Fxxk this!!! why couldnt it be a new title?!

MedelliaObscured

I think that it was extremely ill-advised, from a business point of view, for Microsoft to (a) offer a free arcade game and (b) to announce it so early.

The reason I say this is that I personally have avoided buying ANY arcade game in the last few weeks for the simple reason that I did not want it to be a game that I could possibly be offered for free just days later. I'm sure that I am not the only person who did this.

Why didn't they just give everyone a month's free Xbox LIVE? They give it for free to anyone who creates a new gamertag, it'd cost them nothing (a little lost revenue perhaps, but everyone will be renewing their membership anyway so it'd just be a month later than it would have been), and they'd be replacing what was taken AND giving the majority of Xbox LIVE users what they really wanted.

duckmouth

@parad0x360: I love how 360 users bash PSN for XBL problems. I don't know if PSN is a big shark. All I know is it works, it's free, it's getting better every week, Home's coming and it's on a reliable console.

slomo788

I hope there will also be a real arcade game release for the week and they don't consider that the week's release. I can't wait for Rez ;)

BBBoT

People who thought they were gonna give REZ: HD away for free were reaching...

At least I didn't buy Undertow yet.. Yaay..

samuraisul

A win for me -- I haven't yet bought Undertow, though it is on my list, and I haven't had any problems with LIVE. So I get LIVE service with no issues AND a free game I want. It's almost like Christmas :)

wheezo

Fan-fucking-tastic. A free game to compensate me for my inability to use Live, available only while my 360's red-ringed. Great. Really. I appreciate this whole "not being able to use things I paid for and not getting compensated for not being able to use them" thing, Microsoft.

@Hiero Glyph: I have had access to Live MAYBE 10% of the time for the past month. No games, no chat, no Marketplace, no friends list. Couldn't even play the Arcade games I'd bought with previous consoles.

I am certainly no fan of Microsoft at the moment.

rannic

@Maximus9: rofl psn a big shark? sure guy whatever you say. I'll tell you what, when it takes less then 4 hours to download a demo we will talk again because thats just one of the MANY major problems PSN has.

parad0x360

@soundgarden: cause it wasn't "a month lost" or anything close to that - I've played at least 50 halo games since xmas - problems aren't that widespread and really weren't that severe at thier peak annoyance levels - I think I couldn't play online for like 5 or 6 days tops, mostly just cosmetic hiccups after that - free game is enuf for me

ErickTheRed

@ssjmichael: I also love how everyone pretends that they have had no access to XBL for the ENTIRE time. I have encountered maybe 5-8 times where an online game was unplayable (mostly CoD4). Guess what? Halo 3 and TF2 worked fine. And even if they did not, I always had the single-player for CoD4 and Mass Effect.

Hiero Glyph

@soundgarden:
Well first off the service never really went down and then it only effected me for like a week. I'm not going ask XBL for my dollar back and besides that a XBLA game more than makes up for my loss.

Deux_ExMachina

Undertow, eh? I'll take it. I liked the demo, just not enough to pay for the full game.

DerrickDS

What the fuck is wrong with all of you?

It's a FREE FUCKING GAME!!!

And if you already own it, you will still get something (probably of equal value) by doing nothing more than calling a toll-free number!

Holy shit, guys. Slapping them in the face for offering this deal is a new low for the online gamer community.

ilyag

@Bishmon: If only others shared your sense of gratitude. XBL costs $5 a month and people act like they deserve millions in retribution for a temporary problem with the servers. Instead we get a $10 game (or a point refund if you already purchased it) and everyone still complains.

Hiero Glyph

Sweet! This is the one arcade game I have really considered to get, but ultimately passed on, thinking I wouldn't get around to playing Multiplayer enough to justify the purchase. That's probably still true, but I'll snag it for free, cos I really did think the Demo was fun.

RemyDuvalle

Well it's nice that I can own this game now, but it really sucks that they don't have plans to get something for people who already have this game. I think it would be far better if they just gave out a set number of Microsoft points redeemable only withing a certain time period, and let people choose what game they want.

EightBit

I tried the demo, it was ok, granted- I wasn't really paying attention and wasn't into it. I've heard very good things about it though, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. And while I really would have preferred some MS points, they could have done worse than this game- though, the just thing to do would have been a free month of Live for everyone, but it's unreasonable (from a business standpoint) to think they would of given us that.

Live has been fine the last few days for me, but I still feel like we deserved a little more. I can deal with getting this pretty good game though.

PurpleMonkey

Really? I'm surprised that you guys are so complicit with this MS response. You pay for a service, the service goes down at the height of when you would want to use it, stays out for a month, and you settle for an already released game rather than demanding a prorated credit to your accounts? I'm sorry, but I think xbox LIVE users should demand a refund for the month lost. Why are you going to let microsoft keep your money for services not rendered???

soundgarden

Cool, I wanted to get this game but didn't want to pay for it and now I can. Hooray!

gray665

Better to have Bill Gates stop by every Live users' home and make an apology in person.

Snappywave

Undertow is a sweet little game! Cue Borat: Very Niice

ErickTheRed

Man do I get tired of 'sifting' threw constant bitching. I am surprised that it caught me off guard this time because I should have known that it really wouldn't have mattered what arcade game they gave us it (of course) was doomed to have the mob (pitchforks on the ready) cued up. I for one am happy they gave us from what I have read a pretty great game, if you already have it it seems they are going to still try and help you. Seriously, did anyone think it would have been one of the better Arcade titles? To be honest, I'm happy they are giving us something, period...

caleb

@Kataki: The window may be small but think about it, the only people really affected by the sporadic outages are those hardcore power-users who log in frequently (obsessively?). I really haven't noticed any of the outages/issues during regular play after work or video chats with friends/family. The only way I knew of these "crippling, massive, class-actionable, life-altering outages" is this site. My parents, who are more casual players and use the video chat mostly, haven't noticed any problems.

