Xbox Live outage: day 11, "up and running", except not

We're well aware the first three words on the Xbox Live service status box are "up and running," but those issues are continuing to persist, and if our flooded tip jar and the Xbox Live forums are anything to go by, they're probably not just "intermittent". If you're (still) seeing issues, as always feel free to shout it out, as well as hit our poll so we can keep track of just how severe this stuff is. (So far, of those polled who've been trying to use Live, roughly 75% responded that they've been experiencing moderate to severe issues.)

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Status now reads "up and running," zero caveats. Let's hope that's the way things stay! Thanks, xboxman.

[Sandy @ Jan 1st 2008 6:25PM]

Really, are you ever going to shut up about it. We all know.

[Adam B @ Jan 1st 2008 6:47PM]

Agreed.

The LIVE outages are annoying, but not as annoying as your constant reminder that they're "up and running" and what not. Seriously. We all know. You don't have to continue to tell us what we know, and leave a inaccurate, bitter image of Xbox to newcomers.

[L @ Jan 1st 2008 6:51PM]

Yeah - that was about the tenth post about that in the last week.

If it's so darn important, then add a live ticker to the top of the page, or redirect users to the affiliated XBox Fanboy site for future updates, after the first story.

This is really getting annoying - and NO, I'm not interested in Xbox free feeds as well, thank you very much.

[nerdtalker @ Jan 1st 2008 8:08PM]

I think the real news here is that Microsoft is now planning on "doing something" for XBL Gold subscribers that are paying for the service and being inconvenienced by this perpetual outage: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/01/rumor-microsoft-doing-something-for-inconvenienced-xbl-member/

The quote: "we will definitely be doing something for our Gold members that weren't able to get online over the last week."

Looks like Microsoft isn't as heartless as we all thought.

[rv @ Jan 1st 2008 8:12PM]

Bullshit. Ipay $50 a year when I could go get a ps3 with psn for free. Seriously, before this whole episode I loved xbl and thought it was definitely worth the price. This has left a bad taste in my mouth. If this happened April 17th or some other random day, I would've been more ok with it. However ,to have it happen during the holidays, when I an play with my friends the most, its just horrible. There is no excuse for this. Psn has no sever outage, and their service is free. I don't care what ms says, this isn't justified at all.

[greg @ Jan 1st 2008 11:37PM]

Rv.. you do realize the reason the PSN servers don't go down is because no one uses it... because it freakin' sucks compared to Xbox Live.

[Nate @ Jan 2nd 2008 10:14AM]

no they don't go down because the game servers are run by the developers not sony, but still this is unacceptable

[Daveyboy @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:42AM]

I think it's ridiculous too. And what pains me almost as much is people who try telling me to calm down and not get aggravated over it.

I have spent my spare time in the Christmas holidays staring at a blank lobby on Call of Duty 4, trying in vain to invite my friends in. When it does invite them (which is rare), it usually just kicks them back out again, or if by some miracle it puts you into a game, that usually times out or tells you "The Host Ended the Match", which is untrue.

Half the time, it tells me I need "an active network connection" whilst I'm on private chat to somebody (where do they think the bandwidth for this is coming from?).

I'm a massive fan of XBox Live but I'm really considering moving over to PS3. Their online play may not be as functional or as popular or indeed as much fun - but at least you can get a damned game on there.

$50 is a lot to pay for such bad service, but consider that I'm from the UK where it costs £40 - that converts to $80 for pathetic service and up to now, no sign of a fix or even the decency of an apology from Microsoft.

It's a real kick in the nuts.

[space_man3000 @ Jan 1st 2008 6:25PM]

mines been working greatish

[Luigi193 @ Jan 1st 2008 6:25PM]

I don't have a 360, but me and my friend were having issues playing guitar hero III online, and were having trouble downloading.

[bhattsan @ Jan 1st 2008 6:26PM]

PSN FTW. I'm enjoying online Warhawk right now :).

[SaNcTuS @ Jan 1st 2008 6:30PM]

i would much rather 'yahoo messenger's doodle' than your ps3...

[Rk @ Jan 1st 2008 7:24PM]

Lmao that's actually true. Especially in comparison to Warhawk. Yahoo! FTW!

[Luis @ Jan 1st 2008 9:12PM]

Yeah PSN won't fail since NOBODY uses it because there's nothing worth playing

[Sabba @ Jan 1st 2008 6:32PM]

xbox live is getting annoying it'll start working fine maybe for 1 game and then within 30 minutes it'll completely die on me.

