Xbox Dead more like, am i rite?

Having a unified online system like Live, as opposed to having every game do their own thing, is a great idea. When it works. Unfortunately Live is undergoing some troubles at the moment (apparently due to an influx of new users, which suggests that either a staggering number of Xboxes were sold this holiday, or that the system was perilously close to falling over anyway).

I say at the moment, because despite Mircosoft's assurances that it's all back to normal now that Christmas is over, as of today it's still a very hit and miss experience.

What I find baffling is the way the systems are spread out. For example, I can log in to Xbox Live, but the bit of Live that tells my friends I'm online might not work. I can log on to Live Messenger from the computer, but my Xbox is stumped by it. Marketplace is a no-go zone - most of the time it's telling me that I'm not connected at all. Apparently XNA is also flaky, insisting that some users aren't online (despite them being able to see their friends' activity).

Most annoyingly, the bit of Live that tells games that there are title updates available is working, booting me off Live until I've updated them. But the bit of Live that actually holds and installs the upgrades is screwed, so I'm unable to play any of those games. In the case of Xbox Original titles this means that I'm completely unable to play the game, even offline (the message tells me that apparently the game won't work on my Xbox, despite it being fine a couple of days ago).

Microsoft has promised all users a free Arcade title to make up for the trouble - though usually this means a particular title is made free, rather than just giving all users 800 free points, so bad luck if you've already bought the game they're offering, and let's all just hope that it isn't a stinker.

This afternoon I would have settled for just being able to play games that I have already bought, on the online network I have already paid a subscription for.

(And before anyone chimes up with "it's just your connection is flaky" - the network test on the Xbox runs fine, and confirms that I am connected to Live. Or what's left of it.)