Major Nelson speaks about recent Xbox Live issues

by Griffin McElroy { Dec 30th 2007 at 1:30PM }

Many of you might have noticed a bevy of problems facing Xbox live over this past week: An unresponsive marketplace, the inability to recover a gamertag (or even sign in), and aggravating matchmaking wait times, to name a few. Major Nelson issued a statement last night explaining that while there have been no complete outages of the service over the past week, "problems like this are not acceptable," and that they are working to get the service back to normal. Sadly, no time frame was provided on when repairs to the service would be complete.

There's been no official statement on why the service has been so shoddy lately, but if we were the guessing type, we blame it on the holiday season. We're sure that tons of people found a 360 under their trees (or candles), and immediately tried to hop online; only to collide with the millions of vacationing gamers who were already playing. Technology has come a long way, but the internet can still only hold so many racial epithet-slinging Master Chiefs before things start breaking down.

Tags: 360, Major-Nelson, MajorNelson, Microsoft, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)

Geoffrey @ Dec 30th 2007 6:52PM

If I were a betting man, I would guess that Microsoft is losing money over this outage, given the amount of resources they're probably throwing at the problem over the holidays (various compensation schemes that kick in when you have to work over a holiday). I agree with you that MS should provide some sort of refund (even if its $1-4 per user), but to accuse them of profiting from it? That's sort of absurd.

ThornedVenom @ Dec 30th 2007 8:05PM

Perhaps I overrreacted there, but that's how I'd feel if I had to pay for it.

Jimbo @ Dec 30th 2007 7:20PM

I haven't been able to log into live since the 23rd. I'm annoyed to say the least.

343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 30th 2007 6:55PM

I love how everyone complains "why do I get ads on a service I pay for?"

Have you ever bothered to turn on the TV? I pay too much to Comcast each month and I get 16 minutes or more an hour of ads. That's a quarter of my viewing time, which I'm paying for, that's used for advertising. So XBL has a couple ads for a video game or accessory, so what?

Obie @ Dec 30th 2007 7:04PM

Oh I see because Comcast bones you, XBL is ok to bone you too? Seriously man, get a spine and stand up for yourself as a paying consumer.

343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 31st 2007 1:03AM

Get used the 21st century is what I'll say to your "get a spine" comment. Ads are being bombarded at us constantly from all parts of society and I doubt it will go away soon.

Personally, i'm more annoyed by the amount of commercials on TV than the ad or two which XBL throws up, which like I said before, is usually for a game demo or some such. It sucks but so does TV and the rest of our consumer-driven world.

Mini Jo @ Dec 30th 2007 7:01PM

Just imagine these new owners who got Xbox Live for Christmas, they can't even understand why their parents paid for it!

xHMDx @ Dec 30th 2007 7:06PM

First, call a fb if you want but unfortunately the PS3 is not an option for me, the controller and the games are the reason. I hate the analog positioning and I play tactical shooters almost exclusively.

I have to say though, I think the PS3 is by far higher quality and more reliable than the 360 in a technical sense. Once (if) some good tactical shooters come out for the system and a third party makes a better designed controller I would love to buy it.

Second, when something is not right, I'm not going to bury my head in the sand. These current issues on Live are TOTAL BS. Also, I have to say I've noticed a decline in the service since the Summer.

This latest batch of problems is just icing on the cake. Microsoft needs to do a giant update, or rebuild, mainly just something - ANYTHING - that FIXES the problem because it will eventually become so annoying for me I won't even play it anymore, recently it's been like ten years ago playing PSO on dial-up, connection wise.

superaktieboy @ Dec 31st 2007 6:03AM

What the hell are you on about?
if the you love the xbox controller you can always hack the ps3 controller into a xbox 360 controller: http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/15/ben-hecks-ps360-sixaxis-stuffed-xbox-controller/

otherwise there are many third party controllers the ps3 has, and the one i like best is SplitFish's FragFX controller: http://www.amazon.com/SplitFish-Gameware-PS3-fragfx108w-Playstation-Controller/dp/B000S14FNO

demo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGaI14VG89M

so shut up about xbox 360 controller being supperior!!

greeetzz

Obie @ Dec 30th 2007 7:05PM

Oh XBL is down again tonite...we should get some more of this "stimulating" and "balanced" real soon!

baby sea tuna @ Dec 31st 2007 9:02AM

Dear Sir,

Stop being such a troll bitch.

Your pal,
Baby Sea Tuna

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 31st 2007 9:58AM

Hold up hold up.

