No one expected the launch of Microsoft's ambitious HD movie and television download service to run without a hiccup, but the servers took a big enough hit to render the experience useless for numerous Xbox Live users. As the official Video Marketplace forums began to fill with complaints, Major Nelson took a moment to relay Microsoft's concerns to the public:"We understand these technical issues have resulted in a very unpleasant experience for our members, including extremely slow downloads or not receiving the content they purchased. We've made progress over the past 24–hours, and the team is dedicated to fixing the issues and continues to work as fast as they can around the clock to get the service running as seamlessly as you have come to expect."
Downloading will hopefully be stabilized within a few days, but has the damage been done? Will this sloppy roll-out affect Xbox Live's credibility? Perhaps. But as long as Sony and Nintendo remain behind, Microsoft is free to take risks with its online service. Like it or not, Xbox 360 still has the advantage.
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
Right now, Microsoft can have their service down for two days (when they said it would only be for one), and all they do is say "Well, sorry. Too bad." The least they could do is credit everyone with an extra day.
Since there is no competition there is not as large a risk if they piss off their customers.
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1 - Lack of usability. Look at those menus! XBL likes to stream a lot of menus from the server side, and this usually takes a second or two. This is all fine and dandy until you realize that a lot of content is buried behind 5-6 layers of menus. The whole experience is just rather convoluted and should be streamlined.
2 - Lack of selection. The *only* thing that piques my interest on that list is Jericho, and only because that show totally kicks ass. Where's Battlestar? Gray's? Start getting the same major shows that my TV gets and then we'll talk.
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Happened with the big MMORPGs like WoW, EQ, etc. Happened with the XBLM Video. Happened with the Amazon deal for the $100 360 core yesterday.
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The brand new Xbox360 Movie Service doesn’t work!!!!
My Xbox 360 is noisy!!!
My PS3 controller doesn’t rumble!!!!
My PS3 slot loading drive doesn’t work!!!
My Wiimote broke my TV screen!!!!
My Wii is giving me errors!!!!
I work in the IT industry and everyone one of us knows that these problems are inevitable because we can’t account for everything. If we did that either the project would be too expensive or never get off the ground, besides it’s like rush hour traffic on their servers with everyone trying it out right now.
It’s sad that most people see the glass half empty rather than half full.
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saints rows servers went belly up because everyone was making gangs and that caused sever issues.
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When the Xbox 360 is abandoned in 4 years or so, what's going to happen to the videos? Will it be possible to move the files to the Xbox 3? We don't know yet and somehow I doubt it considering the proprietary hard drive.
The rentals are more expensive that at most video stores, last only 24 hours as opposed to at least a week, and it's quicker to drive for a few minutes than spend time downloading
Then there's the problem about the lack of ownership on the so-called "purchased" content. You're not buying the content, you're buying a license to watch the content. That means you can't convert the video to another format to play on other devices. You lose your first sale rights meaning that you can't resell or give away your content when you don't want it anymore. I don't think that the hundreds of millions of eBay users will be too fond of that.
These downloads are restrictive, a total rip-off, and I hope this service fails.
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that's what i choose to believe.
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Also, some of the things you pointed out our major issues. Things such as internet downloads are a minor part, but problems like broken disk drives and error codes are serious. If the 360 launched after the PS3 and Wii and the launch went like it did, the 360 would bomb. Consumers expect the best for the kind of money.
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Regarding ebay, half the DVDs sold are pirated, so I don't see how resale value on ebay is relevant. Reselling digital media is practically worthless.
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What, you mean the stuff they *paid* for? Yeah, god forbid people complain when they're getting neither the service nor the products that they've shelled out their hard-earned money for.
I suppose where you live it rains $50's and $100's and the streets are paved with gold. Most people have to work for a living, though, and they have a right to be pissed off when the stuff they buy doesn't work as promised, or when they're charged and their products are then not delivered.
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A week from now, everything will work as expected and we'll slowly forget these first couple days.
As I type this, my Poseiden download is at 90%. I started downloading it Wednesday morning.
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That´s what happening to me and lots of friends...
FIX THAT, MICROSOFT!
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Considering what the competition has, I am very happy with what Major Nelson and the LIVE crew is doing.
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Does anyone else think this sounds a little unfair?
Maybe it's because all the PS3 fans are a bit more mature about this kind of thing...
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Lastly, I implore you - go to your local video rental store and see their selection of HD Movies. Now tell me that your once-lost $10 isn't worth it to have your movie permanently in stock? Netflix is great, but that's a day's delivery (and not on Sundays either) compared to your 5-hour download. Enjoy Xbox marketplace not only for the temporarily shoddy service it is, but for the service it will soon be.
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