Microsoft’s Troubles over 360 Live

People sometimes wonder why I would buy a PS3 instead of a 360, considering 360 has the better games and has more players. I would hardly call myself a Sony fanboy since they’ve pulled a lot of crap in the past. However, with the trouble 360 users are having, choosing a next gen console was an easy decision.

Microsoft is getting sued over the Xbox 360 once again. This time it’s over the Xbox Live service. Over the Christmas holidays, Microsoft’s online service for the 360 suffered on and off again outages for about a week. Now, this wouldn’t be a big deal except that Microsoft makes users pay for the service. This is in contrast to the online services offered by Sony and Nintendo which are both free. The class action law suit was filed at the Houston District Court and is seeking damages in excess of $5 million US. Xbox Live has roughly 7 million users world wide. According to Microsoft, the cause of the outages was a surge of new users onto the service, however, they should have been able to anticipate higher demand during the holidays and add more servers to accommodate. Microsoft will be giving away a free arcade game to all Live users as an apology for the issues, which I think is fair. It’s rare for Microsoft to admit they made a mistake, so take advantage of it.

While I’m sure Live is a good service, I don’t think users should be made to pay for it when comparable services offered by Sony and Nintendo are free. Xbox Live Gold costs $8.99 per month for Canadian users, or $59.99 for a one year subscription. A Silver (similar to Sony’s Playstation Store) subscription is free but the Gold subscription is required for online multiplayer.

Sources:
Crave: A Blog from CNET