Xbox Live outage, day 13: still up and down, still preventing fun from being had
by Ryan Block 
posted Jan 3rd 2008 at 6:43PM
To all those sick of hearing about Xbox Live being up and down: feel free to stop reading here, there will be another news story along in a few minutes. But do remember that Xbox Live is possibly the most widely used paid gaming service in the world, so forgive us for keeping close tabs on this story. Mwah!
Filed under: Gaming
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Zeus the God @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:46PM
Honestly, fire this guy, WE KNOW ALREADY.
Zeus the God @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:48PM
Seriously, hes just doing it to piss people off now- you can see it in the way he writes, and hes just egging people on. Pretty immature of an editor of any type to be doing.
Flashpoint @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:59PM
if my XBOX Live hadn't gone out, I wouldn't have been able to pull myself from Call of Duty 4 long enough to realize that AMERICA IS STILL AT WAR IN IRAQ !
2ASquared @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:01PM
Actually, I just bought a 360 the day after Christmas, as well as COD4. It was nice to see that, when I couldn't sign up for a live account, I wasn't the only one. Also, engadget's feed told me when live was "up an running" for a bit, and I used that opportunity to sign up for my account. Also, Since I'm having intermittent issues with COD4, it's almost comforting to see on here that it's a huge issue everywhere. These updates are helpful to me and I'm sure a lot of other people. You don't have to get all pissed off about it, this is a blog, you can choose not to read a post. You're not being forced to care.
LegendZ28 @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:02PM
Were you drunk when you wrote this, Ryan? "If you're having problems (even if you're or not!), feel free to let us know in comments."
"Even if you're or not!"? Really?
If you're trying to irritate your readers, congratulations.
LegendZ28 @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:04PM
Oh and to the "Honestly, fire this guy, WE KNOW ALREADY.", good luck firing the editor in chief.
Zeus the God @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:00PM
Its not like he owns Engadget, you idiot, he can still be fired no matter what type of editor he is.
He bashes Microsoft every single chance he gets, posts extremely biased reviews and such.
Can we get a non-Ryan Block section of Engadget, please? This bullshit is ridiculous, as I'm tired of sifting through non-news issues with Xbox LIVE which SHOULD be covered by Joystiq and Xbox 360 Fanboy- Hell get PS3 Fanboy or Wii Fanboy to do it, but for fucks sake, cover some gadgets, not something that has to do with an online game service. After all this is EnGADGET.
EDR229 @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:12PM
In other news, PlayStation Network is still up and running.
Zeus the God @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:16PM
In other news, PlayStation 3 still has a meager selection of decent games and uncomparable online service.
Oprah @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:26PM
OMG STOP BASHING SONY.
Andir3.0 @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:57PM
I think Zeus is actually physically crying right now. Such desperation!
nohbudy @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:22PM
Trying to post this again so it is put in the right place. I wrote a response, just above the edit box where I wrote my comment it said "replying to Zeus the God [Undo]", but it was not listed under his comment. When are you going to fix this bug, huh Engadget? When are you going to give daily notification about this bug that has been around for months?
Any way, my original comment, hopefully it works this time:
I got to agree with you about Ryan trying to piss people off. That last paragraph just sounds like a whiny little bitch. "Oh noes, somebody said something mean about me. I better make sure that they don't do it again by telling them not to post. We only want the people that agree with us 100%, and if not, then I am taking my ball and going home."
I have been critical of them before, and I have been banned because of it (which is why I am not using my usual posting account). A while ago we were asked not to make comments in a post about Leopard if you do not use it. Do they do the same about other products? Where are we asked not to make a post if you are not a LIVE user? Instead we get a lot of "I never have any PSN problems."
The quality of this site has really slid as of late.
charlie @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:50PM
Its hardly reporting news though, since anyone using it already knows, its been spotty for a while, and you aren't adding any useful information, its like the kids in the back of the car shouting 'Are we there yet ?'.
Day 1
It is down.
Day 2
It is still down.
etc.
To all those editors sick of hearing about people complaining about Xbox Live being up or down: feel free to kick us out of here, there will be another website along in a few minutes. But do remember that the Xbox Live network status is possibly the lowest ranked Engadget reporting service in the world, so forgive us for commenting negatively on this story. Mwah!