TrettOff

I'd still rather have the points.

chillblain

This is horrible. Why couldn't Microsoft just give a set amount of points to everyone? I mean I could understand giving this one game away if the problems only were around for a week, but we're talking about 27 days now.

This.Is.Unacceptable

ssjmichael

@Mr.Waffleton: Errr...I own both systems, nice try..I just thinks MS is generally more greedy than Sony, they should have given 1 month free of live or points to spend as you please.

Maximus9

@jx1: Now it says Revelead. Getting closer!

Never heard of this game. Have to give 'er a whack.

KaneTaker

Cool!

A game I was too cheap to buy! Works out for me.

Atsumi

Undertow? Awesome. Especially considering I haven't really been having any problems with Live outside of the three or so days directly after Christmas.

Bishmon

Way to go Microsoft. Just when I thought you couldn't screw this thing up any worse, you prove me wrong.

Well done.

Let's see if a million people downloading a crappy XBLA game over a three day window could bring XBL down. That would be awesome.

Pixelantes Anonymous

yaay, i waited since mass effect and rock band had just come out! This makes up for me buying carcassone.

Grumps

@Maximus9:

LOL fanboys.

Mr.Waffleton

Cool. This is a great game I intended to pick up but it was lost during the crush of holiday titles (still exploring every nook and cranny in Mass Effect) that superceded it. To those complaining, they could have picked Boogie Bunnies.

TrettOff

O;o;;

the title says Relevead?
do you mean "Revealed"?

jx1

Hopefully XBL wont be down between those dates. *fingerscrossed*

Cuban__B

@holoprojector:

If that's the case then call the number adn get the points added.

Mr.Waffleton

My 360 is in Texas for RRoD. Great.

holoprojector

I wonder if the developer agreed to let them give it awayb free because they've got for-pay DLC coming soon.

Mr.Waffleton

Great news! Like most Live Arcade games, I enjoyed the demo, but not enough to dump $10 on it. Yeah, I'm cheap, wanna fight about it?

kelptocratic

Wow. It's a save money tactic on two fronts. One, as mentioned in the article, most people won't call. Two, you only have a small window to get the "free" game anyway and I bet most people will miss that from lack of promotion.

go go gadget microsoft

Kataki

Hmm, well at least it's not Joust.

sobjw

@Sparx88: I was actually thinking it would be like Dig Dug.

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

Sweet!

Tepoz

This is good news for me and if they will refund the points of people who already bought it kudos to XBL.

I'd still just rather have the points though.

Deux_ExMachina

Bahahahaha! Oh MS, you silly wascally wabbit, tricks are for kids! 'Undertow'...how appropriate...I feel MS getting caught in its own undertow, and you know what, there's a big shark out there everyone discounted, his name is PSN

Maximus9

@adamsummers:

Hah, the best point I've seen made here in awhile.

Groodle

Heheh, lucky me.

brent_w

GAWD I would never pay for such a rubbish service.

Diamondblade

/bitchandmoan

fyren

@El Patricko: 2nd'd.

edb87

Excellent. A game that I have no interest in, on a console that hasn't been able to get on Live for the last month. Frankly, I'd rather just have another month credited to me account. At the way Live is going these days, I'll be lucky if I can even download that game in the week it is offered.

adamsummers

Did anyone really expect something different? Of course it'd be an old title because the chances are more people have it and they wont lose money

Sparx88

Cool fun game and glad I didn't purchase it already.
But really they should have just gave out MS Points and make everyone happy.

set89

Sweet! I've been going back and forth on whether or not to buy this.

El Patricko

Good thing I never purchase arcade games other than the retros.

blazinnoni

and where do we get in on that class action lawsuit?

Billkwando

Undertow is an 800pt game (right?) which is equivalent of $10 USD. Live is like $50/year or $10 month (on a month by month contract)? They are also allowing an alternate method for those who got the game already. They've offered an apology and stated what went wrong and have a handle on the problem now. Granted that this may not be the ideal way to make amends for some, what is with all the bitching?!
...
The only peoples argument I can even sympathize with are those who are upset that this happened in the first place but to those people I say move on! Keep enjoying the STILL superior service of LIVE or go go to PSN or Nintendo. Heck! Buy a PC and enjoy that instead!
...
Does the internet really turn everyone into a woman going through menstruation?!!

okenny :)

@slomo788:

Whysobluepandabear?

Tepoz

@Cuban__B: yeah but if it does would we get another game?

yay a free game based upon sea monkeys... I'd me more excited if I could see the damn things.

kashraz

wow, all console beef aside, that sucks that XBL has been down for so long. i mean, whatever reason it's having problems, it's weak that MS can't get this thing under control. $50 a year should be enough to pay overtime for some people to get this glitch or outage or whatever it's being called fixed.


don't know anything about the undertow game, but it sounds wack. maybe it's not, but the little i've seen of it....i'd be pissed to have that game be my "band-aid" for a month of less then stellar service.

jfx316

@Razlo: Call again and asked to have your problem escalated if that person can't help. The representative I talked to said she literally had just received the details on the free game, and then had to inquire with someone else on what to do since I had already owned the game.

bluesquareapple

@iamnotdryad:

They would get the full game, but it would only work when signed into live on the new box. You were close though. :)

Billkwando

By the way, I literally just got off the phone with Xbox Live support at this moment and I was credited 800 Microsoft Points to my account for already owning the game.

bluesquareapple

@JustinS:

Your logic is backwards. Sony's service is FREE. There are plenty of people who use PSN and have no issue with it. It may not have the numbers that Live has, but I'd wager the ratio of PS3 owners to PSN members is the same as the ratio of 360 owners to XBL Gold Members, if not higher.

