14 DAY TRIAL // Big news for all those who are planning to go for a quick multiplayer match on September 29. Microsoft, via the authorized voice of Larry aka “Major Nelson” Hryb, revealed that the online service for the Xbox 360 would be down for maintenance for the entire day. No features will be accessible.
Hryb said that “On Monday, 9/29/2008 from 12:01 AM PST for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance”. Apparently, the My Xbox section of Xbox.com will be inaccessible and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode for the duration of the maintenance program. Those who want to play games will still be able to just as long as multiplayer is not part of their gaming plans.
The Microsoft announcement also makes it clear that no features and no services will be made available once the 24 hour period expires as the update to the infrastructure of the service is only designed to prepare a major update that will take place this fall.
The fall update for the Xbox Live service is set to radically chance the experience of those who use it. The whole look of the service will be changed to better suit more casual users of the Microsoft gaming console. New elements will also be added, like the ability to stream video content offered by Netflix and the option to design and use an Avatar for your online presence, which is pretty much the same as using a Mii on the Nintendo Wii.
Coupled with the recent price cut, the new revamped look of Xbox Live is another argument which Microsoft is offering to customers in an effort to make the Xbox 360 if not the first then the second best sold current gen console, after the Nintendo Wii.