Microsoft Offers Up Free XBLA Game For Service Problems

Microsoft has finally issues a statement regarding the Xbox Live outages and it looks like it's good news!

"...as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you."

[Darkiewonder]

500-1k points. The way they word it is that they'll pick a select few games to be downloaded. I hope at least one is good or maybe if they were super nice they'll let us download all the ones they pick ;3

[Charlie2688]

That would be FANTASTIC :D

But I wouldn't know which one to get T.T there are just SO many O.O would like

[mark09]

They just want to increase their attach rate.

[GITPWNED]

They definitely don't need the help with that. Maybe you should tell, oh, I don't know, Sony to do something like that? What do you think about that? Owned.

[Guwapo77]

I personally would had said Wii... good try though!

[GITPWNED]

Why would I have said something like that? Wii actually has some AAA games worth playing. Sony also needs help with that...

[OOG FunK]

attach rate has nothing to do with the arcade games....they have a different list for that

[jack who]

better be a good one 2

[pswi60]

it will be funny once they offer the free game Live will sh1t the bed again...

[gogators]

like when they recently gave Carcassonne. It would be great if they gave some options, I already have about 40% of them.

[dachiefsman]

where is the source of this information.....the link goes to a random g4tv blog?

I would like to know where this information was posted cause I looked up and down xbox live and didn't see this information anywhere......

EDIT: Thanks for the disagree for whatever reason...thanks below for the majornelson.com source I actually went to that website after posting. The news reference should have came from his site.

[jack who]

http://www.majornelson.com/

[Lygre]

I recommend Bomberman Live. 2007's best XBLA game if you ask me. Really great multiplayer.

But I'm guessing that MS will pick a game that we can get for free. Like Bands of Bugs or something.

[Led Zeppelin]

Metal Slug 3
Castlevania SOTN
Bomberman Live
Doom

I'd recommend any of those. I'm hoping to get MS3 personally.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

Metal Slug 3!!

[Marceles]

hopefully they dont put a point limit so we can only download joust hehe...but that's a cool announcement

*edit* lol @ disagree...fine i hope we can only download the worst XBLA game of all time and this announcement sucks.

[Jdash24]

...you get to choose which arcade game you want, ive only played the demos but if i were to choose i'd pick boom boom rocket.....iono, maybe

does anyone have any recommendations for a really good xbla game?

@below, thanks for the recommendations, ill have to mull em over and choose 1.....+bubbles for you

[OatLoops]

Geometry Wars, Outpost Kaloki X, and UMK3.

[i Shank u]

Undertow, Geom Wars, Assault Heroes, Bomberman, Switchball, Alien Hominid, Worms, Puzzle Quest all are vetty vetty good

[Nevers]

Mutant Storm (Reloaded and Empire), Castlevania SotN (incredible game), Heavy Weapon is hella fun... Arkadian Warriors was a fun demo (kinda a DIABLO clone) Battle Star Galactica seemed cool too.

HEADS UP> MS: Reloaded is really hard. Street Fighter's difficulty seems to ramped up(or maybe I just lost my touch). Contra and Double Dragon are the arcade ports and NOT the NES versions most remember. And Geometry Wars is the most addicting arcade game I've found on XBLA.

[Jdash24]

for your lists of recommendations, im really gonna have to put some thought into which game i choose

thanks a million........bubbles for you all :)

[OatLoops]

As long as it isn't Yaris 2, I'll be happy.

[Bnet343]

ha ha that game was bad, I didn't get a single achievement for it. they are so easy but that game just sucks too much ass.

[TheHater]

Dam, I should create my live account. Sh!t.

[darthv72]

or wing commander probably. I would rather have texas hold'em. It could also be a title that was recently reduced in price (zuma, etc)

[gogators]

but I still hope we get a few options.

[Bnet343]

I doubt it's something high profile like Undertow even though that would be sweet. My guess it's going to be some game like Zuma or Marble Blast, something simple.

[Bnet343]

I hope it's not a game I already have. I already have most of the good ones.

[Lygre]

I have lots of arcade games (over 25 I think), cause I always try out the free demos. If I like it, I buy it.

I think that Marble Blast Ultra was the best XBLA game in 2006. A nice challenging singleplayer and a blast of a multiplayer. Really fun game.

And as I said earlier, Bomberman Live was the best in 2007 I think. The best multiplayer so far. I never get tired of bombing men on Live.

