3 ms·

At around 1:00PM I attempted to sign into XBox Live so that my girlfriend could play a game on the XBox that she paid over $500USD for just a month ago. Microso

At around 1:00PM I attempted to sign into XBox Live so that my girlfriend could play a game on the XBox that she paid over $500USD for just a month ago. Microsoft said they'd update the status in 30 minutes and I just got a text at 8:45PM(CST) saying the problem has been fixed. She was not devastated, but just didn't understand and very frustrated, understandably. She just wanted to play single player. After doing some searching I found the fix for some games is to go into "offline mode." Luckily it worked and she got to play. This brings to light a very big issue with the "always connected" idea that was Microsoft's original plan. It shouldn't take "figuring out" to make a fairly expensive gaming system play a single player game due to a core online service being down. That's a huge UX flaw. I can only imagine the emotions caused to the young ones around the world this Christmas.

smtddr 12y ago
+1 on this I don't know if this has changed but in 2010 you even had to sign into xboxlive to use upnp on your own local network.
curiously 12y ago
steam has a way to continue playing your games in offline mode. I can understand the frustration. You bought the game, you should be able to play it whenever you want.
dogma1138 12y ago
It's not only MSFT it's the game developers as well, XboxOne supports offline mode for game that support it same goes for the PS4 and the PC. All platforms have games which are "online only"(yes even on Steam). So while i don't know what took so much "figuring out" mainly because it's a feature of the console you should blame the publishers that put all the "online" features in the game in the first place. But then they only followed their consumers who want to share every achievement and headshot they make on everything from facebook and instagram to the gas station bathroom stall at the 300 mile marker on i49....
- scrapcode 12y ago
  XBox 360's flow is kind of like this: Put game in, start game, sign into profile, offline? okay. You're signed in but can't play on live., so here’s an option for single player. XBox One's flow is kind of like this: Put game in, wait 15 minutes for the game to install enough to begin to be playable, start game, "you must be signed into a profile" (this is at the XBox level), "We can't connect to XBox Live Core Servers -- Check status at www... and try again later," exits to dashboard. That's it, I'm not exaggerating. > So while i don't know what took so much "figuring out" mainly because it's a feature of the console you should blame the publishers that put all the "online" features in the game in the first place. First, I had a few things to figure out. We've had this thing a month. It's a very sophisticated piece of gaming equipment, or supposed to be. No way it just completely bricks itself into a blu-ray player just because it’s online Core Services are down? So I start troubleshooting: Have I gotten a new credit card due to Target/Home Depot/?? Hack and not updated my billing information? Status page says they are experiencing some problems with some people not being able to login. Now that I know my billing info is good, and it really is solely a problem with Xbox Live Services, is there a way to bypass it? I am not the only one that has had this problem because there is a lot of forum posts online, which is the first place I found out that you have to go to settings to toggle an option to go into an “Offline Mode.” But, in my mind I'm wondering why would I go offline in the first place? My internet is working... I put the XBox in offline mode, the game starts, let's us login to our profile, then the game tried to contact it's servers. Once it sees that it can't contact it's servers it, without issue, gives us the option to play single player. Having to first discover “Offline mode,” then decide when you need to be in “Offline” mode on the console to play a game that has the ability to play both offline and online is not a feature of the console. It’s confusing, and it ruined my experience as a user. I am attempting to constructively point out a flaw that I have personally experienced.

smtddr 12y ago

+1 on this I don't know if this has changed but in 2010 you even had to sign into xboxlive to use upnp on your own local network.

curiously 12y ago

steam has a way to continue playing your games in offline mode. I can understand the frustration. You bought the game, you should be able to play it whenever you want.

dogma1138 12y ago

It's not only MSFT it's the game developers as well, XboxOne supports offline mode for game that support it same goes for the PS4 and the PC. All platforms have games which are "online only"(yes even on Steam). So while i don't know what took so much "figuring out" mainly because it's a feature of the console you should blame the publishers that put all the "online" features in the game in the first place. But then they only followed their consumers who want to share every achievement and headshot they make on everything from facebook and instagram to the gas station bathroom stall at the 300 mile marker on i49....

scrapcode 12y ago
XBox 360's flow is kind of like this: Put game in, start game, sign into profile, offline? okay. You're signed in but can't play on live., so here’s an option for single player. XBox One's flow is kind of like this: Put game in, wait 15 minutes for the game to install enough to begin to be playable, start game, "you must be signed into a profile" (this is at the XBox level), "We can't connect to XBox Live Core Servers -- Check status at www... and try again later," exits to dashboard. That's it, I'm not exaggerating. > So while i don't know what took so much "figuring out" mainly because it's a feature of the console you should blame the publishers that put all the "online" features in the game in the first place. First, I had a few things to figure out. We've had this thing a month. It's a very sophisticated piece of gaming equipment, or supposed to be. No way it just completely bricks itself into a blu-ray player just because it’s online Core Services are down? So I start troubleshooting: Have I gotten a new credit card due to Target/Home Depot/?? Hack and not updated my billing information? Status page says they are experiencing some problems with some people not being able to login. Now that I know my billing info is good, and it really is solely a problem with Xbox Live Services, is there a way to bypass it? I am not the only one that has had this problem because there is a lot of forum posts online, which is the first place I found out that you have to go to settings to toggle an option to go into an “Offline Mode.” But, in my mind I'm wondering why would I go offline in the first place? My internet is working... I put the XBox in offline mode, the game starts, let's us login to our profile, then the game tried to contact it's servers. Once it sees that it can't contact it's servers it, without issue, gives us the option to play single player. Having to first discover “Offline mode,” then decide when you need to be in “Offline” mode on the console to play a game that has the ability to play both offline and online is not a feature of the console. It’s confusing, and it ruined my experience as a user. I am attempting to constructively point out a flaw that I have personally experienced.