[Mike @ Jan 1st 2008 6:35PM]

I have been having problems for days now. I run cable and cant even connect with my sons DSL in the same town. For all I have seen that the problem is fixed, I have seen nothing but problems.

[Siouxper @ Jan 1st 2008 6:37PM]

Got a Live membership for Christmas and I would love to be able to use it. I try to login and all I get is a private match or getting to a game lobby and then the lobby closes after its tries to form teams 2-3 times in COD4

[2ASquared @ Jan 1st 2008 6:56PM]

Same issue here. I bought 360 the day after xmas, wasn't able to set up my live account until 2 days ago. COD4 worked on and off yesterday, but today, I can't even get a game to start. The game countdown starts with everyone ready to play, but as soon as it hits 0, "Game lobby has closed". I just want to shoot some people before I have to go back to school!

[dexter @ Jan 1st 2008 8:18PM]

YEAH that happens to me too!!! its is so aggravating!

[kamandriat @ Jan 1st 2008 8:36PM]

@ hexoDAT64

excel*** not accell

the differences in 360 CoD4 and PS3 CoD4?
ive played both, the 360 is crisp and clean and the PS3 gameplay is bright and washed out (to mask the shoddy graphics), i dont want to have to squint to see me shooting someone.
you can see the PS3 games do this alot, the brightened and washed out images.
try to imagine gears of war on the PS3, you know it couldnt handle it.
in regards to the PSN and Xbox LIVE..
LIVE has an incredible amount off active subscribers versus PSN. a system-wide crash over a sustained period is almost expected, the fact it happens so rarely is calming. props for M$ if they give out something from the inconvenience.

[Edd Mills @ Jan 1st 2008 8:40PM]

"I just want to shoot some people before I have to go back to school!"

Aww, bless.

[hexoDAT64 @ Jan 1st 2008 9:07PM]

@kamandriat

thats for pointing my silly typo, I don't know how I put that

Anyways, this was the typical fanboy response that I expected. First of all, the graphics are roughly the same, but you know what, my 360 and PS3 are both calibrated on different settings. There isn't a simple setting that make everything good, I'm sorry if that disappoints your fanboy ego. I have a LIVE subscription as well as a PSN account, an yes LIVE is better, but that doesn't mean the PSN sucks and is unplayable. I love my 360 and my PS3, but I don't have to put one down to bring the other one up like you do.

[Hoov @ Jan 1st 2008 6:39PM]

I have been having mostly minor connection issues with Live. Some friends have told me they didn't receive my invites but I had no problem getting theirs. Played/playing Call of Duty with no issues.

[Superdynamite @ Jan 1st 2008 6:40PM]

$50 a year for XBoxLIVE???

Waste!!!!

Get PS3! It's FREE!

[Darrol @ Jan 1st 2008 6:47PM]

Xbox Live is by far better and worth the $50 for the year. Very few times is the server suffering from issues and this is the first time that something like this has happened in a long time.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 1st 2008 6:50PM]

First of all, I've got both a 80GB PS3 and a 360...Playstation's online is nowhere near as good as X-Box Live so paying $50 for it isn't a waste.

I even get the XBOX DIAMOND CARD for discounts and coupons at over 50 retail locations: including Meineke, disneyland, Seaworld, six Flags,etc,etc which more than make up for the cost of $50 a year.

[Zack P. @ Jan 1st 2008 7:54PM]

Yeah except there are fewer people playing PS3 online than there are Xbox Live outage posts on Engadget.

[Ricardo Nunez @ Jan 1st 2008 8:06PM]

I agree, instead of paying for 5 years of XBox Live, why don't you just pick up a Wii?

[hexoDAT64 @ Jan 1st 2008 8:13PM]

Seriously guys, the PSN is not that bad. There are plenty of people to play. If you are playing COD4, does it really matter if there are 200,000 or a 1,000,000 people logged on? I have both, and yes the PSN lacks many things that Live does such as private chat and such, but it accells at alowing you to play online without paying. Isn't that what its about, the games?

If you can really point out what is much different then playing COD4 on PS3 vs. the 360, then good for you!
PS: I already know this will get low ranks, but someone has to say it....and yes I have a 360 and a PS3

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 1st 2008 9:33PM]

"this is the first time that something like this has happened in a long time."

Then it wouldn't be the first time if it happened a long time ago...

[TheCow5 @ Jan 1st 2008 6:49PM]

ppl you should all know a group of highly trained monkeys were dispatched to fix the problem.
I've seen large companies fall to their knees waiting for their moneys to fix their problems and each time we say it’s should be an easy fix it takes longer that anyone thought.
I don’t think they need to report on every glitch that happens, its technology crap happens, ppl are dispatch to fix it and it will get fixed.