[Bnet343]

At least Microsoft lived up to this one. So basically trading in a week of Live for a free game, I'm down with that.

[socsca]

I'm not.

[wageslave]

Except that we didnt trade "a week of Xbox LIVE" - *some* people had *some* problems.

Limited scope. Limited exposure. And, just like *all* the other ways MS treats its customers excellent, they gave *everyone* some compensation.

I -- nor anyone I know -- had a single problem at all during the holidays... and, I'll be getting some free-stuff.

That's top notch customer respect.

[heavyarms]

I want some microsoft points!!!!!

[jack who]

dumb ass wat you gona do with the points???*waits for buy game*

[You bought an Xbox]

And i agree i want ms points not a game of ms choice which i might already have or is a load of crap

And if your at a loss of idea's for your second name change the Who to Meoff

[KidMakeshift]

yay, everyone gets Space Giraffe for free, lol

[WafflesID]

Oh man, we worked THIS hard to get Jeff Minter to crawl back into his hole...

Giving everyone a free copy of Space Giraffe might inspire him to make more .... "games"

(I KEEEED I keeed. Space giraffe was actually pretty interesting).

Actually...I WOULD like a free copy of space giraffe. People who "Get it" love it. It's just a REALLY hard game to fully comprehend.

[bozobucketeer]

Puzzle quest wasn't that bad. A big issue I found with most of the xbla games is that they're short as hell(nothing like beating contra in under 12 minutes). Puzzle quest takes forever to beat.

[Bnet343]

If you want a long XBLA game get Castlevania Symphony of the Night. It's like a 4 hour game.

[You bought an Xbox]

Really suck at games
Casltevania took me one and a half hours and i was drunk

[Saint Sony]

Obviously you did not even do the inverted castle.You missed the half of the game... AND, even if you are god, it takes more than 1 and half hours to play the game fully.

[Nevers]

...is the best game on XBLA IMO.

Some people obviously never played thru the other %100.6 of the game. I remember playing it and "beating" it when I visited a friends house... I never came close. I, like most people, had no idea that there's a "true ending" and that you invert the whole castle.

[bozobucketeer]

Puzzle quest takes a hell of a lot longer than 4 hours to beat....

[darthv72]

is a pretty fun game. People who complained on this ste should shut the hell up seeing as they will be getting a free game for the trouble. Unless they complain that the game isnt one that they like......

[Shaka2K6]

to put on their xbu 360 beacuase it sucks to play online games then it get the RROD.

[jack who]

yup we do...wat was the last free thing sony gave you psn lovers

[BloodySinner]

Buh-bye, Mr. Bubble!

[Shadow Flare]

....well how about the PSN

[Tone]

You will be mr one bubble mate.

No need for comments that a 6 year old would come out with!

[Saint Sony]

Still mad because your parents did not buy you 360?.. well maybe next Christmas, maybe.. if you are a good boy.

[Vip3r]

Actually I've had Casino Royale on Blu-ray, a UMD holder, Spiderman 2 on UMD and the PS1 version of Wipeout for free from Sony.

[Tone]

missing the best game on arcade..

Sensible world of soccer!

Classic game.. no modern football game comes close!

[You bought an Xbox]

I want Ms points and a load of them and a written apology not god damm excuse's i pay good money for a service which they failed to deliver and i'm not a blind rabid fanboy who thinks microsoft can do no wrong you better start treatin your customers better Ms or they'll be off

[caffman]

that someone is bound to be unhappy as they'll already have it! I hopwe they give us a choice of a few

[Shadow Flare]

You pay $50 for XBL. XBL is down for half a month. So to compensate MS gives you a free little pacman game....and that makes you happy?? Its like throwing leftovers to pigs. Your $50 XBL is full of 5Okb classics i could play on the internet for free. Compared to FREE psn where you can download games like Super Stardust, Calling All Cars, Everday Shooter, Tekken 5, Warhawk and psone classics. PACMAN? BOMBERMAN? Ever heard of the internet? Get with the times geez. The best part is, you PAY for that "service"

[BloodySinner]

If Xbox Live was unstable due to the fact there was an increase of registered Live users during the holiday season, imagine all those 8+ million Live users jumping on board to the puny PlayStation Network. Heck, the whole damn Network would collapse, if you ask me.

