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Microsoft Apologizes for XBL Downtime With Undertow
The extraordinary problems that Microsoft's Xbox Live experienced over the holidays were followed up with swift promises of a free game to compensate for the frustration many users suffered. The company has followed through, and has announced that Undertow will be the free game sacrificed to mollify gamers. The game will be free to download all this week, starting tomorrow (Wednesday) and running through this Sunday. "Two weeks ago, Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten posted a letter to Live subscribers apologizing for poor performance during the holidays and promising a freebie was on the way. There are currently no plans to offer a substitute game for those who already own Undertow." Just the same, Major Nelson sent along word to 360 Fanboy that they'd 'take care of you' if you found yourself in that situation.
Xbox Online:
50 dollars fees just to be allowed to just play games - adds up to 200 to 250 dollars extra wasted over and beyond the base console's price
No dedicated servers
Laggy online play forcing players to rely on other players Net connections/bandwidth
Absurdly small player counts like 8 for Gears of War and 16 for Halo 3
Repeated downtimes
Developer hostile and closed. System is designed for complete control by Microsoft and function as a revenue source for them alone. See the six month to year delay Epic is going through having to rewrite UT to work around the problems with Microsoft online service and mods.
PC Online:
Free to play for all
Dedicated servers
High player counts
Developer friendly and open system
PS3 Online:
Free to play for all
Dedicated servers
High player counts
Developer friendly and open system