As we previously reported, Xbox Live has not been having a good time, what with all the disconnects and general wonkiness. All this was meant to be fixed by the end of the weekend.

Well, the weekend is officially over and the service is officially “getting better” - so says Major Nelson.

Given that my beloved Live is now working again, I “jumped in” to reminisce about all of the things that made me enjoy Xbox Live in the first place.

So, without further ado, I present to you the Top 5 Reasons to Love Xbox Live!

5. Universal Gamertag - No matter what game I play, my Gamertag is the same. People that meet me on Call of Duty 4 can see my tag again later in any other game, and they know I’m the same guy.

The last people you played with show up in a “players list”, which if I look at now… wait… oh, I guess I haven’t played with anybody, EVER, because my players list is empty. Weird…

4. Friends List - Unlike other services, which I refuse to mention, my friends list is tied to my Gamertag, so I can always see what my friends are doing - watching a movie, playing any game, etc.

For example, right now all of my friends are… uh… I guess they are all offline. Either that, or I’m not really online. Hmmm…..

No you won’t Robbie, nobody will be

3. Marketplace - The Marketplace is awesome, offering movies, television shows, original Xbox games, Live Arcade games, demos and trailers for upcoming 360 games.

They just released a demo for Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom that I really want to check out, but I’m unable to retrieve content from the Marketplace.

2. Media Center - If you have a Media Center PC, you can easily stream movies, pictures, and music from your computer to your TV through your 360. Even non-Media Center PCs can do most of this without any problems.

Right now a friend of mine “found” I Am Legend on his PC, so we’re going to watch it on his big-screen. What? You must sign in to view this content? I thought I was signed in? And why would I need to sign in to look at crap on my PC, er, his PC anyways? Well, never mind. I guess we’ll actually go pay for it and watch it in the theater like suckers.

1. You’re Always Connected - From the moment I turn my 360 on, my Gamertag auto-signs me in, and I am connected to everything - Marketplace, Friends, my PC. I can launch a game and immediately get into multiplayer, or I can join a friend’s game in progress.

This is something I would love to do right now, but whenever I attempt to do so my dashboard screams obscenities at me (not that I could see or connect to any of my friends anyways). This is the best feature Xbox Live offers, and it’s the one thing that gets people to pay to upgrade to a Gold membership. So that begs the question: What exactly am I paying Microsoft for again?

So as you can see, there is plenty to love about Xbox Live. I wish I could love those things right now, but I can’t.

For me, Xbox Live is the worst it’s ever been, so I’m not quite sure what language Major Nelson was speaking when he said the service is “getting better”.

Major Nelson and his bottle of lies

Hopefully Microsoft realizes that they need to apologize to all the Live subscribers if they wish to keep us as just that - paying subscribers. And by apologize, I mean I want some free shit… or some cake.

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• Was Microsoft’s Decision To Discontinue The Original Xbox A Mistake?
• Gamer’s Paradise: Live From EiEiO & E3 2007 in Santa Monica CA
• Major Nelson Muffled: Microsoft Can’t Legally Discuss Xbox Live Issues
• Super Contra Hits Xbox Live Arcade In Honor Of Contra’s 20 Year Anniversery
• Rumor: Xbox Live Gold Members to Get Compensated For Down Time?

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