Microsoft's free Arcade title not enough, still hit with lawsuit over Xbox Live outages
By Darren Murph 
posted January 5th 2008 11:02AM
posted January 5th 2008 11:02AM
We can't say that we're shocked to hear this -- you know, considering just how long those Xbox Live holiday blues went on -- but Microsoft is indeed being slapped with a class action lawsuit over the aforementioned outages. Reportedly, a trio of angered Texans are alleging that Microsoft didn't abide by its own contract when network issues disallowed a good chunk of Live users from getting their fix over the past few weeks. According to the complaint, MSFT understood that the time of year would lead to increased activity, yet "failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers." Of course, we're betting the Redmond-based lawyers point out that clause about not guaranteeing any minimum level of service, but who knows, maybe we'll all end up with two shiny new Arcade titles.[Thanks, Andre and Ben]
It's people like these 3 Texans that make this country the pile of steaming shit that it is. Fuck you, 3 Texans.
Live users don't realize there is another problem that hasn't gotten as much press. Check out the live thread at their forums. Personally, I have been without access to arcade games I have bought for over 4 months:
http://forums.xbox.com/125/1159815/ShowPost.aspx#1159815
This is just some Texan lawyer trying to make a name for himself; the document states a $350 filing charge and the three defendants are in diverse areas (maybe they know each other through xBox live?). The document also states the case in excess of 5 million. I doubt these three guys sought out a lawyer and gave up $350 for not being able to play online for three weeks.
The xBox live agreement (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/legal/) states:
"We provide the Service "as-is," "with all faults" and "as available." The Microsoft Parties give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change."
Maybe a local Texas law can be played to build a case, but Microsoft also goes on to state their liabilities:
"You can recover from the Microsoft Parties only direct damages up to an amount equal to your Service fee for one month. You cannot recover any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect or incidental damages."
Worst case scenario for Microsoft setup a site for users that want to complain where they will offer them the choice of a free month of service or a game/other crap; with this they can say they have met all possible obligations that the end users agreed to when they accepted the xBox live agreement...
$50 year / 12 months = $4.17/month; 8 million users x $4.17 = $33,360,000; (Wow...)
I think everyone should get a reasonable amount of marketplace points so they can spend it on whatever they want instead of getting an arcade games that might or might not even be all that fun.
Its simple. I paid $7.95 for 1 month of Xbox Live. I expect the entire month to have no problems. Problems that consisted this long, and this widespread there only one way to compensate. I expect 1 month free.
Thanks for the comment.
I've been playing TF for 10 years and it's the only game I play on the 360. I'm a 38 year old dad and enjoy TF2's dynamics. You're right, it's not that important in the grand scheme of things, but considering the fact that I pay for the service I expect it to work and maintain my ranking. I also own a PS3 but chose Orange Box for the 360 because of the larger online community. I guess I could just get it for the PS3 too and see how it goes.
Funny comments.
I think we need to go over the service agreement before we call anything a "contract". Definitions of contracts and agreements are tricky and what most in this thread are assuming is rarely binding.
Plus, details of the insufficient service are still rather unknown. At this point it could be triggered by a service or vendor outside of Microsoft (doubtful, but we can't say for sure). I use the term "insufficient service" as there has not been a COMPLETE outage of any CONTINUOUS significant time. That is sort of important when looking at failure of service.
On top of that, the service issues look to be ongoing. Once the problems are undoubtedly resolved, Microsoft has the opportunity to compensate for the total loss of service or trouble before things are frowned upon.
I'd say this suit was jumped on too quick and will suffer because of it. Personally, I think it is indeed frivolous...but that is an unimportant, personal opinion.
Isn't the outages equal to losing less than $2?
God bless those loonytoon texans
Rohit made himself look like a total moron.
Dang last night I had problems with COD4 again. It sucks. http://www.xboxlivesucks.com
Thank you for your insightful comment, consider your complaint ignored.
Why is everyone so lawsuit happy these days. These people want to sue Microsoft for the Xbox outage. But they have to prove that Microsoft purposely and willfully did this. Not only that, but the judge is going to ask what the damages are for the plaintiff? So you paid for XBL and you have two weeks with no access. What's that worth, $2?
Lame. If these complainers(Xbox Fanboys) can actually find a judge willing to hear the case, they will be lucky. Even if they win, they will be owed about $2 in refund. Yay...nice job. Congrats.
As much of a 360 fan(boy) as I am I hate to see this on the weekend:-
Xbox Live users will experience billing related transaction failures, including but not limited to: Purchase of premium download content and account management: including account creation, renewal, and recovery. Additionally, users may experience issues with matchmaking and statistics related transactions.
Bugger =(
This argument is hilarious. You folks are quite entertaining. Thank you
I totally agree, MS knew they would have an influx of sales but didn't care to update xbox live to prepare for it. Like always "if it ain't broke don't fix it" the attitude they carry, its the same as IE bugs over the past years. They know, and don't fix it until its a problem for everyone.
Aren't they making enough money off xbox live as it is? Its not enough you pay for it, but then its shoving ads down your throat, and charging you for everything, even stupid picture icons
omg what is with u Americans and suing everything that moves? like seriously get a life, now don't think im calling all Americans suing happy people, but it need to stop i heard someone sued DQ because when u eat a DQ cheeses burger u don't spit fire and he won millions of dollars! lot of people lost there jobs after that lawsuit it makes me sick.
