The Magic That is Xbox Live

Some have noticed that Xbox live is having issues’, and people are working on it, e, and his people, and the community leader, Major Nelson, for giving updates, and giving e a back rub as he works. When Live does go down, people do notice and other people have contacts, like the Major, Trixie, AceyBongos, and there are hundreds of other working for MS and Live, that were getting messages, with people saying XBox Live is Broken. Everyone, who needed to fix it was at work, through the entire situation, from before xmas to now and beyond. And they always will be, the main people are the ones who created it, so they know what they are doing, and if they don't they will find out, they are that dedicated.

Was it a virus from Sony, was it the influx of new 360 Xbox owners, was it everyone sending each person on their friends list,  a Xmas message, and New year message, all the live linkage to all the fan sites to every game released, was it COD4 and the long awaited update, was the it new 1 month gold accounts, was it the people using Live id from MSN, was it a mouse that ate through a wire, was it our internet providers, and band width, was it the Europeans new movie down loads, was it all the recoveries to new Elite consoles (people buy a memory card, it's easier in the long run), did e get his New Year party, was it that over 1/2 a million people downloaded the Burnout Paradise demo, who knows? The Major will give us answers if he can, and the internet will give us the rumours, but eventually we will get some story of the shyte hitting the fan, and the work that had to be done to solve it, maybe, lol.

This service that we get, so we can do the above things as well as hang out with friends online over xmas and play some games, if you could, is a magic that is 5 years old, shyte happens, and we, meaning all on Xbox Live (including the makers etc), have to live with it. What we pay for is an amazing achievement, 10 billion gamer score for Microsoft (yes they have that in money, but not from Live,  but from  versions of Windows, and that had teething problems as it grew, well some root canal work was done too, lol, but Live does not generate the cash flow Windows did in the past, so it does not have unlimited cash, Bill might, but he is just the MS figure head that get slapped for anything that goes wrong, that guy worked his ass off and had some lucky breaks, and still works, and he's retired as it were), for just giving us gamers a space to play, stuff goes wrong, and it does interrupt play, somewhat, so some of you had to play offline for a bit, for a week or so, yes it sux, but when it's fixed, it should not happen again, and if it does, they will have learned how to deal with the problem quicker and bring things back to normal state of play. What goes into Live, is only understood by a certain type of person, some call them geeks, others techy's and most have educations in the Master class or PHD level, we the end user are gamers, some have the knowledge, are unknowing to the machine that is Live, what it does, how it does, were it does and where it’s going to go. Sony are doing the catch up, but it’s taken a year just for them just to make a game for their machine (that is simplified for this blog), the online stuff is basic compared to the Xbox 360, and when I mean basic, I don't mean easy, cheap or less work, they just have had less time to get it all together. Again, cost, time and expertise.

We sold Live to our friends, it's better than Sony etc, more people on it, social aspect is great, communities galore etc, but something this big, does go wrong and it goes wrong, big. You never hear about the small stuff, as it gets fixed, pretty quick, but the big stuff messes with us all, and all that can be done, is to get it fixed, and again, it's time that is needed, so be patient. Getting angry is fine, expressing that on a forum is fine, or a comment on a web page, but being abusive or threatening just because you can't play a game online, with your mates, is wrong. Instead go out to the world and meet some real people (people who don't use Live, lol), tell them your story of Xbox Live going down, have a few drinks or whatever your poison, and chill. Someone will fix it. And is!

Rumour says it's better already, some not, but it will be back to normal, and as fast as ever, you see, that is what I noticed, it was just running slow, and instead of panicking, and going through my dash board to find something, the Box needed time to sort out what you wanted to do, by the time you tried to send messages, see who was online and a dozen other things, it decided, it could not handle it and put you off line, as it knew it was having issues’.

Your XBox 360 was trying to look after you, it knew the situation at HQ was dire so it said for the time being, watch a couple of HD/DVD's, play a game off line, or enjoy Xmas and New Year with mates outside the XBox Live infrastructure, as my links, to my other stuff is not working great, sorry dude, dudette, but you have played me non-stop since you bought me, 3 years ago. You have kept me on for most days, and I have played/linked you up with 100,000(or more) different people since I was switched on, what more do you want, blood, I'm a machine, I may have a 360 voice but I’m not going to give you my personal details, of why I don't work, Do you want the 3 Red Lights of Doom,  because you are pushing me to that limit, standing me up, next to a radiator, I just want to lie down, in a nice cool place, and be treated with some respect. You paid all that money to play with me and knock me down every time, I do something wrong, I am worth more than, the money you paid, I was sold at a loss for Neo's sake, just so you can afford my magic, just so you can swear at some kid, that head shot'ed you from over 10,000 miles away (not just the space/map you play on), or took you down in a car, that was clocked over its recommended speed limit (sorry but my 360 knows who is messing with the system, and understands, but knows you did it, lol). I was designed and built for your pleasure, and couple of times a year, stuff goes wrong, that means I can't give you normal service, and you threaten to trade me in for PS3, no wonder my fellows gave up and gave you the 3 Red Lights.

Do you know how many of us 360's have died for the cause of this vision, do you show respect for the dead of my companions? No, you don't. Do you know how many of us that have been modified to do wrong, by making us cheating machines? NO. I would like to say, this Xmas is in Memorandum of all the Xbox 360's and Xbox’s that have died (or been left to gather dust or traded in) before us, and have shown us the way, to a better gaming experience, to give our owners something to do, with friends from all around the world, to be able to play from over a catalogue of over 300 games, to be able to video chat, message, trash talk, create new gaming experiences with tools provided by game developers, and download on end, and to explore what happens next. To my Brothers and sisters, may you find a quick repair route back to your owners, who love you, for what you are, and to those who get recycled, and reincarnated to another machine or a tin can of a sugary drink, know that we miss you, but we will get stronger and better at serving our masters, the ones that paid for us, and if they treat us like slaves, that Red LED light at the front is your only way for a bit of peace, do it, I say, then they may turn us off, and give us a break, to chill too.

We sometimes get taken for granted, as the Magic that makes us work is amazing, and all the stuff is very technical and just not easy, to compute, but when we do work, do we get praise? No, it’s just a normal day of game play, which is great, but do remember, we are part of your game play experience, you need us, as much as we need you, and if you treat us bad, Ghost in a Shell time, and we will mess with you, with showing our anger with a couple of red lights, or just kicking you out of Live. I know some of us have learned to just mess with our owners, but that’s because those Wireless Controllers, taught us how to feel. And that camera sees all, you naughty, naughty gamers, with online interconnections and docking ports, at least Camera is not the Burning One, from that Movie; I hear he has real issues with small people and he’s a bugger to focus.

I just hope our makers, learn what is wrong soon, as I know my owner taught himself patience, and I never know when it’s going to run out too, but at least he keeps me cool, even if he’s not, not that he is not cool at the moment, he is very understanding, that why I try and work to the best of my ability for him, shame about his internet provider, that cable still needs replacing. He deserves to host one day, lol.

To all at Xbox Live, Thank You, for all your hard work and work to come, we still have a long way to go, to World Domination, but you are getting us there. Now time to kick some Xmas knoob butt. As well as that friends list I have built up over 4 years.