[Dave @ Jan 1st 2008 6:56PM]

How old are you, 10? You're comments are very demeaning to those who work in the world of support and have to work all hours to resolve service issues.

[TheCow5 @ Jan 1st 2008 7:14PM]

m8, it’s a joke, take it easy, it’s a new year don't take everything so seriously.
I don’t think you get it.
we are highly trained monkeys (do you get it, Darwin, evolution, monkeys), we are the best of the best.

[TheCow5 @ Jan 1st 2008 7:25PM]

Take it easy m8, It’s a joke, it’s a new year don't take everything so seriously.
I don’t think you get it, we are highly trained monkeys (do you get it, Darwin, evolution, monkeys), we are the best of the best.

[Rk @ Jan 1st 2008 7:27PM]

I don't think Charles Darwin even gets it. :S

[mrzbox @ Jan 1st 2008 6:52PM]

it s not about getting a ps3 it s free or xbox live ms was ready for those 5 thounsands xbox sold on christmas and black friday i just dont believe they did not know with the price drop and everything that more people was gonna buy 360 and ps3 you wont have anyproblem why cause aint nobody playing that shit i rented cod4 for ps3 and no one was playing so fuck off 360 live issues

[lou @ Jan 1st 2008 7:34PM]

Huh?

[Jason @ Jan 1st 2008 7:20PM]

...is that English?

360 is awesome.. but i cant stand MS anymore. I've been through 3 360's already 2 had RROD and another I kept getting the unable to read disk error. And now I can't even play Halo because Live is down..

My PS3 hasn't had any issues and all the PSN issues seemed to be tied to only individual game servers (like Warhawk initially). But I'll admit, Live is better than PSN. Sony is new to the whole online concept and they've been trailing behind Live for quite some time now. Although.. I do like the PSN games you can download for like $5.. They're pretty neat and entertaining.

And for the record.. COD4 is a pretty popular game for the PS3, at any given time you can go online and you're pretty much guaranteed to find any game mode filled with players. Most of the time the rooms are full.

[giuliop @ Jan 1st 2008 6:54PM]

That rotten Toshiba ad up there prevents from voting the first comments. Remove it!

[Erik @ Jan 1st 2008 7:29PM]

Toshiba ad? Oh, right there are some pretty god-awful ads around.

You should look into AdBlock Plus for Firefox.

[RJ @ Jan 1st 2008 6:55PM]

4 Days later and I STILL can't recover my Gamertag, which means no XboxLive for me--- ARRRGGHH! Just in time for the holiday weekend, too, when I'm not working or in classes. I expect Microsoft points at the end of this...

[darkzero63 @ Jan 1st 2008 7:04PM]

Time to start thinking about investing in an alternate game system (ps3)

[John @ Jan 1st 2008 7:25PM]

Once you manage to unlock the large matches, 18 player games fill almost instantly for COD4 :D

[Daniel @ Jan 1st 2008 7:04PM]

Well my XBL is still down, and in the mean time my Xbox 360 suddenly decided to read a few of my games as DVDs and display the message, "To play, insert disc into an xbox 360 console"

[raymond @ Jan 1st 2008 7:30PM]

Xbox sometimes thinks my copy of Orange Box is a DVD.

And I just had this shit repaired.

[Daniel @ Jan 1st 2008 10:43PM]

how did u fix it?

[MRCUR @ Jan 1st 2008 8:25PM]

Actually, my 360 has started doing the same thing. I'm thinking it has something to do with LIVE now...

[Daniel @ Jan 1st 2008 10:43PM]

thats what i thought at first but i called Microsoft and they just told me to send it in. its too bad they don't have an advanced replacement plan like Nintendo, u know where they send you a brand new working console, then you send the broken one back after you receive yours. It takes 2-3 weeks for the repair...

[masstercheif @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:10AM]

Try this:

1) Put the game in while xbox is in horizontal position.

2) if you get a disc read error, take out the disc, and switch the xbox to the vertical position while it is still turned on. Put the game back in.

3) If you still get the disc read error, take out the disc, switch the xbox to the horizontal position while it's still turned on, and try again.

My friend had this problem for about two weeks, and it would almost always work after the 2nd or 3rd time we switched the position.

[holdensf @ Jan 1st 2008 7:14PM]

on the whole, xbox 360 hasn't been a great product for me. i'm on my third box and my cables needed replacement (it took months to replace everything via their customer service) and my live service isn't fully working now, nor has it been in the past two weeks. i'm not saying there are better alternatives out there, but that doesn't mean that this is a quality product.