Microsoft hooks up Xbox Live subs with free Arcade title
By Ryan Block 
posted January 4th 2008 12:03AM
posted January 4th 2008 12:03AM
Update: Confirmed by our pal Major Nelson -- it's Gold AND Silver members. If you have an Xbox Live account, Microsoft just gave you a free game.
--snip--
Dear Xbox LIVE Members:
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.
Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today!
Sincerely,
Marc Whitten
General Manager, Xbox LIVE
Gamertag: Notwen
Naw i would saw its more like the fire alarm is pulled you miss dinner aka you live game so they give you a free pizza hut coupon still food but smaller cheaper hence XBLA or a mountain dew mini fridge for missing dinner maybe i just want that mini fridge they were giving away from Microsoft......
@k
You DO have to download the live is 5ive thing you know, it's not automatic.
@R0B3RT
...What?
YAY A COPY HEXIC HD FOR EVERYONE!!!!
Hexic HD came with my Xbox. It's not that good anyway.
Anyone else notice that his gamertag is "newton" spelled backwards. Secret Apple fanboi? Lover of 17th century physicists? We may never know.
I just hope they don't give out Ecco The Dolphin as a free game. If they do I'm out and going to play ps3. (But shortly after I'll realize that there are hardly any good games on ps3 and come crying back.)
I'm almost 99% sure that we'll get a credit for a free game and not just have one thrust upon us willy-nilly. I hope...
Ya, I hope they give us 800 points or something, instead...
you know things are bad when Sony fanboys start to think they can talk up their pathetic online solution. Talk up the Bluray... but don't talk about the crappy online service or the superior 'value' of a system with poor game selection.
Do you have a PS3 or do you just like talking out your ass?
I have all three systems... the most resent one added being the ps3... and I agree with him. either YOU don't own a 360 and haven't used their superior online system/played one of the many good (some great) games for the system... or you're just a standard blind fanboi that likes to talk about things he can't compare over a long period of time in his own home...
...so stop talking out of YOUR ass.
Oh boy, I sure am excited for my free copy of Frogger! Or maybe they'll give me an extra free copy of Joust!
Seriously, when Microsoft give out free XBLA games, they're always the worst ones (ports of old arcade games that you don't want to play on your 360).
Now, Pac Man CE, on the other hand... That would be fine by me.
What about Carcasonne. I really like that game. My wife and I bought it before it was made available for free.
I really hope they reach out globally on this. Many of these free downloads and movies etc. are US-only. Really annoys me and it alienates users.
I must be lucky. I spend most of my time playing Halo, and just decided to devote my winter break to the Orange Box. Wouldn't even have known Live was down without Engadget. Thanks guys.
Hi, Blake, my lil bro had the same issue with his 360 after about 18 months of serious gaming/DVD watching. You need to replace the DVD drive...I replaced his 2 months ago and it works like new...Shouldn't cost your more than $60 (drive + shipping to repair.
1)Use this link to determine your drive: http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/Xbox_360_DVD_Drive_Comparison.htm
2)You can find new drives on Ebay Express all day for about $60 w/shipping
3)Use this to open your 360 case: http://morehawes.co.uk/articles/strip.php
4)Finally, swap out the DVD drives (using the old firmware board), re-install, and start gaming: http://forums.llamma.com/viewtopic.php?t=12504
Hmm...maybe I should create a Live Silver account on the 360 I got for Christmas so I can join the whining hordes and get a free game...And here I wasn't going to bother w/ Live...
@Seth - you can download ANY demo for free on Xbox Live as well.
People here are talking about FULL VERSIONS not Demos - please do some research before opening your Fanboy trap.
I already own a crapload of arcade games. I think I have like 17. If they assign the game they give you there's a chance I'll already have it. I'd rather have them just give me some MS points to spend as I choose.
Of course, they already gave me some for the Live is 5ive promo, but I want more points dammit.
it's not just about the money, it's about our TIME
Well if it's true, then I feel well compensated. The outage only slightly affected me, but sure p.o.'ed my brother in law :)
It was quite humorous actually.
I find it highly unlikely that they would just give us a pre-determined XBLA title vs. just giving us the MS Points. But we'll find out for sure soon enough.
Sounds like horrible planning. Somebody needs to be fired for this. Maybe start with the person who forgot to add scalability into the plans for the XBox Live server farms.
"I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding..."
That's a lot more than about 90% of the XBL community deserves given the unbelievable amount of bitching and moaning that heralded the outages. The phrases 'boycott live' and "I'm switching to the PS3 instead of all this $H*T,' were bandied about with ebullient vigour.
I'm hoping for Marathon :)
XBox Live Arcade needs Sexy Beach 3 Plus.
Yeah... The wireless controller would make alllll the difference.
IM SORRY BUT YOU ARE ALL SUCKERS WOW A FREE XBOX LIVE GAME WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP AND A FOB OFF FOR ALL THE TIME LOST ON LAGED OUT GAMES IM VERY PISSED OFF AND IN NO WAY GOING TO TAKE A GAME THAT SHOULD COST NOTHING ANYWAY XBOX LIVE SHOULD BE FREE IT IS A CON IF YOU GO ONLINE WITH YOUR PC YOU DONT PAY IF YOU GO ONLY WITH ANY GAMES ITS FREE AND PLAYS BETTER THAN LIVE MY XBOX LIVE RUNS OUT IN APRIL AND THATS IT FOR ME WITH XBOX 360 AND LIVE THE THING WOULD BE BETTER OFF IN THE BIN ITS NOT BEEN A FUN THING ITS BEEN A PAIN IN THE ARSS 2YEARS OF CRAP AND ITS MY 5TH XBOX 4 HAD THE RED RING AFTER 6MOUNTHS PLUS IF YOU THINKS THE XBOX 360 IS NOT CHEEP IF YOU KEEP IT FOR 5 YEARS IT WILL COST YOU OVER 200 FOR LIVE ADD THAT TO THE XBOX IS 450 SO I SHOULD OF JUST GOT A PS3 FOR 300
well if they give me a lousy arcade game for two week of messed up free time that I could have used to do something else instead spending hours on COD4 trying to connect to friends for a match, it is the same as saying loud and clear that my two weeks of trouble are worh nothing. How about extending subscriptions for 2 weeks and a game. Real damn game. It is a new gen console. Should we just go back to the darn atari instead? Genious.