft for the issues. It is unknown what the game Title will be,I'm curious to know what the free game download will be and when it will be available.

  4.1.2008 23:14 #1

• vinny13

  Microsoft? Problems?
  
  Who would of thought?
  
  
  Microsoft? Free?
  
  Ok WTF is goin' on here!?

  5.1.2008 02:18 #2

• ripxrush

  ya know it is weird but i think that M$ is becoming dare i say ... Less EVIL?! They know they messed up but also have something Big here with the 360 & seem to be doing a lot to keep people happy, even threw the RROD issues they did extend the warranty to 3 years, & if u have a gold acct they give u 3 months free for sending it in, U get a free game due to server issues, they are really trying to keep a good face!

  5.1.2008 04:51 #3

• ali2007

  Microsoft? Free?
  
  you got that right " microsft and free don't go together in one sentence "
  
  lol

  5.1.2008 07:03 #4

• chaos_zzz

  this is an internal problem for ms , not knowing how much servers u require to delive the service they offer
  
  anyway i don't that game is gonna be the game but since it;s free
  
  funny though microsoft free problems , problems i've heard a lot but free mmm

  5.1.2008 09:05 #5

• spydah

  They still having issues this morning. I tried to connect to see what that game is and it just sits there loading.

  5.1.2008 09:31 #6

• Sazaziel

  Keep in mind that with all the other issues Microsoft is having with other products..especially in the software department with people wanting to go from XP to Vista.... Xbox Live along with the 360 is bread and butter. I would do everything I can as a company to keep my image looking better than Sony and the PS3. So wouldn't this all make sense.

  5.1.2008 11:21 #7

• JarrodNz

  It cant be that bad, Ive had no problems and there are still over 600,000 online halo3 rite now..

  5.1.2008 20:33 #8

• pspjunior

  thats just halo3.. theres alot more

  6.1.2008 07:36 #9

• vinny13

  Originally posted by pspjunior: thats just halo3.. theres alot moreNot really...

  6.1.2008 10:11 #10

• saltynuts

  Quote:Originally posted by pspjunior: thats just halo3.. theres alot moreNot really...
  
  
  
  
  more than your ps3

  6.1.2008 11:27 #11

• vinny13

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by pspjunior: thats just halo3.. theres alot moreNot really...
  
  
  
  
  more than your ps3The games not Live.

  6.1.2008 14:05 #12

• danser01

  Connecting on COD4 has been a real pain the ass over the last week or so, if you have a look on on offical Xbox support site they mention the issue and state they are having perticular problems with COD4. It did say Halo too, but that seems to of been resolved now (funny, as Halo is MS and COD4 is Activision).
  
  I hope it's Speedball2 that's free!

  6.1.2008 14:36 #13

• borhan9

  Well this should show Microsoft that they need more servers to be online so they can handle the holiday traffic.

  6.1.2008 21:11 #14

• emugamer

  Lol....they'll probably offer Luxor or Super Bust-a-move.

  7.1.2008 12:19 #15

• juds382

  I was looking around online about Live being messed up and found a forum where people were complaining about it being down or not working correctly. Then I noticed all the posts were from the week of christmas but from 2006. You'd think if they had the same problem in 06 they would've been prepared for it in 07. I guess some people trial & error & learn from it and some just error error error....

  8.1.2008 23:47 #16