Dear bitch as Troll,

You gonna pay what you owe.

Qraze @ Dec 30th 2007 8:35PM

#1 you can go on the ps3 web browser and download free music movies pictures themes even other problems 2 the hdd or a mem stick or flash drive all 4 free if u know where 2 look. ms you pay 2 get adds shoved in your face and everythink else but then u can't do anything else u will never hold in your hands showtime pay radio no adds and you pay a premium cuz that's how they make money. i fuckin feel sorry 4 anyone with a 360 their copycat non original and will go under in 08

aristokrat @ Dec 30th 2007 9:06PM

Seriously. Spell out your words. Especially when you are also using numbers to demarcate a list. Maybe you could use this downtime to work on your typing.

baby sea tuna @ Dec 31st 2007 9:04AM

pwnt.

Korova @ Dec 31st 2007 12:42PM

Punctuation. It's what's up!

bakabakabaka @ Dec 30th 2007 8:42PM

I don't see how live 'shoves' ads in our faces. On tv, you are either watching your program or watching commercials. On live, the ads are in a box somewhere on the dashboard(or in games like Crackdown, on billboards) and you don't get an interruption of your game. It is just there and you can ignore it if you want. I don't see anyone complaining about television commercials considering the fact that advertising funds your programs. So live makes some money selling ads that are unobtrusive and in no way interrupt your game time. So what, that is a much better business model for consumers.
Yes, this outage is unacceptable considering this is a time of year that people get a chance to play their games. People get time off from work or school and have the opportunity to play around the holidays. A week of downtime is significant to people like that and there should be some form of compensation.
And as for the online service, Live is the best of the three. The Wii has no online multiplayer and the PSN is still growing. I think it can become as good or better than Live but for the time being, it is inferior. Being free isn't good enough to overcome what it lacks. Their network also hasn't been tested by the same user demands that Live has to deal with. When the numbers are comparable, then try arguing about service. Until then you are comparing apples to cats.

Now, quit complaining about the ads and come up with a compelling argument. Preferably one based in fact.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 31st 2007 8:59AM

There is no compelling argument. All it is is, "AAAARGH ADS. CAN'T STAND THEM!!!!!" I mean if there was just one ad, people will still complain.

Jason @ Dec 30th 2007 8:44PM

My roommate and I both have 360's the apartment. I haven't had any issues with my account - the only problems have been slow matchmaking in Halo. However, my roommate can't even login on his xbox. I figured the issue would be affecting people based on region or something, but it's just weird when random accounts don't work.

Qraze @ Dec 30th 2007 8:46PM

on doing this with my ps3 anyway what r xbots on a compaq right now? hit me up PSN Qraze #1_in_the_hood_G!!

George @ Dec 30th 2007 8:57PM

Where's my money? Can't find it, I saw Microsoft take it.

Generation ABXY @ Dec 30th 2007 9:10PM

Ah, so there was a problem. I tried to grab Castlevania: SotN off of the Marketplace, and it kept telling me my credit card number was wrong...so my money went to the PSN and I bought it for the PS3 (still a great game, even without Achievements).

In my defense (so as not to seem inpatient), I asked someone on my friends list, and they told me it was because I let my LIVE subscription lapse. That initial month was all I've really had it, so I didn't know...

Moofree @ Dec 30th 2007 9:20PM

"we wont have any more major problems again for a long time."- ssuk

I don't think you're stupid, you may just have selective memory.
Xbox live goes down a lot. It's really not the most reliable of services.
Sure this specific instance may not happen again, but you're naive if you think we've seen the last of Xbox live outages.

Moofree @ Dec 30th 2007 9:21PM

Bah, stupid reply button.

Orenthol James Simpson @ Dec 30th 2007 9:24PM

Practically every time anything popular comes up on Live, the servers have issues. MS has about the foresight of a blind snail. It's like clockwork. Without fail. EVERY SINGLE TIME, too.

Abhinav Kumar @ Dec 30th 2007 11:07PM

It seems to have gotten worse not better, i didn't really have any problems and now they appear to be popping up for me. Bah damn you Xbox Live.

konajinx @ Dec 30th 2007 11:25PM

Have had zero problems here during all of this stuff going on. But hey, all you PSN fans get back to that protein folding and waiting for Home to be released and give you something else to stare at on the PS3 besides the fingerprints, Coke can rings, and "KILL ME NOW" written in the dust collecting on top of your wonderful systems.

bluesquareapple @ Dec 31st 2007 1:13AM

It's been up and down since Halo 3 was released. It's probably errors or a massive overload in the video playback system. That's a lot of data going through the servers. If there's a million people playing Halo 3, that's over a TB of information in under 10 minutes. It's all speculation, but I have a feeling that's where the problems lay.

