Someone's losing their head, Xbox Live is down [update 3]
by Dustin Burg 
{ Dec 27th 2006 at 10:10PM }
It looks like Xbox Live is down ... and no explanation has hit our mailbox yet. Most people can sign into Xbox Live, but are unable to play any online games. As soon as we hear why Live went down or when it'll be back up we'll pass along the news. Hopefully it won't be too long as we've yet to see a long term outage, but prepare for the worse. Until then you can always play some Geometry Wars.Update 3: It looks like Live is up (as of 1:55AM EST) and running ... or so for our little test. We were able to host and join a ranked game of Gears of War successfully. We haven't received official confirmation that it's up and running, but it looks to be fixed.
Update 2: For overnight coverage and status updates on the Live outage please visit Major Nelson. On the left side of his blog, below his gamercard, he's keeping a log of information he has received about our little Live crisis. You can do it Xbox Live techs, we have faith!
Update 1: According to Xbox.com, the matchmaking aspect of Live is down. If you're experiencing issues with certain game's offline features (Gears of War), simply disconnect your Xbox 360 from the internet. Pull the plug or rip off the wireless adapter, then you'll at least be able to play campaign. Stay tuned for more updates as they filter in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
headwoundcity @ Dec 27th 2006 10:20PM
tear, no more Warzone....and on my day off too! Well I guess I WILL take my girlfriend to dinner.
MisterFuhrman @ Dec 27th 2006 10:21PM
Thank you for posting this! I was about to go insane thinking my xbox is messed up.
By the way, I finally got to the host screen on Gears, but alas, nobody showed up to play.
Tim Marman @ Dec 28th 2006 10:11AM
Yeah, everyone on my friends list has the same issue.
I couldn't even play solo Gears of War, presumably because it is trying to expose it to online co-op. And of course, my Oblivion disc is scratched or something... :)
Keith @ Dec 27th 2006 10:29PM
So it wasn't just Gears of War. Hmm....
Tig @ Dec 27th 2006 10:26PM
This is probably completely unrelated, but the guitar hero website is also down as of 10:30 eastern time.
Machiavelli @ Dec 27th 2006 10:30PM
It's the end of the world! Really I thought I was banned to play any games due to my crappy rep...
25% preferred, 75% avoided. Mostly all about communication when I rarely talk in the game.
At least I'm not the only one... just when I renewed my subscription too, how lucky am I?
Highly unlikely but maybe now all games will support 1080p...who knows I just hope for a quick fix.
Josh @ Dec 27th 2006 10:34PM
I was wondering what was up today. I haven't been able to go into matchmaking in COD3, NBA Live 07, or Halo 2 for nearly 8 hours now
chops @ Dec 27th 2006 10:35PM
could the fact that the halo beta is up and running have anything to do with it?
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=Major+Nelson
Soapy @ Dec 27th 2006 10:37PM
I can't seem to play single player in Gears.... SINGLE PLAYER!!!! Is it only me or because of XBL???
Machiavelli @ Dec 27th 2006 10:50PM
Apparently there is a problem with matchmaking so says on Xbox.com
Who monitors Xbox Live?
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/personality/trixie/xboxundercover/xboxundercover-xoc.htm
Some more interesting speculation
China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 728.HK) and China Netcom (NYSE: CN; 906.HK) confirmed on December 27 that Internet users in mainland China are having difficulties visiting websites outside of the Mainland due to the earthquake near Taiwan, reports Eastday.com. The earthquake damaged at least six of Mainland's optical networks leading out of China, said the report. Instant messaging (IM) tools Skype and MSN messenger were down as well.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200612/200612280011.html
An earthquake in southern Taiwan on Tuesday night damaged an undersea optic cable, causing serious disruptions to international phone lines and Internet connections in Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan and Southeast Asia.
The earthquake estimated at 7.1 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey shook the ocean floor 23 km southwest of Hengchun, southern Taiwan at 9:26 p.m. on Tuesday. At least six undersea optic cables connecting Korea, China and Japan, Hong Kong and Macau, and mainland China, Hong Kong, the U.S. and Europe were cut off, causing communications interruptions on Wednesday.
Steve @ Dec 27th 2006 10:40PM
Nope, no one can play Gears single player without unplugging your 360 from the router. Lame, Epic. I've never seen an online service take down a single player game...
James @ Dec 27th 2006 10:41PM
Xbox.com --
Xbox Live is currently experiencing issues with Matchmaking. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and Thank You for your patience.
chops @ Dec 27th 2006 10:44PM
people are experincing problems but major nelson is playin pimps at sea (h3 beta) as i type this.
go figure...
jarg @ Dec 27th 2006 10:55PM
There was an earthquake in Taiwan earlier today that disrupted Internet communications. It may be related, but I'm not sure.
I love Geometry Wars, although the time I had my highest score (about 340,000) I wasn't connected to Xbox Live because my ISP was having connectivity issues, so it did not save my score on live, that sucks.