[xplosneer]

You're complaining because you're probably getting somewhere near $6 of a good downloadable game, when you only lost what, $1.20 worth of Live service. *ignore*

[Shadow Flare]

23.1 - We dont pay for psn yet get a comparitivly better service then LIVE. ESPECIALLY in the most important area of online gaming. And even more so when Home is released. All for free. End of

23.2 - You paid $6 for a game like pacman??? $6 is like £3 and i paid £3.50 for Crash Bandicoot on psn. Honestly you guys are braindead

[darthv72]

you should give pacman vs. a try. It is really fun in a retro nostalgic sort of way. If you like challenging games then you would like this.

[original seed]

It was unstable for a week. So pretty much it was exactly as PSN for a week. It was unacceptable to be comparable to PSN so they're giving us a FREE XBLA game. Sounds good to me.

[macsto]

lmao original seed, bubble for you.

[Shadow Flare]

23.4 - darth, i get what you're saying. Im sure pacman is fun. I know its fun, thats why its called a 'classic'. Im not paying $6 for it thats all im saying, But honestly, i can play pacman on the internet for free....

23.5 - Thats hilarious John Merrick. Considering in REALITY, its the $50 Xbox Live that has 16 player max, LAG-FILLED, P2P, no dedicated server online matches where the host of the game has the advantage. 'Oh but Perfect Dark Zero has 30 players blah, blah blah rubbish. If the 360 can easily handle 32 players with no problems then why didn't 360's most popular multiplayer game have 32 players? Nope Halo 3 has 16 players max, JUST like Halo 2. Not to mention on XBL, you're graced with having to listen to the sewer of society abuse minorities and noobs constantly. And you have to pay for the privelidge. Compare that to, 40 player games, NO LAG, dedicated servers and the best damn online gaming experience you'll get on a console. FOR FREE. That's why i think you're all braindead

But hey, XBL has a few perks that make up for $50. The real point im getting at is that Microsoft is milking you all for everything you're worth. Why, may i ask did Microsoft make you pay $50 for XBL on Xbox 1? What did XBL on Xbox 1 offer you? Online gaming....global buddy list. Heavy. When psn offers 10X more for free. And Microsoft is loving the attitudes you tunnel-visioned air heads have cause they milking you dry. I hope next time you pay your $50 subscription you think, 'what the hell am i getting for my money?'

[Lord Cheese]

shadow, you are a complete fanboy t!t.

- Down for half a month? no, it was matchmaking latency and minor sign-in issues for a few days. I think i had a total of 10 minutes of lost gaming time waiting for a bit longer for a few halo 3 big team battles to form up. I shed a tear for that, i can tell you.
- Why do people always quote warhawk as being some sort of talisman of online console gaming? I've owned it for 3 months odd and ive not managed to connect to a bl00dy game yet despite countless tries. Wohoo! 40 players. so far i've managed to play a game with just me in it. So glad i spent out for that.
- Have you actually tried thinking for a moment about WHY there seem to be idiots on live? Firstly, everyone gets a headset. So everyone can talk. (you've obviously never heard of mute). Second, there are a heck of a lot more users on live than on psn. Try taking a sample of any population the size of live and not coming up with a few idiots. Oh, but wait, those on psn are all just altar boys that are taking time out from choir practice. Thats just f*cking niave quite frankly.
- you can play xbla games on the internet for free. Then go do it and stop polluting n4g. Damn fand!ck. Oh, could you let me know where you can play ikaruga, lumines, battlestar galactica, snesible world of soccer, umk3 and fatal fury for free, LEGALLY, online please? Just for my own reference you understand, seeing as you seem to know the means to play every game on xbla on the internet. It must be great to be so enlightened and informed.

Personally, i'm not happy about paying for live, i'm sure no-one is. But its still better than psn and until psn improves i'll be doing my online gaming on live and keep my ps3 for offline stuff. (Cue standard fandroid nonsense about "you've never owned a ps3. your mum had to buy your xbox for you etc etc etc")

[UltramanJ]

Yeah, PSN is far superior. Hop online and see everything my friends are playing. Send them an invite, and off we go chatting away on our headsets as we play and..hey wait a second...PSN is nothing like that.

[socsca]

Trophy Unlocked (won/whatever) - Fanboy Frenzy!!! 0 points.