Also, it's FREE. If it goes down, what do you have to complain about? IT'S FREE.

superberg

This is the best news I've heard all year!!! Except for the fact that my 1st 360 RRoD two weeks ago... and then the replacement that I received today RRoD right out of the damn box! WTF Microsoft? My NES from 1985 still freaking works! Come on!

Piglatin02

Really, this is just an offer. You don't need to accept it, if you don't like the current offer you can call customer service. Remember, the majority of people will just accept it and move on.

Islandkiwi

I called and they told me to "Wait for further details"! WTF?! Why would they tell you to call 4MYXBOX when the reps there have no idea what is going on for customers who already bought Undertow?!

Razlo

@beem:

See my previous post?

Billkwando

Chair Entertainment (developers of Undertow) must be pretty happy about this, having their game become one of the most downloaded XBLA games. I just wonder if theyre getting the same compensation from MS as they would if each download was individually purchased.

coop510

It's offered right after I get back to school, meaning I can't download it. YAY!

DefHamsterJam

Someone wisely pointed out what I'm about to say above, but I feel it needs repeating: At $60 a year, LIVE costs you $5 a month. That is all. To boot, the service wasn't even down for a whole month. Now you're getting a free game of better than average quality that would otherwise cost you $10 -- an amount equal to two months' worth of service. If you already own Undertow, call M$oft and I'm sure they'll give you something or other.

I feel bad for the few people who RRODd and won't be able to get Undertow while it's available, but everyone else bitching in this thread, shut it.

DangerChimp

Would've rather just had points, but I'll take it- Undertow looks cool and I haven't bought it yet.

The Gamer-Nerd Formerly Known as HootieMac

@Maximus9: I bet you felt mighty intelligent while dreaming up that metaphor, right?
You did! OH GOOD... at least some good came out an otherwise utterly pointless statement.

PriorMarcus

@NMC ONE WAY: I lost service with my ISP for two days and got the next month free. In FFXI I got free days back for days that the servers were down. In neither case did I complain they were just given to me for free. It isnt completely unheard of for people to be given compensation for down times in services they paid for.

Really this is all SONY's fault. If their PSN service was better then MS would be forced to compete and they would give you better compensation for down times and offer better service overall.

JustinS

free is free, but meh.

Gadgetron

@NMC ONE WAY: Also your phone example is very weird. A single case can not be compared to a worldwide fuckfest. I don't even understand what you're arguing about. If you work for Microsoft just say it so I can understand your logic.

slomo788

Great a free game I couldn't care less about to 'compensate' me for not being able to use a service I pay for.

Isn't compensation supposed to give you something in replacement for what you've missed out on?

Personally - I think this is just crap. REALLY REALLY CRAP.

RagingAvatar

@NMC ONE WAY: I never said everyone suffered the same problems. What I'm saying is that this fact is irrelevant. Complaining about people complaining for a gaming service (that should be free imo) that goes down during holidays is not logical to me. That's like saying "Oh the 360 hardware failures are only 33% I don't see what this fuss is about. 67% still can use it. Plus the problems vary from disc-scratching to overheating so everybody should just shut the fuck up." No, that's not how it goes, and Microsoft had to make moves, like Falcon chips and warranty extension. That's business. If you can't keep up just shut up, acknowledge that the people whining are doing it for a good cause and enjoy the fruit of their whining. Because I'm sure a free game is not bad news to any Live user right now, and if it was more than that, it would certainly be better news.

slomo788

@Raynre: I think I love you <3

okenny :)

@rathus:

iamnotdryad is wrong. You can do that.

You need to be on Live to play it though.

HungryWolf

the people bitching over a 3.75 a month service that did not work for a month and got a free game (or refund for the game) should come use PSN for a month... you can see the level of shit free gets you

adolfo-gomez

@slomo788:

1 - You can check all the games I've played on Bungie. I play alot of Halo 3 and I have played pretty much every night since before this shit happened and up to last night, so you can take back what you said everyone having the same problem. I certainly didnt experience that shit everyone else had going on. I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but everyone kicking and screaming like babies is making it alo worse than it really is.

2 - This was an inconvienence to a service that is provided "AS IS". Unforseen issues might arise, that is something you have to take into consideration. Does your phone ever cut off and its not your fault? Ever have problems getting into your voice mail even though it was just working? Try calling your carrier and crying about it not working and all they would say is "sorry to hear that, we can work on getting it going now", but they WONT offer you some free services. I dont even care that they gave away a game for it. Its cool and all, but the fact is they didnt have to give anyone shit, and to hear everyone being a little bitch about it is really sad. Be happy they even acknowledged you.

I'm not saying that it doesnt feel like a shaft because of loss of service, but this happens in other things in our lives and we get no comp for it.

