Well, what a nice surprise. After the colossal failure that Xbox Live suffered over the Holidays, Microsoft apologized , and promised us a free XBLA title for our suffering. Isn't that nice? Of course, immediately after that announcement, the "OMG, old arcade gamez for the loss!" messages started to flood message boards, and you may have been right, a little.

Today, Microsoft announced that everyone on the Xbox Live service will receive a free download for Undertow, one of the "highest-rated and best looking games available on Arcade" beginning next Wednesday, at 2 am PST, through Sunday night. What if you happen to be one of the many who actually bought the game? Oops... there's nothing currently planned for that situation. Hey, nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like a free copy of Undertow for that someone special! Not a total disappointment after all. So, take that, lawsuit-happy Texans.

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Bvlldog said:

Awesome... although it can never give me back my missed time on Live, this will go a long way toward putting Micro$oft back in my good graces!

January 18, 2008

Scodiac said:

Can't complain. Really they don't have to give us anything but to save face they're givin us undertow. I would of 1,200 points to spend as I like but undertow is suppose to be fun. Glad I didn't buy it before the crash.

January 18, 2008

Nevis said:

I have to admit, I was going to buy this anyways. While we should've received a month of free Live, this isn't the worst game the could've given us.

January 18, 2008

NormTeke said:

What about the people who already have this game? I love it, but I've already paid for it.

January 18, 2008

Deathblow23 said:

Way to go Microsoft...why don't you just give everyone 800 points instead? I already have this game. I bought it the day it came out back in November. So how's this impact me? What's this gonna do for me? Well,...honestly I guess this is par for the course in every way for everything Microsoft has tried to fix during this console's lifecycle. It's just another example of how they put no real thought into their contingency plans. If anybody thinks the warranty was a great idea...you're sadly mistaken. The console should NEVER have launched when it did. They should have put it off another year so they could keep from screwing millions of early-adopters over. (I've had 8 broken consloes...BTW.) For the sake of going on and on...For all the greatness the 360 has going for it...the hardware works marginally at best, LIVE is one giant subscription based coin-flip,...and their leadership are all greedy, devious, nazis. Whoo-Hoo...stay hot Microsoft!!!

January 18, 2008

Jobeth66 said:

Yeah...thanks but no thanks, MicroSoft. Give me a game I'm totally not interested in as recompense for effectively having no service for a month. Hey, I'll tell you what MS - next year, I'll pay for the first month of my live subscription by giving you a copy of Windows ME. I'm almost positive I have an unopened copy around here somewhere. That's just as good, right?

January 18, 2008

Duffman X18 said:

I'll happily accept this. I like the game but haven't bothered to pay for it, so this is a nice offer.

January 18, 2008

KING JIMBOB said:

glad they gave a decent title but live is still down!!!

January 18, 2008

NormTeke said:

I've just read somewhere that people who have already purchased this title can call Xbox Live Support where representatives have been briefed on how to take care of us. What that exactly means I have no idea.

January 18, 2008

arustyload said:

I dont get my people are so angry about this. first of all it wasnt a month without it was like 3 or 4 days at most. and even then it was mostly just the dashboard. For 2 days you were having trouble with matchmaking and even that was off and on. I think this is a good move on their part but it should have been an unreleased game so everyone can take advantage. these things happen with your cable, internet, and satellite services so why should Live be judged any different?

January 18, 2008

Jay said:

Rusty, I can tell you for certain that people were having problems for almost three weeks, and many of them (including myself) are still having occasional issues. It was most definitely not 3 or 4 days.

January 18, 2008

Svengoolie said:

Holy crap... I want that game but I don't know if I'll have my setup ready by then. I'm waiting to get a Gamebridge so I can hook 360 into my laptop here at the dorm. (Living with a douchebag roommate who you don't talk to isn't fun) Now I really hope that thing gets here soon!

January 18, 2008

Honeycut1 said:

I was happy to read on major nelsons site that those of us who have already bought undertow need to contact microsoft customer support and they'll help us out.

January 18, 2008

Lord Geoff said:

I appreciate the gesture, but giving away a single title doesn't cover everyone. They are helping a bit by "helping" those people who have already purchased the game. I haven't seen what that entails, but I am assuming it is coming in the form of a points refund. Those of us that had problems with our gold service, but didn't particularly care for Undertow are left a bit in the cold. I completely understand that they didn't owe us anything, but to provide silver accounts access to a free game for service that they don't pay for and nothing for gold accounts that don't like Undertow seems a little weak. If you want to spread some good will to your customers, then do it in such a way that all members will benefit in some way. The Xbox group has heavily endorsed "choice" in relation to what their customers want. Where is our choice? Take Undertow or don't? Also, customers that had already purchased Undertow shouldn't have to be subjected to the horrible out-sourced customer service in order to get compensation. The system already tracks what each gamertag has purchased access to, why not just refund those accounts that purchased it previous to a certain date? A little hint about out-sourced phone support... it doesn't help your customers to spend three times as long explaining the problem to get half as much. Honestly, if I fell into the group of people that had already purchased Undertow, I wouldn't bother with calling customer service. It wouldn't be worth the multiple phone calls, spending around 90 mins on the phone, to get it done. I had so much trouble trying to get my 500 pts for being a Live founding member that I gave up. Five phone calls, 0 results. Sorry for the long post!

January 19, 2008

Math said:

Live still runs like crap. I already bought this game. How about finally fixing a STILL messed up Live and giving a month of it free instead. Boo, MS, Boo.

January 21, 2008