Major Nelson acknowledges Xbox Live connectivity issues

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 15th 2008 at 6:30PM }

As many chainsaw duelists likely already know, Xbox Live performance hasn't been exemplary over the past 24 hours. Players are reporting frequent disconnection from Microsoft's soon-to-be-updated online service, prompting the ever-watchful Xbox Live Director of Programming, Major Nelson, to issue a statement which discloses that engineers are working to "determine the root cause of this issue."

We imagine the "root cause" has something to do with the bajillion people who are simultaneously trying to play Gears of War 2 -- though it could somehow be related to the upcoming launch of the New Xbox Experience. Speaking of which, we certainly hope whatever issues that are plaguing the service are hashed out by next Wednesday, as we're not certain that Microsoft took out "pitchfork-wielding rioter" insurance on their Redmond-based headquarters.

Tags: major-nelson, microsoft, new-xbox-experience, nxe, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Iwa @ Nov 15th 2008 6:37PM

Happy 6th Birthday Xbox Live!

Wes @ Nov 16th 2008 1:58AM

Yes, happy birthday indeed. The first four years, xbox live was based out of a server hub in Washington owned/operated by Microsoft.

Last year, they outsourced Xbox live servers to a third party company. Joystiq even ran an article on it about a 'partnership' with a server company for microsoft's 'online services for the xbox'.

Its pretty much all gone down hill since then. Microsoft wanted more profits, so, they outsourced servers for xbox live to the cheapest bidder so they wouldn't need to continually update server hardware, have infrastructure teams, etc but they are still happy to collect our gold membership fees.

Lately, it seems when Microsoft's scales way better quality versus more profit, more profit always win.

Heck, they outsourced Microsoft Vista support within a month or two of the xbox live outsourcing to India for the same reason. Before that, you got to speak to English speaking people in Canada. Now its english as a second language speakers in Mambai(spelling?), India.

Greedy Microsoft, I used to love my xbox 360, xbox live and Windows Vista. Now I just love the games on the xbox 360, don't mind Vista but have stopped paying for xbox live. For my multiplayer gaming, I'm using the free multiplayer on pc games like Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2.

OnToGlory @ Nov 16th 2008 2:55AM

omg, one friggin instance and people whine like little children. I completely gave up on the PSN since it was a laggy, bug ridden mess most of the time (see MLB 08, LBP, Lego Star Wars, Unreal).

I can't remember the last time I had a serious issue w/Live and an outage is bound to happen once in a blue moon.

Way better than the broken PSN or cheat filled pc games.

Kthxbye

Lionbacker @ Nov 16th 2008 11:54AM

@ontoglory:
I'm pretty sure outages should never happen, we are paying 50$ a year! Besides, PSN is FREE. I don't really mind outages on there, I just pop in an offline only game and have fun for a few hours until it is fixed. Actually, I do that for outages on both consoles.

The moral of the story is,
Shut the fuck up.

OnToGlory @ Nov 16th 2008 1:04PM

@Lion

What world do you live in? Gee, I paid $40,000 for a car so it should never have a problem, $1200 for a hot water heater so it should never have a problem, $40 a month for internet so it should never have a problem.

No one is happy when an issue arises, but when it is rare and miniscule I don't go up in arms about it. Especially for something like Live or any internet service that by its' nature is going to have hiccups now and again. I've been on Live literally since day one and problems are so few and far between I don't freak out 'OMG I PAY $50 A YEAR AND I COULDN'T SIGN IN FOR A DAY'.

On the other hand I paid $400 for the PS3 who've touted their free PSN and it is routinely a problem. I play baseball online every summer, and the best BB game this year, MLB 08, was utterly unplayable online in addition to the other titles I mentioned. The free PSN is an emabarrasment next to Live and I simply don't use it anymore due to the myriad of problems I've had with it.

So the real moral of the story is that you are not very smart and probably should never speak again.

Haggard @ Nov 16th 2008 2:04PM

Can't say I've ever bumped into more than about 4 hackers in 2 years of online PC gaming.

time @ Nov 16th 2008 4:45PM

"Can't say I've ever bumped into more than about 4 hackers in 2 years of online PC gaming."