NMC ONE WAY

@rathus:

No, you don't want to use a friend's console. The download will then be licensed only to that console and not yours. When you'd get your XBox back you would be stuck with the trial version of Undertow.

It might work if you use a memory card but don't quote me on that since I don't have a memory card.

iamnotdryad

Going on a limb here, but if you don't have your Xbox (RROD?) technically, you should be able to use a friend's console (if available) to recover your GamerTag, and 'download' the game. even if you cancel the download, your account should be flagged as owning it. You can then use the 're-download' for free when you get your Xbox back.

Of course this is all in theory, I've never tried it.

rathus

I was hoping for a month of live seeing as my subscription ended 2 days ago :S

JetPogi

@Hiero Glyph:

I never said anything about complete outages, but you guys are paying for a service and you should expect something more than a cheap handout like this. I mean I know some who still get logged out after a few minutes of being logged in. Are the problems even solved yet? Doesn't seem like it. That's Unacceptable to me.

ssjmichael

Never bought the game.

Never experianced an XBL outage.

Still plan on downloading this freebie. >=D

Raynre

@duckmouth: "Crying bastards, MS didn't have to do shit, it's not like LIVE was totally down or anything."

Speak for yourself. For a lot of people it effectively was, especially if you were trying to recover your gamertag.

Ignorant bastards, never see beyond their own little worlds.

Pixelantes Anonymous

YES!!! This is GREAT news for me. I wanted this game and now I gets it FOR FREE!

Its even BETTER news for me because I borrowed a friends PS3 and Wii during his holiday vacation and played Super Mario Galaxy the whole time, thus never experienced any XBL outages. Still haven't.

So I get something for free without having suffered any harm. TEE HEE!

Darth_Tigris

I downloaded the trial for this a while ago because it sounded cool. Still never got around to playing it. I guess I'll get the chance now that I'll be able to get the entire game for free. Hopefully it's as good as I've heard.

baked ham

The people whining about this are the same assholes who sue when they burn themselves with hot coffee or get in minor car accidents and sure for whiplash. Crying bastards, MS didn't have to do shit, it's not like LIVE was totally down or anything.

duckmouth

I'm torn here. Buying Undertow (a game I've wanted anyway) today, and then calling on Wednesday would be the best decision economically. But I feel sort of weird about that ethically. Hm. Something to consider, at least...

WreckTheLaw

Thats lame M$

topbravo222

Very cool. I'm glad the free game isn't one I already have and it's even better that it's one I wanted.

skullivan

@Maximus9:

Can trolls swim?

@Mr.Waffleton:

Sounds like The Carcassonne Maneuver.

@chillblain:

Me too. I never picked up Undertow, and though it looks interesting, I wouldn't have. Metal Slug 3 has the censored white spooge-blood, so getting that free would've been nice, but if they gave us points I'd have enough to buy Psychonauts.....which is what I really want.

Oh well....I'll save my points for Samurai Shodown II which betterfuckinnot have green blood.

@slomo788:

Wrong. The 360 users bashed the PSN user who was bashing XBL for XBL problems. Not the same thing....and I wouldn't call it bashing cos we're not that bashcrafty.

If they really wanted to make amends they would've given us Omega 5 ;)

Billkwando

@slomo788: "I love 360 users. You get raped and what do you do? You ask for more, and you make fun of users from other companies getting the shaft, while the one you're taking is 3 times larger."

Well said.

Pixelantes Anonymous

Wow. You fanboys are amazing. Even after M$ gives out a free title (which they weren't obligated to) you still piss & moan & then throw PSN into the mix? There's no pleasing you people.

M$ can't don't anything without you guys bitching about it. I'll bet that even if they just handed out 1,200 M$ points to everyone on Live, you'd STILL find something to gripe about.

beem

@ilyag: Well, hot damn. A free game! Wow! Soooo awesome!

It's certainly big of Microsoft, who sits on top of something like $50B IN CASH in the bank. Refund would've been WAY too expensive, I suppose.

The problem with this is that Undertow isn't exactly a top seller. I'd guess a very large percentage of people eligible for this "generous" FREE (yay!) game are basically getting 30MB of hard drive filler, rather than something they would actually enjoy or consider a fair exchange for a month of service outages.

But hey, it's FREE! Gotta be awesome, right?

Pixelantes Anonymous

@KirbyMorph: Lol they DIDN'T have to give Live users anything? Are they the ones giving the service or Microsoft? Of course with sheep like you they didn't have to give anything really, you'll keep coming back and give your money to God MS for no reason! I believe that it was really wise of them to give a compensation, and I think it's totally genuine if people are asking for more. The day gamers become sleepers like you, we'll pay $2500 for Wii consoles.

@NMC ONE WAY: Imagine that one could find a way to take out 5 cents from the 50 bucks you guys are paying a year. What do you think Microsoft would do? Just let him slide? No. At best they will ban him. At worse they will sue him. You pay for a service. You don't get it, you need compensation. That's how it works. I don't understand how you guys can be so compassionate with companies so ruthless. Also, not everyone suffered the same shit? Yeah right. Then maybe they should have some hierarchy of compensations you think?

I love 360 users. You get raped and what do you do? You ask for more, and you make fun of users from other companies getting the shaft, while the one you're taking is 3 times larger.

slomo788

Hmmm, ok... Well, I never picked this one up, so I guess that's good for me. Really though, I shouldn't complain. MS has been pretty good about trying to make the best of a bad situation.

PlaidNinja

@holoprojector: I'm picking mine back up today. So I missed the whole outage and am getting a free game. Guess I'll consider it an inconvenience fee for not actually having my xbox.