FaaR @ Dec 31st 2007 1:14AM

Anyone else get the mental picture of Microsoft technicians looking like Team Fortress 2 Engineers, running around and frantically banging on the burning servers and switches with huge wrenches to destroy all the sapper charges placed on them by Sony Spies? :-D

Dr. @ Dec 31st 2007 9:13AM

Beautiful.

roxxxo @ Dec 31st 2007 1:23AM

i've been playing mass effect just fine the last few weeks, guess i didnt notice these problems

Untamed @ Dec 31st 2007 2:07AM

They still seem to be able to get their advertising on my dashboard quick enough.

TheMoonman @ Dec 31st 2007 4:20AM

OH THANK LORD.

I thought I was the only one with these problems....

GhostDoggy @ Dec 31st 2007 8:23AM

Major Nelson can Kiss My Grits while he writes me a check for termination of service and buying back this worthless console.

I switched to console gaming and the Xbox for the online aspect, but the centralization of online overlords that M$ has implemented has shown to be its greatest weakness (all eggs in one basket), and the design and management of poor individuals.

Three of the four nights in the past nine I and friends have dealt with this issue, and the one night we actually got on was fraught with Live disconnects. Add to this on top of the miserable Halo 3 launch week network issues, it'd be better for those affected had they played on a free network.

To pay for something you cannot use is bad business, but as a good friend has said repeatedly, "Bill Gates is the Devil." I'm inclined to agree with him.

baby sea tuna @ Dec 31st 2007 9:12AM

You should totally sell your Xbox right now, that'll show those "M$" bastards! There are still plenty of other awesome games to play without it. In fact, I've been hearing some great buzz about both jacks and ball-and-cup...

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 31st 2007 10:00AM

DO IT PUNK!!!

Juice @ Dec 31st 2007 9:13AM

Yeah yeah service is down big deal. Well, it kind of is a big deal. Any die hard gamer knows that the holidays are prime gaming time. So what tools at M$ didn't make boosting their Live servers around the holidays a priority. Bad business. Paying for playing online was one of the things that MAJORLY urked me about the XBOX360. But I went with it because it had more games and a bigger "following" then the PS3. And it was cheaper. But IMHO 50$-60$ a yr for online play seems a bit of a stretch considering PS3 is...FREE. To go from free to 50$ bucks seems disproportionate. I could see $5 or $10 bucks. Sure PS3 doesn't have as large of an online crowd so they are running into some of the same problems but all that cold hard earned cash the M$ is getting from Live account they should have been able to keep their servers up and running around the holidays. Inexcusable. IMHO. And one more reason for people to get a PS3 who are on the fence...

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 31st 2007 9:23AM

Ok what? I've been a member of Xbox live since the xbox days joyfully playing Halo with million other users. Never had a problem. Bought a 360 last year, signed up for xbox live again on the same day. And from my experience, never had a problem with live. And I'd play almost every day, and if I didn't play, my brothers were playing. So while I understand that there were a few hiccups mentioned on gaming websites, I've never had a real problem with xbox live which is why I have no problem paying the $50 a year.

Which is why I can't believe the argument that xbox live is down all the time. How is that possible if whenever I'm playing, or my brothers are playing, xbl is working just fine. I will say that the only time I've had trouble with live is when my connection is sucking dick(this happens alot, my connection is a whore). But even during the halo 3 launch I had no problem getting in a few matchmaking games. So the only reason I can think of of why this thread is getting plagued with, "BLAAAARGH MICROSOFT SUCKS!!" are trolls. sad little trolls who come in here, bitch, and go back to their pitiful existence. Which makes me sad that there are people like that.

Look. Just because you paid for something, doesn't mean it can't break. If you honestly think like that when you give your credit card number, you're just going to be disappointed time and time again.

Juice @ Dec 31st 2007 9:41AM

I know it's hard to believe but some "gamers" work a lot contributing to society and don't have time to play "every day". They take time of during the holidays and stuff expecting to enjoy some video games when it works around their schedule. And IMHO they should be able to expect that especially if they shelled out 50 bucks. I understand in the "grand scheme of things" xbox live's uptime is probably 99% or whatever. But during the holidays. For days on end. C'mon. Last night I couldn't get on and I was jonesin' for the COD4. Denied!
____________________________________
BTW. $1.99 at yahoo domains.

http://www.xboxlivesucks.com. HAHA!!!