I've ran into about 50 in around 6 months.

spentarts @ Nov 17th 2008 9:45AM

My live has been out for 4 days, after calling xbox and talking to morons who repeat the same corporate jingle over and over again ive reached the boiling point...The problem is only certain users lose connectivity. Everyone I know is on, but at random, I cant connect. The real problem is, there is no compensation for lose of days worth of play that I PAY for. The other issue is most of the "help" personel read off a screen and have no working knowledge of the products at all. Its disgusting.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Nov 15th 2008 6:37PM

I played Call of Duty 2 last night for 3 hours no problems. All my friends were on Live playing Gears 2, Halo 3, and World at War and they didn't seem to have problems as well.

Ellianth @ Nov 15th 2008 8:39PM

Well your friends are lucky then. Everyone else was getting kicked ever 2 minutes.

That forum post from MN has been there forever. Last night they weren't saying anything.

Misfit Toy @ Nov 16th 2008 11:23PM

I concur. No problems here either. Just did the 50 waves of Gears of War 2's Horde mode and I never had lag or was dropped.

Nytemare @ Nov 15th 2008 6:37PM

CoD WaW probably has something to do with that as well. I have a bunch of friends who are playing that game a lot.

Me, on the other hand, I'm playing Mirror's Edge. Nice offline modes :)

West @ Nov 16th 2008 1:21AM

I know what you mean...working my way though on hard/no shooting at the moment. Fun game.

gorest fump @ Nov 15th 2008 6:39PM

I want my money back dammit...

BoneMonkey @ Nov 15th 2008 6:39PM

I can't even sign in to live at this point and the rare time i do sign on to live i disconnect three minutes later .........

Nytemare @ Nov 15th 2008 6:39PM

I just realized...the server issues that were on PS3 are now on Xbox 360... coincidence?

I think we have an upcoming AIDA infection!

(+1 internet cookie for knowing the reference.)

zuburi @ Nov 15th 2008 6:44PM

I have cookies disabled.

R @ Nov 15th 2008 10:41PM

+1 Nytemare, everyone else fails for not knowing about .hack.

MBO @ Nov 16th 2008 12:18AM

cookies are yummy

whookid @ Nov 15th 2008 6:42PM

This stuff is pretty annoying, especially as I used a 48 hour trial and haven't once been able to connect to XBLive... Might just be my bad luck though.

Cj @ Nov 15th 2008 6:50PM

I think Its already over. To late Joystiq! :P

The Good Soldier Svejk @ Nov 15th 2008 9:38PM

It's amazing that even with appaling grammmar you get vted o 3 stars on Joystiq.

The Good Soldier Svejk @ Nov 15th 2008 9:49PM

I also want to say thta the was supposed to be a better structured joke response but the my bros mate came up to check on him, i'm wasted myself, I never got a new password from Joytiq and it ended up looking stupid.

I'm so soory :)

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 15th 2008 11:37PM

@tmac

Nice.

Joeshie @ Nov 15th 2008 6:50PM

Ahh, still one of the joys of PC gaming. Never having to worry about total online game outages as console users do.

Snowblind @ Nov 15th 2008 6:54PM

Considering how rarley this has happened to Live, I think I can put up with it for the vastly better online system.

Also, I've been playing Banjo with my brother all day and neither of us have had any problems.

Joeshie @ Nov 15th 2008 6:57PM

Yeah, the ability to have dedicated servers is great on LIVE.

Oh wait, you can't.

But then again, you have admin tools to kick out annoying twelve year olds.

Oh wait, no you don't.

But hey, at least companies don't nickle and dime you for DLC.

Oh wait, yes they do.

Some "vastly better" service you have there. :P

lol @ Nov 15th 2008 6:58PM

are you serious.

You can always count on opposing players cheating and scripting in every PC Game you play online.

i dont mind a outage once a year

Joeshie @ Nov 15th 2008 7:01PM

@lol

Just because you suck at the game, doesn't mean other people are cheating. I can't tell you how many whiny little kids complained that I was cheating in CS:S just because I was kicking their ass.

