This happens so often among Xbox 360 owners that one can't even say he/she is surprised anymore. According to a well known blog, Call of Duty 4 beta downloaders found themselves powerless faced with the game's downloading process, startup and even online matches. The Xbox 360 of course freezes during almost every process concerning the beta of Infinity Ward's first-person shooter.

First of all, here's what Grant Collier, Studio Head, Infinity Ward said on Thursday last week, when they announced that the multiplayer beta of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was set for launch via Xbox LIVE in the UK and Ireland, the following day:

"From day one we've set out to make Call of Duty 4 the best multiplayer experience ever. We're excited to bring to our fans around the world this early look at Call of Duty 4 multiplayer. The gameplay possibilities are limitless from leveling-up and utilizing perks, to creating-your-own class and matchmaking."

Of course, fans of the game can now confirm that the game's alternatives of freezing 360s are limitless as well, and that's just what they did in twenty one pages of thread on the charlieoscardelta.com website. Here's what angry gamers reported - not actual thread excerpts, but more issues reported by Kotaku.com that have been most often encountered:

- the download doesn't occur (begin) at all;
- the download starts, completes, yet the beta "can't be played despite multiple tries at downloading;"
- the download commences, ends but then players get "consistently ejected" from matches
- during gameplay, the Xbox 360 freezes before gamers even get to the match screen

Yup, the 360 freezes just about every time developers throw betas and simple things such as patches at the Xbox 360. Commenting on this matter would be like digging up the dead, so just stay close for when Infinity Ward makes an official statement regarding these issues. So far they haven't said a thing.