Xbox Live suffering from major outage. On Christmas weekend. Ouch.

Hard to say whether it's caused or correlated, but just about everyone with an Xbox is probably tying to get online today in order to avoid spending that precious, invaluable quality time with their amazing, loving fam -- problem is Xbox Live has been down for friggin hours, and doesn't seem any closer to getting back online. Anyone able to get on? Or are you still having issues? Shout it out in comments, we feel your pain.

Read - Xbox Live status
Read - Outage on Xbox Live Forums

Update: The site says they're back up and running. Everybody good here?

[Libb @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:18PM]

It would seem that it is Live-wide, because the Zune Marketplace is also rejecting log-ins (I want to download music on my Zune Pass, damnit!).

[Clark @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:31PM]

whats going on? my friend down the street is on but i cant get on

[Kent G. Jon @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:33PM]

Xbox Live is down in Plano, TX as well.
Maybe too much activity caused the servers to crash?
Or maybe Nexon's coffee spilled again.

[Ant @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:29PM]

i was able to log on to xbl here in chicago rght now.

[Rob @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:29PM]

I just tried and mines still down

[Brandon @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:30PM]

To make matters worse (or possibly the cause of them), it is CoD4 play all night, night. (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/calendar/xboxallnighter/20071222-cod4.htm)

[Sean L @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:35PM]

Not sure what the problem is for all of you, but I turned mine on about 9:15 tonight and have not had any problems what-so-ever. Prior to that, I was on from about 2pm this aft, until about 4pm and again, no problems. I live in RI....

[rmikejav @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:43PM]

Oh, for the long ago day when you could march into the store where you bought you danglewikit and slam in on the counter and say "this crap ain't workin' and I want my money back!"
Imagine about 100 thousand people doing that all together!!
It's about feeling helpless, and it ain't imagined, you're REALLY helpless!!

[Dunkin007 @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:10AM]

I'm in Portland,OR no live :(

[JBDragon @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:10AM]

Darn, some people are going to loose like $.7 cents worth of service. Oh no!!! If it's $4.17 a month at $50 a year, Or around $.14 cents a day in a 30 day month. Your loosing like $.006 cents per hour.

WOW MS is just screwing over people for their money!

[ill trooper @ Dec 23rd 2007 1:08PM]

..but still, it is happening. Unacceptable. Money is being paid, a service is expected.

[JBDragon @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:12AM]

LIVE is a very popular service, last I heard there was 6+ million users and it's growing. A whole lot of new Xbox 360 users this month, and many more come the 25th!.

[John @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:22AM]

Ha, guess i should be sorta greatful for having red rings of death at this point.

Ah well, about half way through the month of no 360..shouldn't be much longer now.

I did get my 60 gig ps3, so that's good. Here's hoping it gets here sooner. :)

[Greg @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:35AM]

Unfortunately for me it doesn't matter whether
X Box Live works because yesterday, one day out of original warranty, I got the red ring of death.
Thanks to MSFT's 3 year warranty extension now all I have to do is wait a month to get a refurbed 360 back...(and then hope the replacement works)so even if Santa brings me a new game for Christmas :) I can't play it anyway...

[Aaron @ Dec 24th 2007 1:35AM]

Got the red-ring last month. Surprisingly, only about a two week turn around time sending the old console in and getting a brand spanking new one back. The biggest b**ch was dealing with their "customer disservice reps" in India or Pakistan or where ever...I swear, every time you ask them a question, they put you on hold while they email it to MS and then sit and wait for a reply. WORST EVER!

[scott @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:48AM]

still not working for me =(
St. Petersburg, FL.

[Matt @ Dec 23rd 2007 1:00AM]

all good in Nashville. had ~5 friends on though, which is about a third of normal for this time of night...

[alips3 @ Dec 23rd 2007 2:27AM]

ps3 user- hahahahahahahahahaha.....

[Chris McDowell @ Dec 23rd 2007 2:22AM]

COD 4 is working in The Bay Area California. there are 46264 people online in cod4 right now. weird.