(Yup, I said I'd start spamming it)

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Live while listed at $50 for a year is easily found for cheaper. But assuming $50...thats $4.16 a month. So if MS is going to give me a game for 400 or 800 pts ($5-$10 dollars) for free...I am more than fine with that...EVEN if your claims of half a month are accurate...cause that would have cost me $2.08.

Quite trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Its a generous offer by MS.

[power of Green]

I wan't that JAPANESE side scrolling oldschool shooter thats being released next next week.

Omega somthing or Somehting Omega.

4 or 5 million people logging on all at once with unified accounts with twice to three times the features/multi media severices than any other console service was going to be trouble no matter what a Sony fanboy says.

[gogators]

should be out next week.

[Lord Cheese]

if they just say you can have any game, i'm definately waiting for SF2 HD remix or Ikaruga! :OD

this is great - to be honest all i've noticed has been slow matchmaking times.

[Oilers Fan]

I suggest everyone to get marble blast ultra, quite possible the best live game.

[Revvin]

MS will likely choose the game and they will choose the game thats not selling right now so they lose nothing and LIVE users think they are getting something to recompense them for the service being down. cynical but likely true.

[assjacket]

Well...won't whoever made the game have to agree to give it away, that's a lot of lost revenue if everyone gets it for free.
Unless Microsoft is going to pay them of directly.

[donscrillinger]

im feeling that fasho

[Revvin]

^^

Which is why they will pick one that is not selling well so they can show projected sales figures that will be low so it saves them money. Ifthey give you a choice they have to pay off a dozen or more companies and the process will take a long time as they total up sales for each companies game.

[UltramanJ]

..and we got that for free. I don't see what some of you are crying about. You're getting a free XBLA game because of some minute disruption of service. It's not like LIVE completely shut down or anything. Just goes to show that some people will never be happy no matter what.

[wageslave]

"Carcassone is pretty damn good ..and we got that for free. "

How did you get that for free?

Further, as for the "not happy no matter what". You have to understand that MOST of the belly-aching -- from live service, to game glitches, to heat-failures -- are actually FUD astroturfing by non-Xbox 360 owners.

Keep that in mind ESPECIALLY when you are on N4G. Most of these "complaints" are simple lies.

[socsca]

MS gave away carcassone for their anniversary, I think you can still download it for free. And to me its a great game, we play it every once in while with my buddies, just like the original board game, only with animations and sound...

[BIGBAER]

Carcassone really is a great game. There's a lot of strategy and planning involved. It's really very addicting. I certainly recommend it for anyone seeking a change of pace.

[stonedog]

but I have been trying to sign up since Dec 27, 2007 an all I get is sign up is unavailable after wasting time with the gamer tag thing and live id thing. This is really annoying especially when all you here from M$ is that things are back to normal. Further M$ has not been forthcoming to on the customer service front either. The short story is no account no compensation. OK fully vented; ah feels so good to get that off my chest.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I rather have microsoft points. I can use them for my xbox 360 obviously but, also they are used to purchase music in my ZUNE online.

[MaximusPrime]

free downloadable game = Pacman.

(yep i cant be bothered to read)

[wageslave]

Pac Man Championship Edition is *one*terrifc*game*.

I hope it is Pacman CE.

FURTHER, I hope Microsoft is working on a new PacMan Platformer -- the character & gameworld has much history, and they could do all kinds of run-and-jump gameplay in that world.

Hey, MS: Give me Pac Man Adventure(!).

[prowiew]

they should give you a code to download whatever 800 point game you want

[kewlkat007]

I as a subscriber wasn't even on XBL all the time for 3 days it was having issues, and I damn well know not every 9 million subscribers were on XBL trying to all play games at once.

So I see this as a FREEBIE. I like to play video games but the service was down and my GF got my attention, well of course she was delighted about the service having issues.

I bet you some users probably didn't even know about the problems, only to long on and get a Free game and be like what, What, MS is giving me a late X-MAS present. haha Would be nice if it was any game you want.

[prowiew]

Nice

[wageslave]

I didnt have a single problem, nor did any of my regular Xbox LIVE friends (and family). Didnt have a problem signing up my nephew (whom I bought the Xbox LIVE Vision + 12 mos. for <$50).

But, as ALWAYS Microsoft really knows how to take care of its customers.

Great great news.

[prowiew]

I didnt have problem signing up neither. The problem was playing online. Matchmaking in halo 3 was taking forever. Same problem with cod4. Couldnt play online, but I was able to browse marketplace some days.

