M$ as they’re often lovingly referred to on “the internets”, or Microsoft had some problems over the past holiday season. Problems keeping Xbox Live, well, live. The resulting backlash had them release this letter. Basically telling everyone, sorry our service is so popular, blah, blah, blah, we’ll give you a free game to ease the pain. They gave us no real information on what that game was or when we would get it.

So, that day has come, they have announced that the game is… Undertow! Tada. Yay, now we can all be happy and go back to loving big papa Microsoft. Technically they don’t have to do anything, as per their terms of service state nothing about the level of actual uptime or quality of that service. But, being the generous monopoly, I mean company that they are they have decided to offer us Xbox Live Gold customers a free game. All of us, the same game. A game, if you don’t already own, you might play for all of five minutes before going back to Mass Effect or Call of Duty 4.

I’ve heard that if you already own the game, according to Xbox Live front man Major Nelson. He said, “If you have already purchased the game, you can contact support and they will take care of you.” That almost sounds like a threat. I’m sure it’ll be just as painless as it sounds though.

So, when do we get this game? And who gets it? I’m glad you asked. Microsoft has said, “all Xbox LIVE members (Gold and Silver) around the world would have access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game [Undertow] to download free of charge.”…”beginning next Wednesday, 2:00 a.m. PST through Sunday, 11:59 p.m. PST, Xbox LIVE members worldwide can download the full version of the recent award-winning Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Undertow.”

Wait, am I reading this right? All Xbox Live Member? Silver to? The people who were effectively unaffected by the Xbox Live outages? Really? Okay.

Why don’t they just give us 800-1200 Microsoft Points, that way, we’re all happy. The people who actually want to buy Undertow can, and everyone else can buy a good game. I’m sure I’m not the only one less than satisfied with this “solution”. What do you think Microsoft should do for Gold Live Members? Let us know. Comment below or post in the forums.

Boom!

Story via GamingNews

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The swirling tornado of Xbox 360 rumors that has been tearing its way through the Counter Agent offices for the last week is starting to die out. So far there has been no announcement from the folks at Microsoft at CES about the much hyped HD/DVD integration on the 360.

According to Kotaku Microsoft issued this statement concerning those rumors:

“We have reiterated multiple times since launching the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player that we have no plans to integrate an HD-DVD player in to the Xbox 360. We feel that offering the drive externally is the best way to give consumers the ultimate choice to create their own high-definition experiences.”

Makes no sense to me but hey I’m just a guy who plays video games.

Thanks Kotaku

Bill Gate’s gave his last keynote CES earlier tonight. How was it? What giant revelations did he have? Is he still as boring and un-charismatic as ever? Read on to find out. Oh, but yeah, he still can’t deliver on the charisma thing.

It all started with some of the crappiest music I could endure, Paulson, whatever. That led into the much hyped reveal of Mr. President and CEO of CES, Gary Shapiro, yeah no Gates yet. Once he was done pimping CES he introduced Bill Gates. (Note: this is his 12th and final CES). The Xbox was announced at CES some years ago, as well as a number of big Microsoft products. Mr. Gates walks onto stage to a funky remix of the ‘If you believe in magic’. He starts with talk about hopes and dreams. The technologies that have grown in the past few years.

It’s all about the first “Digital Decade”. He claims all media will be software, not hardware driven in the future. All about customizing your experience wherever you are. The TV meeting the Internet, i.e. their very own Windows Media Center.

Holy crap, then they did this crappy montage, skit thing about what Bill Gates last day will be like. I think they’re trying to make him lovable or something before he goes. They had him rapping with Jay-Z, working out with Matthew McConaughey , rocking out with Rock Band while on the phone with U2 singer Bono. Steven Speilberg, George Clooney, John Stewart, even Hilary Clinton, Obama, and Al Gore make cameo’s. All of the guys at Microsoft like to let their hair down and have a good laugh. They’re people just like you and me, not a gigantic, retarded, monopoly, right? More…

So, it looks like we will be getting something as compensation for the lack of service last week. It will be a yet-to-be-determined Xbox Live Arcade game sometime in the near future, whatever that means. Ooh, wow, they really know how to fix things. I’m sorry that was sarcasm, it’s a very hard thing to convey in written form. Anyway, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten sent out this message last night:

“During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break. While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state.

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service. And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you.”

It seems as if Microsoft just wants to thank everyone for making this past week the best week ever for Xbox Live. They make it sound like the crappy service was a good thing. I’m wondering what happens to all the Live members that already own said arcade game. Here’s hoping it’s something awesome like Root Beer Tapper or Frogger. More sarcasm.

