Worse, I tried watching The Bourne Ultimatum on the HD-DVD player and it crapped-out halfway through the movie. There was an available update for the HD-DVD player which I didn’t dare apply because of all the wonkiness. After some cursing and wringing of the remote, I pulled the disc and watched it in standard def on my DVD player. The movie was OK.

So, thanks Major Nelson and the hard-working team(s) at Microsoft’s super-sekrit Xbox LIVE Server Haven and Data Barns. I’m sorry I dissed you a little. (Will we ever know what really happened? I doubt it).

Also, Happy New Year from all of us (me) at the n3wblog! It’s totally 2008.

It immediately occurred to me that the ‘Soft might have sold a few more Xbox 360s this holiday season and had saturated their network. This is still probably the case, though my overly-connected mind is already envisioning nightmare scenarios that are much much worse than that, and may well signal the end of technology itself, propelling us backwards through time to the dawn of humanity, leaving us struggling with two rocks trying to light a twig to get warm.

Engadget has a funny picture up describing the state of the service. This has apparently been the case for a couple of days now and Major Nelson has given us precious little by way of explanation. Of course, his site’s a little slow right now too, and full of comments (>570 last time I could get in). In classic Microsoft fashion, the Xbox LIVE status reads merely: Status: Up and running. I guess these problems I’m having signing in are a figment of my imagination.

So, since I can’t play Halo, I’m left to think of doomsday scenarios. My current fear is that the current iteration of the Storm worm has somehow infiltrated M$FT’s server farm and is currently wreaking havoc on their machinery and data. Of course, if that were true, they’d never actually admit it because they don’t actually tell people what goes on behind their closed doors. Everything’s peachy. Look elsewhere.

Ain’t the monoculture grand?

Jigsaw Falling Into Place from the album “In Rainbows” by Radiohead