What is it with you foreigners and your ridiculous stereotypes of Americans? You probably have a silly name too, don't you?
lol if u couldn't tell im from that distance and foreign country called Canada! and my name is Jordan. a very weird and foreign name i know.
plus what are u talking about? america is one of the most sterotyping(if that even a word) if done believe me watch some popular american tv shows like south park then watch something from another country u will see a huge difference
Turn your sarcasm detector back on. Aren't Canadians supposed to be funny? I was kidding man, read the early comments.
Hmmm. I spit fire just fine after every DQ burger.
If i wanted to "hear" a bunch of bitching, I could go home to my wife!!! You people are ridiculous!!
Ill take one arcade title, and DivX/Xvid support for the Zune.
I could care less about the arcade title honestly, I havent had an Xbox for almost a month, I just keep the subscription live so that when I get one in this next month ill have it and Ill have my nice rank on COD4 still.
Although I think a lawsuit is ridiculous, I have no sympathy for Microsoft. I just called them 5 minutes ago because I now have the RRoD, for the 4th time. Yep, this is the 4th time I have had to send in my console for repairs. Maybe if they would send me a new system instead of these damn refurbs.......
Now what will happen is the Lawyers will get most of the money and everyone else on LIVE will get a discount on a LIVE arcade game! This is what always happens in Class Action cases. The ONLY one that wins are the lawyers.
it's sad that they are suing to get on live, i was for 5 days already, and i live in Illinois and the connection is good. i dont' need to sue, or complain,
i could do other things to do, while it's down.
I'm pretty sure the Americans suing are most likely overweight with some record setting neck beards. The rest of us have actual lives so playing Xbox isn't the only thing on our list of activities. Go read a book or something, go outside, stop being a bunch of god damned spoiled pussies.
So let's see if I have this straight:
1. Some idiots with no life (probably 40 years old, work at Circuit City and live with mommy and daddy)decide that they are out 5 million dollars because they can't get on to MS Live and pwn some noob and decide to file a suit against Microsoft - My opinon: losers - get a life.
2. These aforementioned losers happen to be from Texas, so someone from India decides to stereotype - funny joke, but if rohit is serious, then the offer you made to come to India and make fun of your name, holds true the other way - come here to Texas and make fun of us - see what happens. How do you feel about amorous advances from a bull?
3. People are complaining because the Live service was completely overwhelmed by the new customers and now they want 'compensation for their lost time' - just spooky
My opinion:
This is precisely why I do not own one console - I play games on my PC, which by the way can do a myriad of other things. Perhaps the people that spend all of their time playing these games (at least from the complaints, it is as though you do nothing else in your life) should get out into the real world and work on their social skills instead of their joystick thumb 9or whatever you would call it these days).
First things first, XBL should NEVER GO DOWN. At least, the public SHOULD NEVER SEE IT. Do y'all know what redundancy and fault tolerance is, or are Y'ALL just commenting to show your stupidity? MSFT should have PROJECTED this type of usage, so the failures are unwarranted and ridiculous. If you dolts had just bought a game, or received one as a gift, and then tried to play it online and it did not work; wouldn't you be PISSED? I know I was, especially knowing that this SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.
I don't know about you, but I think this is a stupid thing to do. Even people at Gamespot and IGN are thinking the same way. I mean, yes that Xbox Live has been down in December (including the holidays) and yes we did pay $50 to play Live. But it is not all that cracked up to be. This sort of shit happens. Like I remember that the electric company has to compensate people with money and/or other good stuff due to power outage all day. Somtimes, when the cable company (or satellite company) are experiencing problems, we are paying for the service, but at least we get something. A lawsuit is just plain stupid. At least the Live service is working now. Everything is up and running. If you can't handle a free Arcade title, then too bad. If Microsoft will offer us free points for downloads, then that's great too. Don't blame Microsoft about their Live outage. Throughout the month of December, everyone were getting online (including new Xbox Live members), which is another possibility of the cause. Once again, shit like this happens. Can't we just move on with our lives? If this outage happens again, don't fill yourself some creme of Oreo bitchiness. Get up, go out and do something.
Microsoft is one of the largest computer companies in the world, actually their one of the largest companies period. They have time, money, and resources and are in the middle of a heated power struggle with the wii and sony. These LIVE issues along with the issues with the Ring of death should have never occurred. Microsofts quality standards are painfully low almost to a crippling degree. They had a head start with the 360, but oops, the consoles were faulty. They had Halo 3, oops some of the discs didn't work. They are known for their amazing Live experience, oops, we don't have enough servers. THEY ARE FREAKING MICROSOFT. THEY BUILD COMPUTERS. SO HOW CAN THEY SEEM TO BE INCAPABLE OF PREVENTING THESE PROBLEMS! So to sum it up, I'm sure some IP with a few hundred subscribers could run into problems and down time, but this is Microsoft. Thats like Ronald McDonald dying from starvation! We expect alot because combined we've given them Billions of dollars. If they can't provide the service then they will have to pay a minor fine. Even if the fine was $20 million, they wouldn't even notice.