Machiavelli @ Dec 27th 2006 10:50PM
God Damn X-Mas noobs gezzz yall ruined it for all of us...
Called tech support and the problem is (according to the person on the phone) is that the servers cannot sustain the volume of users on XBL. In other words, they were unprepared for the number of players during the holiday. No real ETA for this to be resolved, but suggested trying every hour.
Ken @ Dec 27th 2006 10:53PM
What!? I can't play SINGLE PLAYER on Gears of War?
Don Wilson @ Dec 27th 2006 11:13PM
You don't realise how great XBL is until it's down like this.
Ken @ Dec 27th 2006 11:23PM
It looks like you can play Gears of War (single player) by just signing out of Xbox Live -- no need to disconnect from the network.
Scott @ Dec 27th 2006 11:24PM
$14 - Unhook your 360 from the internet (ethernet cord or wireless adapter. That seems to solve most folk's problems.
Ozyman666 @ Dec 27th 2006 11:27PM
I guess it doesn't affect BFMC. I've been playing it most of the night.
Keith @ Dec 27th 2006 11:48PM
@ 19 : BFMC Uses EA servers. That's why it isn't affected, if it were on Microsoft servers it would be down.
Tom @ Dec 28th 2006 12:29AM
The REASON you can't even play Campaign in Gears is because a connection to the downed server is required in order to track your achievements. If, for example, you were allowed to play and completed Act 5 on Insane, you wouldn't get credit for it. Achievements and gamerpoints are stored on servers and are tied to your account, they are not stored locally on your Xbox360.
ill trooper @ Dec 28th 2006 12:53AM
Weak. Just got back in town!
Brian @ Dec 28th 2006 1:05AM
OMG I'm gonna be so much more productive at work tomorrow with all this rest.
Damn you Microsoft!!!
drez @ Dec 28th 2006 1:11AM
damn I was begining to think that xbL was racist and wouldn't let me play C.O.D.
Zim @ Dec 28th 2006 1:18AM
22 Tom - You're wrong. It's because the Single Player campaign has the option to invite players to 'jump in' during your game. Achievements ARE stored on your box. And you DO get credit for the achievements you accrue while the console is offline.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Dec 28th 2006 3:22PM
" God Damn X-Mas noobs "
Christmas Noobs is the name of my band.
GhostDoggy @ Dec 28th 2006 5:42AM
I guess this could be growing pains for the Xbox Live network with the +4 million users. Is the Live network completely contained within the mainland United States for American players?
Paul Scearce @ Dec 28th 2006 6:08AM
XBOX 360 rules!! For now till next fall of 2007 it will be at the top along with Wii. But when the showdown of titans begins BIG TIME is the winter of 2007. no B.S. for sure. PS3 will rise from shames to gloriness. hey i know i still loyal to xbox 360 100 percent forever! Power to mircosoft! But with Blue Ray disc oh man you can put in more as you can. Oh i wish MS could us HD-DVD for games! It will be a killer!
Matt @ Dec 28th 2006 7:53AM
Matchmaking down?!?! Oh noes! Now I can't play COD3 ranked matches! Wait, I haven't been able to do that since I got the game. After getting all the achievements except for beating the game on veteran . Has anybody else been able to play ranked on COD3?
John Shu @ Dec 28th 2006 9:58AM
"It's the end of the world! Really I thought I was banned to play any games due to my crappy rep..." cough modded 360 cough.. Come on you know that's really why you were stressing.
Abe @ Dec 28th 2006 10:16AM
So I've been having issue with COD3 locking up occasionally in the last two evenings (single player campaign). I've heard rumblings that this could have been caused by the outage. Can anyone confirm this? Or should I be worried that my 360 is about to bite the red ring of death soon like my last one did?
Tim Marman @ Dec 28th 2006 10:19AM
#21 - Not true. I was able to play Splinter Cell DA and unlock achievements just fine.
If the issue was with the matchmaking service, it stands to reason that the GoW issue was with the co-op matchmaking.
MIke OHara @ Dec 28th 2006 11:52AM
this would obviously explain the issue I was having last night trying to find matches in Dead or Alive 4.
Tom @ Dec 28th 2006 5:56PM
@Zim
Oh, ok. My mistake. If that's the case then it really doesn't make sense that the solo campaign should be disabled, seeing as how you don't NEED others to "jump in" in order to play it. I guess it's just badly programmed then. Hey CliffyB, can we get a fix please?
Tom @ Dec 28th 2006 6:21PM
Zim you punk!
I believed you at first. I assumed you knew what you were talking about... then I tested it. I am required to log out of my XBL account in order to start campaign. Apon starting a game I am told "you will not be able to save your progress". So I finished Act 1... and lo and behold, no achievement unlocked! So you see, I WAS right to begin with. You are STILL wrong. Tim Marman, you're talking about a different game so we'll have to agree to disagree.