ScareyJ @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:07PM
@Zeus, totally agree. It's a simpleton way to get people flaming each other, draw hits on Engadgets website/ads. Not sure how people are finding this helpful except that it falls in line with their little fanboy inside ... if people want realtime information, hit the XBL site or actually try the XBL service; delayed information on a blog is not useful except to start flame wars. Reminds me ... gotta enable the adblocker again.
jack in the xbox @ Jan 4th 2008 2:20AM
HEY, I HEARD XBOX LIVE IS STILL UP, DOWN, ROUND AND ROUND....BUT HEY,YOU'RE GETTING A FREE CHEAP ASS GAME YOU PROBABLY ALREADY OWN !!! OH THANKS MICROSOFT, YOU GUYS ARE TREAT US SO WELL. WE LOVE YOU!! I WONDER IF MAJOR NELSON KNOWS THAT WHILE HE'S BEEN SCREWING YOU GUYS, THAT OTHER CHEAP BASTARD MAJOR HEALY'S BEEN BANGIN JEANNIE.
nohbudy @ Jan 4th 2008 4:31AM
@jack in the xbox
What do you care? Looking over your post history, you are obviously a Microsoft (oh, I forgot, let me put that in terms you can understand, M$) hater. So when you say, no, yell, being you do not have the mental ability to master the oh-so-complicated Caps Lock key, "MICROSOFT, YOU GUYS ARE TREAT US SO WELL.", it has no bearing on you. So why do you post?
Based upon some of your other posts, I assume you are a PS3 user. So I ask you this: When an older version of the PS3 firmware was released back around October, I installed that and I also downloaded Lemmings - a 230MB game (why Sony has such piss-poor coders that it takes 230MB for Lemmings, I will never know). It took 4 hours, on a cable internet connection, at 3AM L.A. time, to download 230MB. Yep, what a great serivce they provide. Why did it take so long? I can download a full movie in less than an hour in 360, but 1/4 of that takes 4 f-ing hours with PSN?
But oh noes, something that you have not used, and not have seen how great it is, you need to make fun of it. Well, I am here to make fun of you and your POS PSN. Crawl back under your little rock, you worm. You and your comments are useless.
eugene @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:46PM
maybe you guys should just start telling us what days Live is working instead.
Personally, i think this spotty Live service is just a conspiracy by MS to push more Mass Effect sales. :p
David W. @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:47PM
*sigh* microsoft...you're making it harder and harder to be a fanboy
Ronan @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:52PM
People who use *sigh* in their comments shouldn't be allowed to have a view
amnigo @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:02PM
You lose Ronan.
David W. @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:14PM
yeaaaa...because the opinion of someone who has a grand total of 6 posts on this site means something to me
Eddie @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:36PM
*gasp* You mean the pwnage of n00bs continues...
without XBL?!?!
nerdtalker @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:44PM
Agreed. I consider myself an XBL-fanboi (there it is right out in the open).
But 13 days? It's a good thing I gave up and went to play COD4 on my PC a long time ago and use the Xbox only for Mass Effect, or I'd be tearing my hair out in frustration by now.
Seriously, I expect some sort of technical writeup about what went wrong here. Their technology must not scale, at all. I'm mystified by what possibly could be creating constant problems here. Are they literally waiting outside the data center tapping their feet waiting for new rack mountable servers to show up?
Senor_Tom @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:54PM
you checked his post count. Wow, what a way to insult someone. He may know far more about everythin posted on this blog than you, and yes, i have a low post count.
Fank @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:12PM
"yeaaaa...because the opinion of someone who has a grand total of 6 posts on this site means something to me"
Jesus Christ that's pathetic. That is really stupid and lame to disregard someone's opinion because of the number of times he has given it on a particular site. Grow up.
David W. @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:51PM
did ya'll even read his comment? it was an attack on MY post, it had nothing to do with the article...
"People who use *sigh* in their comments shouldn't be allowed to have a view"
ya'll need to chill...wow
Fank @ Jan 4th 2008 12:42AM
yeaaaa...because someone who uses "ya'll" on this site means something to me
Even if it has nothing to do with the article, disregarding someone like that BECAUSE OF THE NUMBER OF COMMENTS HE MADE ON THIS SITE is stupid and pathetic; no matter what he said. Like I stated before: Grow up. Or as I would like to rephrase that now: Grow the fuck up, fucktard.
jack in the xbox @ Jan 4th 2008 2:26AM
You get what you pay way to damn much for...and I'd be willing to bet that MS raises the subscription price XBL in the near future. BWAAAAAHAAAAAAAA @ all u fools!!!
paperless @ Jan 4th 2008 2:15PM
i win.
