Xbox Live Sees Surge in Usage

Arts Technica reports on a large increase in usage on Xbox Live since last month. Network monitoring company Sandvine Incorporated has passed on word that, since November 7th, the service has seen an 80% increase in usage. iTunes usage has also gone up considerably since Apple's latest software update in September. From the article: "[The week of November 7th], Microsoft released six new games for the Xbox 360--one of which was the highly-anticipated Gears of War--which spiked Xbox Live traffic. This traffic pattern is similar to the spike that followed the introduction of Halo II in 2004, says Sandvine, which managed to sustain Xbox Live's popularity after the spike for the first time. Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo said that 'the effect Gears of War and other games are having on networks indicates to service providers that online gaming is not just a craze.'"

Comments

Re:Gears of War?

[bigman2003]

I LOVE 4 on 4. It's so much better than 12 on 12 (Call of Duty 3) or any other big game.

Most big games have so much chaos going on, that it becomes difficult to really come up with a strategy. The game becomes:

1 - Kill one guy
2 - Die
3 - Respawn
4 - Repeat

Gear of War brings the game down to a 'Survival of the Fittest' mentality. The rounds are short enough that waiting isn't a problem, but trying to stay alive is important.

They could not have done it this way with games with too many people.

Also, small maps means that the last guy standing can't go and hide in a corner waiting for the timer to run out.