Xbox Live Preps for GTA IV Server Riot Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox Live Preps for GTA IV Server Riot Posted by XanTium | April 25 14:04 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From kotaku.com: [QUOTE] Jump ahead to next week, we have GTA IV--a game that's so big that--we'll let Microsoft's General Manager of LIVE Services Operations, Derek Ingalls explain that metric: "...we are preparing for a spike that could be much larger than what we saw with the launches of Halo 3 and Activision's "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare." So how is Microsoft prepping Xbox LIVE for the not so metaphorical mass rioting that is GTA IV multiplayer? "Last holiday we weren't properly prepared," Ingalls admits. "So we are going the extra mile with Grand Theft Auto IV..." Yeah, that was total marketing speak. But it got your ears perked, didn't it? "The biggest step we've taken is to add in more server hardware, which will expand the service's capacity," Ingalls explains to us through email. (PR had explained earlier that he was "obviously very busy" this week.) "We have actually doubled our capacity for concurrent users over the last 2 months." [/QUOTE] Full Story kotaku.com

[mlapaglia]

LOL the extra mile??? How about "doing the job right this time?"

This post has been edited by mlapaglia: Apr 25 2008, 07:44 PM

[the soul poet]

Don't be cruel, they have taken some time out from counting money to prepare for this game.

[bucko]

So they should we are paying them this is what they should have done before Xmas! They knew the big games were coming what were they doing drinking tea?

I don't know how the online works in GTA4 is it kinda like TDU or is it just parts of it online?

[spinr34]

i hope xbl survives on tuesday but, if it doesn't, it wouldn't surprise me. i think gta4 is going to be way larger than most forecasts.

[hyfall381]

i would be very, very surprised if everything ran smooth during that first week of gta4. this would be worse for them than it was for cod4, because after that sht, there are no more excuses. and a crappy arcade game wouldnt cut it this time.
lets just hope it all goes well.

[photoman]

if they really double server hardware over the past two months, then they should quadruple it. COD4 map packs cripple the damn servers for a day. I'm not getting GTA IV, but I really hope my COD4 action isn't interrupted.

[hardcandy]

I'm not getting GTA IV, but I really hope my COD4 action isn't interrupted.

You may become the victim of a drive by shooting.


What's even worse is playing Texas Holdem, you're in a $50,000 tournament. The server goes down and you get booted. You lose the $50,000 bankroll. Which isn't real money but does represent some time spent building up a bankroll.

This post has been edited by hardcandy: Apr 25 2008, 10:00 PM

[spinr34]

if they really double server hardware over the past two months, then they should quadruple it. COD4 map packs cripple the damn servers for a day. I'm not getting GTA IV, but I really hope my COD4 action isn't interrupted.

they doubled it for concurrent users. how many members does live have, 6 million or something? so say their original capacity was about 1.5 - 2 million concurrent users. doubling that would put them around 3 - 4 million concurrent users which is a pretty safe bet.

[nha]

If Live were free then fine if there were problems - BUT I DO PAY FOR IT!!! Sort out the service we all deserve given we're giving you hard earned cash for it!! MS really need to sort their act out. I love the whole system don't get me wrong - but when I try to join games and get lag and menu freezes when the system is trying to talk with the live servers - i cant help but get fustrated. Why should i pay for something thats broke.

[Marrvia]

Whether the servers are working or not when I first power up this game, I don't care. I'll be too busy playing the single-player game. The multiplayer looks fun, but GTA is always been about the single-player experience until now which is really the only part I care about.

This post has been edited by Marrvia: Apr 26 2008, 12:49 AM

[eduardor2k]

It's not easy to keep alive a service who has 5/6 millions of user (maybe more).

Nice to see that they are preparing Xbox live for GTA4 launch.

[running_wild]

Are you guys serious? I mean, really?

Server issues occur for every company, at one time or another. The fact that Microsoft is hosting millions upon millions of players at once on their hardware only makes this issue worse. The fact their servers went down for a week (or four, for some) is annoying, yes - but understandable.

The fact is they diddn't have to give you that arcade game. They were well within their TOS to just say "Technical Faults: Deal with it.". But they gave you one, which is a good, kind gesture on their part. Now before you go saying: "Well if they diddn't I'd have canceled my subscription! That would have showed them!!", I suspect that 9/10 of you who say that aren't telling the truth - and for the one bloke in 10 who does, he is the one going to be sitting at home looking for other people to play his games with him, because he is "sticking it to the man."

Finally, I think you guys are blowing this way out of proportion. I couldn't get on for the three/four weeks and all it meant was I had to get up and do other things with friends for a while. It really wasn't that tragic and I definately diddn't feel that I needed compensation for it.

This post has been edited by running_wild: Apr 26 2008, 02:28 AM

[steveju]

Are you guys serious? I mean, really?

Server issues occur for every company, at one time or another. The fact that Microsoft is hosting millions upon millions of players at once on their hardware only makes this issue worse.

Hosting? They're not doing the hosting. Xbox 360 owners are using their own hardware and connections for that (mostly).

The fact their servers went down for a week (or four, for some) is annoying, yes - but understandable.

No, it's not. Any torrent tracker is doing a lot better... and trackers are free.

Finally, I think you guys are blowing this way out of proportion.

It's the internets, what do you expect? btw. I can't connect to most players on live after the update a while ago. A lot of lag on online play. Methinks that MS should put up a mirror "server" in Europe and Asia to handle the traffic better.

[sirsmacketh]

There are 10 million+ Xbox Live members (including Gold and Silver) - If they doubled what they had for the COD4 and HALO3 launches, I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't go down.

I'd trust a dedicated server farm over the "other free network". As a former PC gamer, we know full well that using a dedicated server to host a game is the best way to minimize lag - no matter how good your connection is.

There are XBOX LIVE Mirrors in the US. You can put all the mirrors you want around the world but if the connection between the servers isn't dedicated and is sharing the same Internet Pipe as other people. you're going to have a problem.

I'm willing to bet the LIVE network is a dedicated pipe - like any other server based environment, if you don't have enough to handle the user load, it's going down HARD.

Here's hoping that MS gets it right and we don't see an outage - we'll never hear the end of it.

It'll be interesting to see how many people - on both networks - will be on concurrently at launch before it goes down like the Titanic hehe

At least I won't have to "grab a sandwich" before I can play GTA on the 360. Install time is so 1990s.