Luis

@ilyag:

I don't think the problem most people are having has to do with the game, but the weak sauce response from the only company that charges for its online service.

If PSN had this problem, no one would be able to bitch as much because, ya'know, it's free. The issue, and the reason for the degree of hostility resides in the huge corporate machine not functioning, even though we pay for it, and then serving up a pretty lame ass response.

I just got off the phone with LIVE and they're going to refund the $ spent on Undertow I already spent. But for some reason, I have to call them back on the 23rd. Which seems a little silly to me. If your shit doesn't work and you're apologizing for it, why make me jump through more hoops?

eleventeen

Undertow is a good game and all, but that game is under my toe already. Really Microsoft, just give me some damn points and let me use it at my discretion.

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

I don't own a 360 but I can't see how this can be bad. Sure you pay a fee for the service that you didn't consitently get but considering Live has been flaky (not outright DOWN, mind you) for only about a month, this more than makes up for it. I wish I got a free game every time the PSN pissed me off.

Ningen

If you honestly believed it would be a new game, then you're hopelessly optimistic.

Moonshadow101

My box red ringed and I sent it out on the 14th. Pretty slim chance of getting it back in time to get in on this.

stonefry

Hooray I don't own it, but I know I should and now I will :)

Pornosaur

humm, PSN downloads like crap always... maybe we can bitch SONY out of Soldner-X for free :-)

I text my cuz and he wanted it... a refund for a month is like 3.75 he said

adolfo-gomez

VERY smart move by Microsoft to give out Undertow, it's not selling nearly as well as it should have. It's a quality game and now there will be easy to find a multiplayer game since everyone will have it.

Of course on a personal level I'm annoyed because I already bought it, so now I have to deal with Microsoft support.

XbhaskarX

@soundgarden:

I had problems for like... a day, and not even anything like anyone was really bitching about. I just had a little hard time getting into matchmaking in Halo 3. I was patient, and it still worked... My only other problem was not being able to get into my Marketplace right away.

And I live in a heavy usage area (NY, NJ). You would think the server impact would be greater in that region based upon how many people log into XBLive in the area.

MS is giving away a $10 game for an issue that had an impact on the service for everyone, but not everyone experienced the same thing. For them to do that is quite commendable. Whens the last time your cable company gave you free channels when the cable went out based on an issue beyond your control?????????????

THINK ABOUT IT.

(BTW, Im not interested in this title in the least. I would rather get into all the other great games I have for the 360 already. Not enough time!)

NMC ONE WAY

Man, you people bitch a lot. They didn't have to give you anything. now, they give you a free game as compensation / peace offering and you bitch about owning it already. They even pre-empted your bitching by letting those that own call in to get either points or an alternative choice what have you.

Let's be generous and say 100,000 people bought Undertow already. There's like 5 million Live subscribers (probably more, too lazy to check). Provided they download it, that's several million people getting a game for free and a select few given the option to call in for their alternative.

I've seen bigger mistakes by companies (rootkits, limited #installs, patches that delete your root directory, etc) and those customers got nothing in return for their troubles and mostly dicked around by customer support. MS didn't need to do anything here, yet still made the effort and everyone is bitching at them for it.

KirbyMorph

@Edge of Blade: "Stop demanding money from large corporations."

I see. Should I still give money to small corporations?

Listen genius. XBL is the best game in town. That is when it works. That's why people keep using it.

I really don't understand why is it so wrong in expecting to get your money's worth? If I pay for something and I don't get the service I'm paying for, am I supposed to just sit quiet and take it? I suppose I should, according to some people.

If nobody complained, that's when Microsoft should get worried. That'd mean nobody gives a shit any more.

Pixelantes Anonymous

@Edge of Blade:

:)

At least Im not the only one here!

NMC ONE WAY

I have to agree with those saying it's getting blown way out of proportion. It is.

What REALLY gets on my nerves is the people who throw a fit when they feel like they are getting screwed by "the man". Then, the stop listening to rational arguments, like "as is" or "you lost a handful of pennies".

If you want Microsoft to pay for this, do it the way the rest of the free market does it: stop giving them money. They are already losing reputation for this, which counts for more than the money they would lose. What is that you say? You still want to play on Live? Then, make up your own damn mind. Stop demanding money from large corporations. That's no better than the white trash lawsuit in Texas.

The point is that Microsoft does not owe you a dime. They offered the free game... a damn good game I might add. Take it or leave it.

Edge of Blade

I played the demo, thought the game was okay. Too bad this game comes out RIGHT BEFORE I FRIGGIN' BUY PIXELJUNK MONSTERS.

Sorry Xbox Live. This last month, you have lost. First to me and my friends not being able to reliably play Catan over Live THREE DAYS IN A ROW, now to Tower Defense.

You just can't pick good fights, can you?

Ginko

this is what i hear: bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch.
I'm glad I'm gettin this considering that I only had problems with live for only 3 hrs.

jmontilla2786

Since buying my new 360 a few weeks ago and having to wait 8 hours to recover my account, I have had no problems with Live. So, if I\'m getting a free game because of some people having problems with a service, then by all means, I will accept it. Do I think it\'s the right decision? Well, considering the cost of the game is a little more than 2x the cost for 2 months of Live, I don\'t think it was a bad decision. People are still coming out ahead here.