PHD @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:50PM
they've added a bit about COD4 now, i paid my 40pound renewal and i cant use the service because my xbox said i needed to recover my account and now it wont let me play because account recovery is down; i cant even sign into my gamertag to play single player games
DarkLightConnection @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:06PM
Disconnect the network cable (or the wireless thing) from the back of the console and it will let you sign-in without recovering
David W. @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:08PM
dude...I feel so sorry for you...you would think account recovery would be the first thing they would try to salvage...
computer.dude.28 @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:01PM
It took me 2 hours to recover 2 gamertags on my friend's new xbox.
Otsego_Undead @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:17PM
In other news- Playstation Network is costs 0 pounds, is up and running, and you can still play single player games!
Joseph Albanese @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:50PM
I have xbox and play Call of Duty 4 and it never works I always get all these messages how the servers are messed up. If they knew so many people were gonna buy the game they shouldve prepared JESE. And they xbox support shouldnt give me another bullcrap excuse they dont know what there talking about!! Im gonna buy a ps3
Carbonize @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:52PM
I'm not sure that your issue is down to MS as it is my belief that the server a game connects to is actually run and maintained by the games maker.
Steve Wallen @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:19PM
Last time I checked, Xbox Live was still all P2P based servers for games. You may be getting this error as a result of being "double" NATed. Try opening holes in your Firewall... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908874
Carbonize @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:50PM
I played Halo 2 on Live for four hours today with no problems. Those in my party suffered no problems neither. So either this is a regional issue (I'm in UK) or there's a vocal minority blowing this out of all proportions.
paragraph @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:54PM
Thats because this probably only effects Xbox 360 Games/Consoles
:\
I really want my Live back, and I don't even play all that much, But i pay for it, and trashing the french on PGR4 is too much fun to miss out on :'(
Carbonize @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:11PM
I am playing on a 360 (Halo 3 sucks in my opinion). I also played a little COD4 and that was ok but I only played one game of it.
UFgatorsean @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:39PM
Who Cares?!?! i think ryan is just posting stories until he gets something for nothing... (sad)
Steve Wallen @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:53PM
I wonder if this might be in response to upgrades being made for CES on Sunday. Would explain why its been rolling through their network, and why Major Nelson has been so coy as to details.
Maybe something crazy like Gates announcing the immediate availability of IPTV-Capable firmware, as well as giving current Live Gold subscribers a couple of months free access.
Erwos @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:55PM
Again: that's not how IPTV works. It's not a service provided by Microsoft. It's a service provided by your ISP, not any other party.
Most likely they're getting slammed from all the new 360s they sold that went online. It happens. As long as they plan on making amends (like a week of Live for gold members), I'm not going to whine too much.
Kris @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:04PM
Fyi, they said the latest firmware is "capable"
committedsinz @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:10PM
i agree. they have to have something up their sleeves
Eddie @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:24PM
It probably isn't IPTV, but I do think there's more to it than meets the eye (hee hee).
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they're just doing rolling blackouts to reduce the number of racist, sexist or just plain profane insults hurled at Billy G when he fires it up and shows off Halo 3 on XBL during his final keynote at CES. Nothing ruins a keynote for the history books like getting mother-effed in front of all your esteemed colleagues and supporters, not to mention the press corps.
Steve Wallen @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:48PM
It is, depending on the implementation: it would be completely feasible for them to use (or build up) an Akamai style network to deliver content. Locally peer with ISPs where possible, work as many multicast access agreements as possible, and brute force it where you can't.
ESPN has been doing it with ESPN360 since 2005.
Ronan @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:54PM
yea same here, Halo 3 has been fine for me for a couple of days now
Hickeroar @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:02PM
Yes, the problems are truly getting annoying now. I can't imagine what sort of problems they could be having that would be taking THIS long to sort out.
jack in the xbox @ Jan 4th 2008 2:32AM
You guys are a funny bunch of consumers. You're probably on your 4th or 5th refurb 360, but poor XBL service is what really annoys you. CLASSIC!!! BWAAAAHAAAA @ u idiots!