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Xbox Live - The Christmas Zombie

Posted by Zonk on from the delicious-tinsel-covered-brains dept.

SEWilco writes "Xbox Live is not working, as mentioned 36 hours ago in an Xbox team blog. Even if you can get logged in, multiplayer matchmaking doesn't find enough players for games. For a while Zune Marketplace was also affected. At present Zune status claims 'Up and running' while Xbox Live status continues to say 'Users may experience intermittent issues logging onto Xbox Live. Our engineers are continuing to investigate and are working to resolve this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience.' This has been been going on for days." My assumption is that this is the result of lots of new XBLA users logging in with Christmas 360s.

11 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Sony's service, however, is unaffected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quoted from a spokesperson, Heis Afake:

    "We were worried, but while the three new users of our online service did add some strain, we managed to keep it up and running."

    1. Re:Sony's service, however, is unaffected by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      If an online service crashes in the woods, and no one is playing it to notice, does it really crash?

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Predates Christmas by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My assumption is that this is the result of lots of new XBLA users logging in with Christmas 360s. Not an assumption of mine. On the Firehose before Christmas weekend there were submissions reporting of problems. Though that could have been from people celebrating Christmas early, it seemed far too early still for that.
    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    1. Re:Predates Christmas by MBCook · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ditto. I got a 360 in mid December or so. XBox Live has been flakey since the day I got it. Sometimes you couldn't log in, sometimes you couldn't get to the marketplace. Just problems and more problems. I was worried that I would be missing something not paying for Live Gold, now I'm glad I didn't. The Christmas set only made things worse.

      My last experience with XBL was in '04-'05 after Halo 2 came out. That was the last time I used the service and it worked fantastically then. This kind of thing didn't happen then.

      I can't say all this surprises me too much. I've ran into more than a few questionable design choices on the 360.

      I hope they get things working better. All they did was reassure me in my decision not to pay them for their "service".

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    2. Re:Predates Christmas by Dan+Ost · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Consumer loyalty is easily earned and easily spent.
      That's why companies re-brand themselves so often.

      --

      *sigh* back to work...
    3. Re:Predates Christmas by cplusplus · · Score: 4, Informative

      Funny, as a Gold user and 360 owner for a couple years now, I've never really seen any problems until recently (and slight ones at that). I doubt it will last much longer. I've been nothing but impressed with Xbox Live so far, and would be hard pressed to give up my membership.

      --
      "False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
  3. Xbox Live is a major selling point for me by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm sort of at a crossroads between getting at 360 or a PS3. The main thing driving me to get the 360 is Xbox Live, and it's kind of surprising that they can't handle a surge of new purchases. (Are they not expecting people to buy?) Without Xbox Live, the PS3 looks superior, with a free Blu-Ray drive and Wi-fi attached.

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.
    1. Re:Xbox Live is a major selling point for me by __aawdrj2992 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      While we are both speculating, I think it is related to the load on the Windows Live, .NET, ect. servers. Windows Live messenger was acting flaky for a friend the same time I was having XBOX Live login problems. Zune Marketplace is also an extension of these services.

  4. Who cares? by Slashdot+Suxxors · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who cares what the problem is? Just fix the damn service already. I pay Microsoft for XBL. It had better damn work. Me not being able to host a private match with some of my buddies for days on end is fucking ridiculous.

  5. Editor strike still going on? by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...... Even if you can get logged in, multiplayer matchmaking doesn't find enough players for games. ........ My assumption is that this is the result of lots of new XBLA users logging in with Christmas 360s.

    So your theory is that because of a lot of new players, Microsoft can't find enough players for games? Would you care to rethink that theory?

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  6. Classic Microsoft support by Doug52392 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did anyone see the Xbox Live status at xbox.com/support? It says "Status: Users may experience intermittent issues with login, account recovery, matchmaking, and statistics. We are aware of the issue and are actively working towards a resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience.". Reminds me of a classic Microsoft joke: A helicopter was flying around above Seattle yesterday when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communication equipment. Due to the clouds and haze the pilot could not determine his position or course to steer to the airport. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign and held it in the helicopter's window. The sign said "WHERE AM I ?" in large letters. People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign and held it in a building window. Their sign said, "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER." The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map and determine the course to steer to SEATAC (Seattle/Tacoma) airport and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how the "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER" sign helped determine their position. The pilot responded, "I knew that had to be the MICROSOFT building because they gave me a technically correct but completely useless answer."