Cannedpasta

considering there was only one short period (a few hours) that i couldn't get on live through this whole thing, i will gladly get undertow. i was going to buy it anyway, so bonus. by the way, remember that terms of service agreement you agreed to when you signed up for live that you didn't read? go back and read it. there is a "no guarantee of availability" clause in it.

firesign

I played the demo. Hated it. Extra pissed now.

ZerozakiIshiki

Why we couldn't have a choice is beyond me. Well I know why, it has to do with their profit margin blah blah, and they don't want to lose out on money from Live users by giving them a choice.

Disappointing!

EnigmaNemesis

Should have been a new game so as not to screw over the people who already bought it (though it doesn't seem like many people did). But otherwise, seems like a good choice: a good quality, multi-player game. Not dissimilar to the choice they made with Carcasonne, except more action-y.

4dSwissCheese

@Atsumi:
me and you both!
good stuff ms.

Truepatriot

I don't think this is overly self promotional (as listed as the reasons a person could be banned) but I ranted about this in longer form elsewhere...
[www.justanothergamesite.com]

I see alot of the points people are making on both sides, I guess my issue is if Microsoft felt bad enough to apologize and give something away, why not let us choose what we want?

eleventeen

@Glasseater: More people on here should have your attitude about this.
It's free stuff people, get over it and stop whining about losing 5 dollars (if even that).

Erwin211

YOU CAN GET THE 12+1 (13 month) LIVE CARD AT NEWEGG.COM FOR 39.99

[www.newegg.com]

srry for the caps :-)

adolfo-gomez

Quit your whining. a month of XBL costs about 4$. That's chump change and last time I heard, the service wasn't down, it was experiencing some problems.

I think that's a fair settlement. If you're not happy, shove that download where the sun don't shine

interstate78

I STILL have trouble getting on to XBL about 50% of the time.

Hickeroar

Here's why the complainers have a right to bitch: Do you have any idea what it's going to be like to call Microsoft at the same time as 100,000 other Live users? The hold times are going to be well over an hour, unless MS has 5,000+ people on staff that day. Not gonna happen.

Just give me the 800 points (I already own the game) and save me the aggravation of having to make that call.

Jmarsh04

@Sparx88: God could hand you the meaning of life and you'd complain.@DangerChimp: No, double the money you lost isn't enough. Microsoft needs to take respnosibility for thir b.s. /sarcasm

Garro

Well that sucks, I would have rather had my choice of a 800 point game as I have no interest in a GW style shooter.

FAHQ M$!!

SAKY

Hmmm... I have yet to go online with my 360. Maybe I'll go on to d/l this game.

Rodent

@Pixelantes Anonymous: Most people here are making out like bandits in this situation. Most subscribers are playing what amounts to $4.16 for LIVE service. I know most people probably don't want this game and some have already purchased it but there is definitely a value attached to it; denying that is strange. As I said before, this is definitely not an ideal solution for some and for others it is, admittedly, a gift and you will have many people in between that but it is a gesture of goodwill and one they were not legally obligated to take. That said, I think they owe it to their customers to do something and they did. To some, this may not be enough but to most, it will be acceptable. They probably lost some customers as a result of this but what can you expect. This is an act you can only get from a paid service. Look at the free PSN; when COD4 was shitty, Activision did nothing other then give a patch a couple of weeks later. Paid services owe their clients a level of respect and Microsoft clearly screwed up but they have delivered something. If people want to be unhappy about it, they can go right ahead, it's their right but it's just silly at this point.

okenny :)

Bitch bitch bitch moan, moan moan moan?

RAWR! TEH INTERNETS IS NOT SATISFIED BY YOUR PETTY OFFERING!

NPlace

I was calling about migrating my licenses when I saw this and asked about the deal with Undertow. The fellow on the phone didn't know about the offer so don't go calling just yet.

DrakeLake

@adamsummers:

From a personal standpoint, I would rather have everyone here bitching about XBLive for a month than one day of execs calling me about how they can't check their email. RIM is WAYYYYY bigger than XBlive as well. But yeah, I hear ya on it. I also wasn't effected as bad as everyone else, so I might be a little against the complaints for a free game from them.

Again people, just my opinion.

NMC ONE WAY

@MosquitoControl: Good point. And although the outages effected non-MS content as well, I see your point as to why they did what they did.

eleventeen

The compensation should've been a one-month extension. That's the same rule my cable company has to play by, why shouldn't Live?

Plus giving away Undertow only further reinforces my idea that it makes no sense to buy a game when it's first released.

3BD

Theres a reason I didn't buy this game when it first came out - I didn't want it. Xbox live subequently being inoperable for me for about a month doesn't make me want it any more.

Its only a deal if its on something you want.

Rajio

Fairly certain they couldn't just dump the points to us because we might have used them for non-MS published content, which is bad, or TV shows/movies, which is worse. Giving us something they published costs them sales, nothing more. Giving them something they owe licensing or royalties to would actually take money out of their pocket.

MosquitoControl

yay free stuff!

Glasseater

another point to mention to all the "shut up and quit your bitching" people.. the Live problem wasn't simply a game problem, the connectivity issue effected movie downloads as well.

If you don't want Undertow, then they should allow you to download a movie or something. The compensation is a great idea and an added bonus, but its almost better to not get a gift than to get one you really don't want. Its like Heyapples said, its "like waking up Christmas day and opening up your prized gift to find it's a pair of socks. Yay socks?"

eleventeen

@ssjmichael:

They probably won't give a set amount of points because they likely offered Chair a discounted amount for Undertow to be free for a day. I'm sure it was a cost cutting measure. This IS Microsoft after all.