Try again, kiddo.

Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Nov 15th 2008 7:05PM

Why don't you just shut up and play your PC games and not troll a post on a gaming blog?

This is about Xbox LIVE, not the comparisions between online gaming platforms.

Heyyou27 @ Nov 15th 2008 7:07PM

While I generally like Live, only a fool would say it's better than what's available on the PC.

tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 15th 2008 7:10PM

"Why don't you just shut up and play your PC games and not troll a post on a gaming blog?"

Because he's a pc gamer and therefore has nothing to play?

lol @ Nov 15th 2008 7:12PM

okay stupid

How many times has anyone played CS and some dude uses aimbot and its pretty clear to everyone in the server hes using it? and the admins not on

end of story

Joeshie @ Nov 15th 2008 7:21PM

@lol

You occasionally get them. One of the more obvious aimbots is when the person cheating moves about 10x faster then everyone and constantly spins around in circles headshotting everyone. Of course, this is pretty rare and I haven't run into anyone with this aimbot for nearly a year now. And guess what? When I did run into someone like that who I suspected was cheating (which I rarely do), then I just switched servers. Switching servers takes about 10-15 seconds. Hardly a hassle.

Most of the people you hear who say that there are cheaters everywhere are the vocal minority that generally are fuckin' terrible at the game. The way they deal with being terrible is to deny their shittiness by blaming other people as hackers.

I'm not saying that the amount of cheaters and exploiters on LIVE or PSHOME is anywhere near that of PC games, but they are still a very small minority none-the-less. The problem is that console gamers, such as yourself, go around spreading misrepresentations of PC gaming, even though it's clear that almost none of you have had any sort of experience with PC gaming. (See streams of console gamers proclaiming that PC gaming costs thousands of dollars every year to play the latest games).

lol @ Nov 15th 2008 7:42PM

man it's way more common than you would think

what's worse is when people use hacks and scripts like no recoil where its not as easy to tell

long time ago I downloaded something that let me zoom at sniper levels with any gun

I ended up with a buncha headshots in a row with the deagle and got away with it.

stuff like this bothers me

Zertoss @ Nov 15th 2008 7:47PM

Hilariously, this problem also affected Games for Windows Live.

LameDuck @ Nov 15th 2008 8:06PM

@Joeshie: Misrepersenting PC gaming? This coming from the guy that said there is no XBL sever-based games, admin tools, and made it sound like you need DLC?

FYI, Captain Truth, not all XBL games are P2P, admin tools depend on the game maker, and you don't have to buy DLC if you don't want to.

I'm a PC and console gamer so I know what it's like on both sides of the fence. They are just alike. Both groups will cheat if they can, cuss like salors, and act like their the best in the world. Both groups are a bunch of self-righteous cocks. Nether have respect for their fellow man or for common decency. Both groups need to get a life and start acting their age.

So, STFU and pick which group of gaggling retards you want to be associated with and get your game on. Stop acting like just because you payed $3000 for something a $300 console can do, your penis is bigger than mine and when you kill someone in game, it means that, somehow, your worthless life matters more than mine.

Aero @ Nov 15th 2008 8:21PM

Successful troll is successful.
I tip my hat to you sir.

Tom18230 @ Nov 15th 2008 8:29PM

At first I wondered my people you voted you down, by after reading your posts Joeshie I'm totally embarrassed to say you and I are part of the same gaming community.

Joeshie @ Nov 15th 2008 8:58PM

@Aero

Thank you, good sir.

@LameDuck

Sounds like a little butthurt console user. What games on XBox LIVE allow you to set up your own dedicated server, on a server list, and allows you to ban people from that dedicated server all the while allowing for custom graphics, maps, and mods? Oh wait, no games. Try again Xbot.

Also, you aren't a PC gamer if you spend $3000 on your PC. You aren't fooling anyone with that. Enjoy playing with all the other 14 year olds.