[Bryan @ Dec 23rd 2007 2:26AM]

The prepaid cards to buy Live subscriptions are also not working. When purchasing the cards they can't be activated by the register. I called in about it and I got some explanation that it went down because of a storm somewhere and there's no eta on a fix.

[King @ Dec 23rd 2007 2:31AM]

PSN is working fine... This seems almost ironic.

[Darkest Daze @ Dec 23rd 2007 2:42AM]

Of course it's working, no one's on it. /jk...kind of

[neomazer19 @ Dec 23rd 2007 3:36AM]

9pm est i was able to get online but was a little slow

[NobleArc, The Lazy Canadian @ Dec 23rd 2007 3:43AM]

With this and people having issues logging in with World of Warcraft, online gamers are going to be having withdrawal symptoms this holiday season.

[Mr man @ Dec 23rd 2007 5:24AM]

No trouble here in the uk - for once microsoft hasn't screwed the uk ove

[Nils @ Dec 23rd 2007 6:28AM]

Germany, 12:13 CET. It seems to work just fine.

[Chad @ Dec 24th 2007 10:15PM]

Mine was out for about an hour now it is just fine in South Carolina.

[Eriksson @ Dec 23rd 2007 9:29AM]

Ah, I think I'm gonna go play some PS3 now :)

[ZeroCorpse @ Dec 23rd 2007 11:55AM]

Here's the problem with XBox Live and the Marketplace: I paid for every expansion for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (except Horse Armor) and my whole game is dependent on game saves that incorporate elements from those expansions.

However, when XBox Live is unavailable, I cannot use any of the expansions. THIS SUCKS. While I like the digital distribution, I HATE the idea that my XBox 360 has to check with Microsoft EVERY SINGLE TIME I PLAY OBLIVION in order for me to have access to my expansions and thus load my saved games.

When the network is down, I can't play Oblivion.
When my Internet connection is broken, I can't play Oblivion.
When I'm away, visiting my parents, I can't play Oblivion.

The dependency on XBox Live to check my purchased content makes the purchased content only useful for as long as I maintain a direct connection to Microsoft, and I don't like that one bit.

Distributors need to get their meathooks out of my purchases once they've been PAID FOR and downloaded. If I give you the equivalent of $30 for a software package, I shouldn't have to get your permission to use it every time I load it up. You don't treat the people who purchase expansion discs this way, so why should online purchases be totally f*cked if XBox Live isn't available? It's BAD BUSINESS.

[Virtual Light @ Dec 23rd 2007 12:18PM]

Just an FYI Xbox.com currently has the live status posted as "Up and Running" http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/?WT.svl=nav

[doshomik @ Dec 23rd 2007 1:03PM]

yeah its up now :D

[mattyuk @ Dec 23rd 2007 1:20PM]

@scaryj

So we're fanboys are we? I know, lets do some maths. Xbox Live currently costs £39.99 for 12 months with one month extra free. So that's 365 days plus say about 30 for another month taking it to roughly 395 days give or take a few. With this knowledge we can see that Xbox Live is costing people in the UK 10p a day, and I dare say it's even cheaper for those in the US.

From this we learn that those of us not complaining and saying it's ok are not in fact fanboys, we are "reasonable people", and that you are just a "cheapskate".

[simon @ Dec 23rd 2007 1:31PM]

it was out for a few hours... thats like losing less than a nickel... I think we're all okay... I didnt get on until 10 ohio time anyway, it worked fine for me, but some of my friends had issues... Small price to pay for a sweet product... Gears FTW!!!

[Matt @ Dec 23rd 2007 1:59PM]

It was not working right for 2 days. They should add that time to everyone's subscriptions.

[David Van @ Dec 24th 2007 12:47AM]

Thats what you get when you buy a 360 or xbox..... CHEAP SERVICES!

[JBDragon @ Dec 23rd 2007 3:10PM]

Sorry buy nothing you pay for works 100% of the time.