Mr.Waffleton

@okenny :): You're assuming people think it's worth $10 or even $5.

To me, and I suspect a lot of other folks, Undertow doesn't come even close. Just because Microsoft prices something at $10 doesn't mean it's actually worth it to anyone else but Microsoft.

Pixelantes Anonymous

@caleb:
@DangerChimp:
Thanks guys my point doesn't need to be made, so this is just an "I agree with you" post.

Covert_Knight

HELL YEAH! TY M$. I was so goiung to buy this game this weekend but I will wait to dl it for free. This is great, I know what I will be playing in Brawl's sted.

DARK DVNT [XBL]

Major Nelson has stated in his comments section that people who have already purchased Undertow should "call support and they will take care of you."

AnEternalEnigma

Sweet, I never bought this game, so this one is actually an offer I can take advantage of, unlike the Carcassone download a while back.

Stormrider900

@HeyApples:
hey...socks are fine presents...

have you tried to spend Misawa winter without decent pair of socks?

icepick314

@NMC ONE WAY: Yeah the FFXI issue was on a smaller scale but it was still more than a million users (at the time i believe it was but its been a few years) and it happened pretty frequently. Still waiting for the compensation for the torture Square inflicted upon me for tricking me into playing that game in the first place.

JustinS

Just give the points morons. I was hoping I could finally buy Castlevania on XBLA when I heard they would give a free game. Not some stupid scuba battle game.

todde7

A piss-poor game as an apology for the piss-poor service over Christmas. Great. Don't think I'll bother renewing my subscription if this is how they treat their customers.

Darkwing87

@NMC ONE WAY:
True, but RIM wasn't down for a month. I could care less if Live was down for a day or two, but this is getting embarassing.

adamsummers

This is like waking up Christmas day and opening up your prized gift to find it's a pair of socks.

Yay socks?

HeyApples

@slomo788:

No, I do not work for MS. Im a blackberry server admin.

There are "fuckfests" that happen with the mobile networks that I deal with. RIM had a HUGE issue where EVERYTHING went down for ALL blackberry users. No comp was given. Thats my example.

@JustinS:

I know some companies do offer comp, I've been given free stuff from certain services. Not knocking your comps, but both examples are small scale in comparison. ISP issues are localized, so I can understand THAT one. They aren't losing millions of dollars hooking you up with a month for free. And I doubt 5 million people were having the same problem (in the ISP's eyes). The FF issue is similar, a smaller scale with less users and less loss for the company providing the comp.

But I did like the place of blame on PSN. Made me laugh loud enough in my office to catch my coworkers attention.

NMC ONE WAY

@superberg: What? How is my logic backwards? If SONY's PSN was better that would force MS to better their own service to compete. That is simple, nothing wrong in the stating it. Im not saying that their are any issues with the PSN that effect your ability to get online.

Im saying that the service doesnt offer much of what the LIVE service offers (friends lists across all games, achievements currently not offered, universal voice support).

What they do they do well they just dont do as much as LIVE and if they did MS would be forced to make LIVE better and offer better compensation when things like this happen, especially considering the competition's service is free.

JustinS

wow undertow lol I wont be downloading it. They should of let us download a arcade game/movie of our choice.

GamingNinja

What's wrong with just giving us all 800 points and having done with it? I don't mind a free game, as long as it's good (which Undertow seems to be from the comments here) but still, they would have gotten a *huge* response from users and "fans" by simply dropping us some points. That way we could do whatever we want with them. (Like Puzzle Quest, or saving them Mass Effect content.)

xenothaulus

@ArmyofJuan: Amen to that.

duckmouth

Undertow sounds like a good game and I have been almost completely unaffected by the Live outages. My life is awesome.

Natpalm

POINTS!!!

banmojo

@ssjmichael: You don't have a Xbox. Please, let those of us that actually use and pay for the service decide if it's actually worth putting up with this.

Thank you.

Guizzy

I would have been happier with a game that I didn't delete only about a minute after its demo finished downloading.

But hey, I downloaded YARIS for free, so I'll get this!

langis-langley

I buy too many games so I was pretty sure I was going to get shafted on the game. I dont feel too bad though cause It only minorly effected me(dont get me wrong it was annoying. If the number is not too much of a hastle I will call and see what I can get.

Konchu

@superberg:
I think your logic is flawed bro. A game that people pay money for that has an online component or online only games like warhawk depend on the service so damn straight you should complain even if its free!

ftgf

Since I already own this game I called the number - according to the rep (grain of salt needed) "MS is reconsidering undertow and is going to do something "better". so yeah, he said to wait until they knew more.

ChiefoftheChiss

Well I'm happy about this, Game seems intersting and I don't own it. (I only have Hexic HD, Castlevania SOTN, and Sonic 2) So I'll be grabbing this.

Kaemon

I guess I'm the only one that didn't care for Undertow at all after playing the demo. Oh well, another free tidbit to sit on my hard-drive like Aegis Wing (shudder). Wish we coulda had the points so I could have finally picked up Pac-man CE.

the-hypnotoad

I dont know what everyone is in a tussle about. This is a free 10 dollar game they are giving you. And if you already own it it appears that they are going to help you still. So everyone quit your bitching.

I didn't even experience that much difficulty other than COD4 matches not hooking up or error messages if i scroll down to fast on some menus like XBLA Titles or 360 demos. So basically im getting undertow for free for nothing.