Boom!

If you were stuck without Xbox Live for the last couple of weeks you might be getting something in return. According to Kotaku, Microsoft may give you something back. An unnamed source told them “…we will definitely be doing something for our Gold members that weren’t able to get online over the last week.”

We’ll see what that something might be. My guess is Microsoft points.

Halo 3 Professional Gamer Skyllus vBi has been the victim of Xbox Live Identity Theft. He’s a member of the professional gaming group Team vBi. After posting this crazy suicide video from Halo 3, he was given a rare Halo 3 Recon Armor, which only Bungie employees and some elite Halo community members have. Not long after getting the special armor Skyllus has reportedly had his Xbox Live account hacked, and or stolen, three times since late October.

Whoever stole the account has got to be brain dead. Not only is it a real “go-to-jail” offense, but it has to be pretty easy to spot someone running around in a match with a flaming head. If you or anyone you know has seen this man, please report it to your local authorities, or Microsoft.

P.S. I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes, eh? Am I right? Nevermind.

Source: [Joystiq]

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Let’s see, what can’t Microsoft get to work right? Well, there’s the Xbox 360’s and their red ring on death. Window’s Vista is the biggest disappointment of the year [PC World]. Internet Explorer continues to suck, as does the Zune. We can officially add Xbox Live to that crap list. Seems they can’t keep it working.

Epic Fail indeed. I’m not the only one that, for a second week in a row has experience problems playing games on Xbox Live, let alone getting online at all with Live. I thought we’re paying for a service for a reason, right? I mean, it would be one thing if it was a free service and it went down a time or two, whatever. But anyone who plays games online with Xbox Live is paying for the service to work.

Here’s what Microsoft can do to fix the problem. First, they could start with fixing the problem, that is giving us the service we pay for. They could also, oh, I don’t know, give us free stuff. Maybe a few thousand MS points, an Arcade game or two, of our choosing. A free year of Xbox Live. Anything more than the official response of “We’re working night and day”, blah, blah, blah.

Here are some other reports on the issue: Engadget 1, Engadget 2, Engadget 3, Engadget 4, Engadget 5, Joystiq, Major Nelson

Let us know what you think. Have you had any problems this past weekend or the last with Xbox Live? Comment Below.

Boom!

I remember analysts originally saying how the PS3 would dominate the next-gen console wars. Well, it’s been over a year now, and, not so much. Analysts and industry “experts” still claim a comeback. Some say as early as 2008 the PS3 could bring Sony back into the next-gen war.

Media analyst firm Screen Digest is feeling confident in the media capabilities of the PS3. They think it’s going to make a strong increase in 2008. Senior games analyst, Piers Harding-Rolls, says “Now that these multi-media services - online video, IPTV, digital terrestrial TV and PVR functionality - are now available or poised to come on line in different markets, this ‘hub’ strategy is emerging as a key console battleground for Microsoft and Sony.” [Computer And Video Games]

Other sources have said it may take as long as 2011 before the Playstation 3 catches up with the runaway success of Nintendo’s Wii. Me, well, I think it’s gonna remain in third place as long as the price remains higher than competitors and the console’s library consists of more than a few decent Blu-Ray movies and one or two good games each year.

What are your thoughts? We love to hear what everybody thinks. Comment below and let us know.

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At the new, lower price of $99 the MS wireless racing wheel is still a bit expensive for the average gamer. However, if you’re a racing game fan, with a decent size wallet, the wheel really is a solid purchase. As of right now the Xbox 360 is one of the best platforms for racing games. We’ve got some great games like: Dirt (must own), Sega Rally Revo (rental), Forza Motor Sport 2 (best simulation), Project Gotham Racing 4 (best arcade/sim), and the upcoming Burnout Paradise (best speed/crashing).

Source [Joystick]

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Hey, score one for PS3! They don’t charge for any online service, although they don’t really have much reason to right now anyway. Yeah, and the Wii I guess, whatever. Microsoft officially announced a downgrade to anyone using a Silver (free) Xbox Live account. If you’re not willing drop the $50 a year, you’ll be missing out on downloadable content, at least for the first week or two anyway.

Can you believe Microsoft is actually downgrading services at this point? You’d think they would want to continue undercutting the competition by extending the Silver membership abilities. They’re not exactly going to expand the audience this way. What do you think? Comment on this story below.

Boom!