[JBDragon @ Dec 23rd 2007 3:16PM]

That doesn't seem right. Did you purchase the extra content on that 360, or did it RROD you and you sent it in and got another 360? Content you BUY on your 360 should work wither your connected to LIVE or not. Content you paid for on another 360 you have to be verified by only your user account which means you have to be connected to LIVE.

[Virtual Light @ Dec 23rd 2007 8:56PM]

Stuff like tv shows works... Arcade games actually dont work if you arnt on live... they only show up as a demo.

[JBDragon @ Dec 24th 2007 12:50AM]

Ya, Arcade games work without being connected to LIVE IF you paid for the content on that 360! If your not using that 360 then it relies on who paid for it and checks LIVE to make sure it's valid. I'm guessing your not using the same 360 when you paid for those arcade games. They then go into DEMO mode unless you can log into LIVE.

MS should do something about this. If you log in on a specific 360 it should lock you to that one so you don't have to be connected to LIVE, while not cheating the system. I'm thinking ahead for the next Xbox whatever it's going to be called. TV shows and whatnot that you paid to own, what happens when getting the new system. Have to buy it again? New Xbox, so now you'll have to be connected to LIVE to access it? It's not a perfect system, and especially now with the 360 with so many people having to send there 360's in for repair. Your not getting the same 360 back, so you end up with the having to connect to LIVE problem.

DRM really sucks the big one. Which is one of many reasons why I won't have anything to do with that DRM infested Blu-Ray format. I can't understand why so many want this crap. Here we are finally getting rid of it for music and yet people want a whole lot more of it on Movies, HD movies at that which are huge in file size anyway and less of a piracy problem.

[Diceburna @ Dec 24th 2007 5:10PM]

@JBDragon
You're right about DRM and Blu-Ray, but I want to share with you why I am still a BD fanboy. A good majority of us see this as a big problem with the format but it is a problem we can deal with for now. With some electronics I have to compromise you know. BD has a bright future in my eyes so I am willing to deal with the DRM BS for now.

[JBDragon @ Dec 24th 2007 8:44PM]

Blu-Ray has a lot of problems. DRM is just one of them. Some extra disc space a bit better bit rate doesn't tell the whole story. Wasting space for uncompressed PCM Audio is just wasting disc space. TrueHD and others should just as good or even better. The whole profile 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 is a joke. Only 2.0 players have the same capabilities that HD DVD has since day 1, and only now are 1.1 players starting to come out. Recordable Blu-Ray discs have even worse Restrictions. Bit rate isn't everything, Better compression makes that less of a factor and it shows, HD DVD Movies look and sound as good if not better then Blu-Ray. Hell the early Blu-Ray releases really looks like crap. Here's a few links to take a look at and get a better Idea. Read about Blu-Ray that you don't generally hear about.
http://www.campaignhd.com/

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/blu-rays-dirty-little-secret

http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/sony-blu-ray-specification-deadline

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/others/0,39037627,62034159,00.htm

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/articles/2007/11/which_is_more_consumer_friendly_hd_dvd_or_blu-ray.php

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6515097.html

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/movies/problems-with-blu+rays-bd+j-spec-causes-headaches-for-early-adopters-266923.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GhSsV55ZZ4&mode=related&search=

That should keep you busy for a while.

[Davsot @ Dec 25th 2007 11:58PM]

lol

[krisforrest @ Jan 5th 2008 1:12PM]

Here in England while you americans sleep we get to have a good session in the morning pushing onto lunchtime, but then as soon as you all start waking up it goes down. Its still not sorted out so annoying. x

[yoman @ Jan 8th 2008 8:25PM]

No its still being friggin horrid. like i was terying to recover my account and "xbox live signup is currently unavailible"....i did it again and it says my gamertag doesnt exist:| ... and my live days are running out. I PAID GOOD MONEY FOR LIVE! wated away cause there having problems... its jan 8 8:30 in toronto. not working!