gave its critics more ammunition this week as download problems struck its Xbox 360 Live service, grinding portions of the service to a halt yet still charging users for downloads they never received. On Wednesday, Microsoft launched a new Xbox service that lets users of Xbox 360 Live download TV shows and films, many in high definition. The service boasts content from Warner Brothers, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Turner Broadcasting, Paramount, MTV, and CBS, with more content to be released weekly.
But the new service tanked when users reported widespread problems with the downloads, complaining of wait times in excess of four hours or downloads that stopped cold in the middle of transmission. What's more, their accounts were charged as if the downloads went off without a hitch. On his blog at www.
majornelson.com, Larry Hryb, Microsoft's Xbox Live director of programming, fessed up: "We understand these technical issues have resulted in a very unpleasant experience for our members, including extremely slow downloads or not receiving the content they purchased." He also said that members of the Xbox team had made progress toward fixing the problems by working "as fast as they can around the clock," and counseled users to call the customer support line at 1-800-4MYXBOX with complaints or requests for refunds.
The Xbox glitch appears to stem from a simple and (some say) well-known problem: Videos are huge files, by definition, and HD files are larger still. The sheer volume of data, coupled with the number of attempted downloads, might have overwhelmed Microsoft's , grinding them to a halt. That's bad news for Redmond, which hopes the Xbox Live service will give it an edge over 's new PlayStation 3, released last week to fans from coast to coast.
But Sony offers only short clips and sundry downloads for the PlayStation, while Microsoft offers hundreds of hours of TV and films through Xbox 360 Live. Sony plans to upgrade its download service to compete with Microsoft. Nintendo, which last Sunday released its own next-generation gaming console, the Wii, has no plans to offer TV and movie downloads at present.
But then, the Wii is roughly half the price of the least-expensive consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Good News for Nintendo? The Wii also has a motion-sensing remote control, dubbed the Wiimote, that lets users shoot guns, swing golf clubs, or hit baseballs on screen simply by moving their arms through the air.
Will its lower cost and unique features help the Wii unseat the Xbox or even the PlayStation 3, which game-industry observers widely believe will dominate the billion-dollar gaming market? Few believe they will, but gaffes such as Microsoft's download glitch and Sony's production problems, which have left the U.S.
market with a drastic shortage of PlayStations, could push the Wii closer to a wild ride this holiday season.
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