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 31st 2007 10:04AM

I agree it sucks. And it sucks that it happened on the holidays. Don't take me the wrong way, I am mad about it. But I'm not a fucking idiot shoutiing, "BLAARGH GIVE MEH BACK MAH FIDDY DOLLARES M$!!!!!!" I have the common sense to realize that even though I pay for somethiing does not in any way mean that it's 100% unbreakable. That's just not how life works. So yes it's unfortunate that this had to have happened on the holidays. But I'm not going to go all, "FUCK MICROSOFT" about it.

Juice @ Dec 31st 2007 10:11AM

Agreed. But I couldn't pass up that domain for $1.99. :)

mike @ Dec 31st 2007 9:34AM

Man all you people getting angry and talking about ps3 are morons. Yes its a shame we pay ofr XBL and its gets a little wonky for a week or 2. But think for a second. Thats only like $2-3 in the end. Nothing to get upset about. Sure free week extension onto all gold accounts would be a good compensation but dont fret if you dont get it. PSN free? Who cares if PSN paid you to use it, its complete garabge compared to XBL. Your comparing apples and oranges. XBL allows me to have friends lists, voice chat, messaging, msn integration, organization, marketplace. There really is no comparison at all. An alternative is not selling your 360 and buying a wii/ps3. How the fuck is that gonna help? Then you still wont be able to play the better games online on those networks because you cant play 360 games on those consoles. Remember XBL services are free for silver members. So microsoft needs to charge to actually play online for the better servicce. I would gladly pay $100 a year for XBL. And yet, you can buy 1 year for $25 off ebay (be careful tho) Stop being so cheap people.

Luckaly for me, Ive been playing Mass effect and eternal sonata since xmas and they are 1 player games so the live thing has not bothered me other then not being able to log in properly.

Juice @ Dec 31st 2007 9:46AM

No offense to your statement but if you're not addicted to COD4 multiplayer you just can't understand. Must shoot. Must shoot.

:)

Oscar Julio Cardoso @ Dec 31st 2007 9:50AM

lol, its really sad to see people being so dissapointed about microsoft services. Bad MS!

They have done a wonderful job on trying to make the consoles to behave or offer the same advantages as de PC platform. Sadly, they are still getting the fix on that. Good work to MS...but take time to actually UPGRADE to better services, while selling millions and millions of XBX Live accounts.

oh and by the way....PC Gaming FTW!

Biff Slamchunk @ Dec 31st 2007 11:11AM

I was having problems with Live about four weeks ago, the people saying they haven't had any issues in two years must not be going on Live regularly. Part of me understands that nothing is perfect and so give MS some leeway to fix issues that no one has really had to deal with before. The other half of me is pissed off because I'm paying for a service that I can't access through no fault of my own. In the end it's only hurting MS. A lot of "new" 360 owners are going to try the free trial, think that Live sucks ass, and not pay for membership. I imagine MS is frantic at the moment sweating over how many new memberships they COULD have gotten if not for these issues. What would you think of you were a new 360 owner and couldn't even log on to Live? MS is doing it's typical "don't talk about it and maybe no one will notice" way of doing business. Instead of being as forthcoming as possible with information, they leave it to the paying customer to hunt down any sparse information they can get. Unfortunately, Wii and PS3 online are a joke at the moment, so there's not much of an alternative for online console gaming.

Korova @ Dec 31st 2007 12:05PM

I think someone at XBL is gonna get fired if not already fired.

All trial accounts that attempted to log in the past week should be given a month or two free trial extension.

Also, XBL show display a burning log when it is down - like those TV channels which are down for christmas.

roxxxo @ Dec 31st 2007 11:22AM

fuck these spybots

Korova @ Dec 31st 2007 11:58AM

Dont even talk to me about XBL. XBL, I am so mad at you!

I did manage to log 3-4 hours on TF2 this weekend, which is as much as I wanted to get out of it. There was lag, there were drops, there was dashboard misbehavior. But it wasnt that bad. I never tried to recover my tag anywhere.

And when I got tired of online, I went to Best Buy and got AssCreed for $40. Great game, and it doesnt even support XBL.

Soooooe ... yeahhh! All feathers still in cap, boots shiny and buckle swashed!

kastonie @ Dec 31st 2007 2:03PM

i dont wanna sound like a jerkwad or anything...but theres something about major nelson that kinda irks me....i think its the way he stares into your soul when he is talking to you in the videos on xbl marketplace...ehh it kinda creeps me out...sorry....