Wahay!!!!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7171355.stm Rewards for grumbling Xbox users Role-playing title Mass Effect is set in a far-flung future Microsoft has apologised for the glitches that hit its Xbox Live online game system during the Christmas break. The software firm said it was "disappointed" with its performance and promised a free downloadable game to all users as recompense. It said the problems had been caused by a surge of people signing up and using the gaming service. Microsoft said the growth in new users had been driven by sales of top titles such as Mass Effect and Halo 3. Game offer The Xbox Live service suffered an ongoing series of problems during the holiday season. The discussion boards and forums of many gaming news websites have been filled with gamers complaining that they could not sign up or get on to the service. FROM THE DOT.LIFE BLOG ...there will come a point when saying sorry just isn't enough for some subscribers Darren Waters, technology editor BBC News website Read Darren's thoughts in full Writing on the Major Nelson website, Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, apologised for the "intermittent" service. "While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance," he said. He added the outages were driven by a record-breaking number of new members signing up, and the biggest ever number of concurrent users. Most Xbox Live members pay an annual fee to use the service. As a reward for their patience, Mr Whitten said all eight million members would get access to a full Xbox Live Arcade game free of charge. Details of how to claim this game would be made available in the next few weeks, he explained. The downloadable games on the Xbox Live Arcade typically cost up to $20 (£10). The Xbox Live service lets owners of Microsoft's gaming console take each other on or help each other in games, and allows them to download lots of games and watch TV shows and films. Confirmed by Major Nelson as well Xbox LIVE Holiday Performance digg_url = 'http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2008/01/03/xbox-live-holiday-performance.aspx'; digg_skin = 'compact'; As many of you know, I have keeping you up to date on the status of Xbox LIVE. Here is an official message from Marc Whitten (Notwen) GM of Xbox LIVE on where we are and what we are going to do. Again, thanks for your patience. Dear Xbox LIVE Members: During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service. As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break. While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state. At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service. And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you. Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today! Sincerely, Marc Whitten General Manager, Xbox LIVE Gamertag: Notwen This has also been posted on Xbox.com Posted: Jan 03 2008, 08:55 PM by Major Nelson | with 58 comment(s) | Filed under: Xbox Live
Got to give Microsoft props for doing the right thing. It took a lawsuit before Sony ever admitted to problems with the PS2. Microsoft stepped up with the RRoD repairs and now with this. It sucks when things go bad, but if they're willing to make an effort to compensate for it, they've certainly got my vote. -hl718
Something like this has to be a selection or credit of some sort to account for all the people who may already have the selected game. Alternately, they could just give everyone a game which hasn't been released yet (my guess).
Thank fuck I signed up for my Live Account on Dec. 20th and got a free month! I assume that means I'm eligable?
Hmm we got Carcassonne not too long ago..didn't feel the need for any more freebies but hey..won't complain.
well from what i understand its all xbox live users, even silver and those that didnt log in for a long time
too bad I'm canceling live and selling my 360 stuff. They usually deal with this stuff with class, but I'm just tired of it all. I can play most of the same stuff on the ps3, and what I can't, I'll play when the 360 costs less than $200 and/or isn't a piece of shit.
If you want, let me know what you're selling, as far as games and stuff. I might be interested. :nod:
I actually don't know if they're making a sequel because I heard the Toyota Yaris dies in the end? Has anyone beat the game and know if they ended with a setup for Yaris 2? Actually, Tachikoma, Yaris is one of the worse games you'll ever play. You aren't missing a thing. It's that bad! :lol:
home is for people who don't have a real life, and unfortunately it saddens me to see so many interested in it. That says alot
:lol: oh yeah. it's the worst game i've played in recent memory. i'm not even kidding. it's become a joke among my friends.