[Dpa]

If its Joust again im gonna be mad, theyve tried to give that game away for free too many times and the thing is, its ridiculously difficult to play with the 360 controller.

[Salvadore]

Good thing they are compensating Gold members.

[mintaro]

sweet, time to get me some bomberman live

[davidadrake]

Every time they give a free game for something, or discount games, it is always a game that I already have. It will probable happen again, since I own like 20 arcade games.

[wallace1000]

Not too shabby, better than a kick in the teeth :-P

[Guitarded]

a sharp stick in the eye!

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

Eat a D1CK.

In a lot of countries there is no XBL!

[i Shank u]

so then those countries never had a shortage and don't have to worry bout this. durka DUR

[Hypnotic]

Personally I would rather have a free month of Xbox live. But it makes sense that they would give away a game. Easier to distribute.

[moujahed]

... but don't you need XBL in order to play the XBLA game?? As a former 360 owner I had countless fun playing Poker, and Street Fighter 2... and I would much rather have a month free or something dealing with XBL service, versus a game.

A great way to please your angry 360 players Micro$oft is to upgrade all your Silver members to Gold for free... for atleast 2months, and cut the people who paid some slack on the bill.

[i Shank u]

something is better than nothing. I'd rather have a month or 2 of service added to my account, but heres hoping they let us pick a game instead of giving forced choices (FAT chance)

[Luca Blight]

not bad at all

[gta_cb]

it is good that they are actually giving us something back for the bad service some people (like me) got over the Christmas week :) this will be my first ever Arcade game :) although if you check my profile i did download a couple Arcade games, but then i didnt like that they stay on your "played games" list when i didnt purchase them.

[monkey602]

I hope it's Bomber man Live! I want that game.

[stslimited84]

xbox live had problems for 14 days. As of two days ago it was still having problems. While it is true not everybody had problems, alot of people did. I was plagued with not being able to find an online match or even sign in at times for the majority of those 14 days.

Its good that MS is offering up some kind of compensation, but we dont even know what it is. It will probably some crappy title that nobody wants in the first place.

We, as paying customers, need to be compensated for our lost gaming time. For many people, the holidays offer a unique chance to play alot more than normal due to being off from school, work etc.

MS has terrible customer support and service. Ever call 1-800-4MY-XBOX. if you have, then you know what I mean. At the very least we deserve to be able to choose to pick the arcade game, at the very LEAST.

[Fresh_A]

Yeah it has to be a good game not something lame............

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Assuming $50 for Live (u can find it cheaper)...thats $4.16 a month. So if MS is going to give us a game for 400 or 800 pts ($5-$10 dollars) for free...I am more than fine with that. Seriously, you would rather get compensated for half a month cause that would have cost $2.08.

[ThichQuangDuck]

I was hoping for a week more of live mine is going to run out soon. I dont want a free arcade game because it is going to be something everyone plays for a day and goes that stinks but at least it was free than move on.

[Nevers]

or inaccessable wasn't as absolutely maddening as having your Gamertag put into CyberLimbo cuz you tried recovering on someone else's console... I was locked outta my gamesaves and everything until Live allowed me to get my tag back. "Gamertag recovery" needs to be a top priority to fix if this happens again.

$50/yr is cheap for people who work and don't have to ask their parents to buy it. For a few days of spotty service (when a month costs only $4.16ish) I think a 400-800pt arcade game is pretty generous.

I just hope it's one that A) doesn't suck major ass and B)I don't already have. Hope they give us points to spend but that's more expensive than buying the rights to a port and giving it to us. Or giving us one of the ones that doesn't sell well. Ah well .. good news for me any way you look at it.

[pshizle]

i could not go on matchmaking so i did not play my 360 for 4days now

this just made me even happier

microsoft is smart they dont wanna lose their customers

[OOG FunK]

I jus hope its a good game lol

[mintaro]

hope it's pac-man championship edition

[Guitarded]

So I can change my gamertag for free. Oh well, good enough for the few times I had minor problems.

[djt23]

i would Bomberman Live to be free

[TrevorPhillips]

u gotta be kiddin me we need more then this MS are tied assses MS we expect something bigger not arcade games we expect mocrosoft points maybe 6000MP or atleast a patch to fix the live problem or a patch for call of duty 4