Spearchucker
Shared on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 09:08Here are a couple articles about Xbox Live's poor performance over the Holidays last week:
ComputerandVideoGames.com
and GamesAreFun
Both articles identify the root of the problem as being twofold: Record numbers of people joining and online, coupled with lots of essential staff being gone for the holiday. We all knew that Live was touch-and-go, but you'd think that they would have planned for a large increase of activity given that gifts are given/bought for Christmas and a substantial number of gamers would have lots of free time.
I'm not complaining though, I'm trying to be constructive. What gets me worked up is when there isn't any communication from the higher ups. I just want to know what's going on, is that so wrong? Is my Xbox taking a crap? is it my network? Once I know what the problem is I can relax a little. Otherwise, I just get uptight and frustrated. Two suggestions for Microsoft: 1) get to know your users better and try to anticipate usage patterns better and 2) Notify users when there are Xbox Live service issues. It could be via the XBL dashboard, a mass Email/notification, or even simpler...start some sort of blog or webpage to announce and track system outages. They could even just have a regularly updated section on the Xbox.com support page.
I'm not holding my breath for any major compensation from Microsoft, but I am pleased that they acknowledged how bunk it was that the system crapped out during the middle of a lot of people's vacations. Give me a free arcade title or an extra month on my subscription. I think full refunds are a little excessive, but some token in recognition of their service
faults would be appreciated.
Either way, I still love my Xbox and will be playing as much as I can to make up for the time lost over my vacation.
ComputerandVideoGames.com
and GamesAreFun
Both articles identify the root of the problem as being twofold: Record numbers of people joining and online, coupled with lots of essential staff being gone for the holiday. We all knew that Live was touch-and-go, but you'd think that they would have planned for a large increase of activity given that gifts are given/bought for Christmas and a substantial number of gamers would have lots of free time.
I'm not complaining though, I'm trying to be constructive. What gets me worked up is when there isn't any communication from the higher ups. I just want to know what's going on, is that so wrong? Is my Xbox taking a crap? is it my network? Once I know what the problem is I can relax a little. Otherwise, I just get uptight and frustrated. Two suggestions for Microsoft: 1) get to know your users better and try to anticipate usage patterns better and 2) Notify users when there are Xbox Live service issues. It could be via the XBL dashboard, a mass Email/notification, or even simpler...start some sort of blog or webpage to announce and track system outages. They could even just have a regularly updated section on the Xbox.com support page.
I'm not holding my breath for any major compensation from Microsoft, but I am pleased that they acknowledged how bunk it was that the system crapped out during the middle of a lot of people's vacations. Give me a free arcade title or an extra month on my subscription. I think full refunds are a little excessive, but some token in recognition of their service
faults would be appreciated.
Either way, I still love my Xbox and will be playing as much as I can to make up for the time lost over my vacation.
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Comments
Submitted by kewljoe on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 10:09
Submitted by TANK on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 10:14