Xbox Live Outage Underscores Why Gamers Fear Always-On Consoles
Some Xbox 360 gamers who tried to sign into Xbox Live over the weekend may have run into difficulties doing so. That's because the service was down for a period of time, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for a couple of reasons, especially for Call of Duty: Black Ops II players. Activision's been awarding double XP to Black Ops II gamers since Friday and will continue to do so until 10AM PDT on Monday, so if you holed yourself up for the weekend, you could have earned some major points.
"We're still hard at work fixing the issue members are having signing in to Xbox Live. Thank you for your patience during this time. Keep checking back here every 30 minutes for an update on our progress," Microsoft stated yesterday on its Xbox Live Service page.
For the most part, Microsoft has addressed the issue and users are now able to sign in to the service, though some lingering issues remain. For example, Microsoft says users may experience "difficulties" creating new or accessing existing Minecraft game saves, and listening to music via Last.fm is spotty. In both cases, Microsoft says it's working on a fix.
In the meantime, these problems underscore why gamers take issue with the concept of an always-on console. It's been rumored that the Xbox 720 (Durango) will feature an always-on Internet requirement, and Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny if the rumors are true. In cases where Microsoft is having problems on its end, an always-on requirement could render the console unusable.
"We're still hard at work fixing the issue members are having signing in to Xbox Live. Thank you for your patience during this time. Keep checking back here every 30 minutes for an update on our progress," Microsoft stated yesterday on its Xbox Live Service page.
For the most part, Microsoft has addressed the issue and users are now able to sign in to the service, though some lingering issues remain. For example, Microsoft says users may experience "difficulties" creating new or accessing existing Minecraft game saves, and listening to music via Last.fm is spotty. In both cases, Microsoft says it's working on a fix.
In the meantime, these problems underscore why gamers take issue with the concept of an always-on console. It's been rumored that the Xbox 720 (Durango) will feature an always-on Internet requirement, and Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny if the rumors are true. In cases where Microsoft is having problems on its end, an always-on requirement could render the console unusable.