And now im wondering if i can download undertow and then call the number later that day or the next day. Or do they have some sort of log that says when you've purchased something?

ArmyofJuan

What I want to know is what they play on doing for those of us who have two XBL accounts. I can't download Undertow twice, and I experienced problems with both of the services I paid for. What are they going to do for me?

s7venrw

I'm a bit disappointed. Though I will definitely give it a shot.

yashichi8bit

Hey Mike, you might want to tell everyone who bought the game not to bother calling. I just got off the phone with them and they said a refund has only been discussed not finalized but they hadn't decided on a solution and that kotaku wasn't a credible source. People man...stupid freaking people.

holmeszk

This will really complicate things for people who sent out their 360s because of rrod. I'm waiting to see how microsoft will compensate those who will miss the opportunity for a free game. I smell an upcoming story on that issue. I'm happy about the free game since I was on the fence about it as well.

jpgnotgif

WHAT?!! I want my Goddamn REZ!

Eliasoz

It sux that it's not something new, though I am personally happy it is something I don't have because I had bought Carcasonne before that was free.

Now if they could do something about my new WOW addiction that occurred because I was bored without Live.Had never tried it and now I am hooked. Ugh.

lionkitten

@todde7:
Problem with just giving the points is that even Silver members get it. I have 3 silver accounts on my box (2 dummy and 1 is my xbox-less friend's). Don't think MS is dumb enough to give me 3200 ms points ($40!).

kftgr

I wasn't terribly impressed by Undertow, but I can't think of a arcade title that I'd rather have, probably because I bought it already.

CyberSkull

For all the trouble that this mess has been, I must say that I approve of Undertow as the free game. I didn't think they would offer up such a quality title.

KidU

@Pixelantes Anonymous:

From the demo and others' impressions, Undertow is a pretty good game. One reason why Undertow got shit for sales is that it was released during the packed holiday season, and nobody picked it up. At least for me, that was the case.

Pretty sly move by Microsoft though, as this gift to Silver users might actually convert a few to Gold, given the game's multiplayer focus.

Also good for the Undertow community in terms of better matchmaking with a ton more players.

I just wonder how much MS is reimbursing the Undertow developers. Probably much more than they're getting back in Silver->Gold converts though.

It only sucks for the people that have no interest in such a game and got screwed (not just inconvenienced) by the live outages.

kftgr

@DIV360: Nice hehhe, this proves there are such a thing as good bugs :D

Irenicus-the one and only

@DIV360: I guess everyone who bought this game before, are the real winners in this whole fiasco :D

Nice stuff man and I'm happy for you :)

Irenicus-the one and only

and just to add to my last post...

THE GAME STILL WORKS IN FULL!!!

DIV360

Holy crap.

I JUST called 5mins ago and the refunded my points for undertow which i bought on dec 9th! The whole process took like 4mins!

The guy asked to verfiy my address and gamertag and refunded it instantly!

I turned on my xbox just now and there it is! 800ms points back to my 360!!

so i guess MS did it! for those of you who DID buy it, just call and get your points back!

awesome service! especially since i didn't even experience problems with xbl in the first place!!

IN CONCLUSION!

CALL AND GET YOUR POINTS BACK!

DIV360

I never experienced any outages, so I can't complain. I guess people who did have a right to, if they think it is an unfair deal. I'm just surprised it was Undertow, and not Aegis Wing.

teteC

People who think this is great or cool even and are satisfied with this "piece of..." as compensation, are the same that swallows the RROD forced down their throats.

This is funny, and the joke is on you guys!

Irenicus-the one and only

@parad0x360: Have you checked your router or connection? I get full download speed of 500-600Kb/second. I download a gig demo in an hr on wireless connected to my Rangemax.

maximus9

Just got off the phone with support.

Nothing set up quite yet to deal with people who already have the game.

The guy on support said they just got an update about the Undertow deal and have a note in respect to dealing with people who already own the game, but he said that it does not actually contain any steps yet or say what to do to compensate them. Best bet is to call back the start of next week, closer to the actual time of the Free Game offer. He was not sure if it would be a points refund or a free alternate download.

Halaster

I already have the game so they better be giving me points instead.

This was a real fucking stupid move of them to be "picking" the game for us as a form of apology.

Witzbold

Nice. If they end up refunding points for people who already bought Undertow, then I'll hopefully be able to find a game in multiplayer and get 800 points to spend on Rez or STHD when they come out.

cagedsun

@Sloopydrew: I agree with your post. Also I think that if MS don't wanna loose a sale give everyone 800mspoints restricted to a free arcade game, or make everyone be able to download a game without charging money for it. I bet it could be "programmed" somehow. Also their apology wasn't even a proper apology, not from what I seen so far, if I'm correct please direct me to one I am not trying to be a jerk people. Instead they said, they are giving everyone the game basically as to celebrate their success of xbox live, if they would remove that sentence in their "apology" and kept that to a seperate PR statement I would be more happy.

Irenicus-the one and only

Did those guys starting the class action in Texas suddenly become anyone else's heroes? Thank MS, for giving us something that costs you NOTHING as an "apology." They could have delivered points, but people would have used them to buy things that they would otherwise pay for -- and that would "cost" Microsoft a lost sale (I would have used them for Rez or for some of those Sundance shorts). As Undertow hasn't sold well from the start, MS can be relatively sure they aren't going to lose much from people who would have otherwise bought the game. And way to screw Gold members, who are actually paying for this service not to work. They should have offered something more to Gold members to just, you know, acknowle