Xbox Live

Microsoft is inviting everyone to their summer barbecue with another weekend of Free Play Days. For the next four days all Xbox Live members can play online and enjoy the …
Read More

Spring has sprung and April is less than a week away, so let’s get prepared for a month of rainy days with a new round of Games with Gold. April …
Read More

Having been announced earlier this year and only being tested by Xbox Insiders since, it’s finally time for Microsoft’s new subscription service to step out of the shadows. Xbox Game …
Read More

At this year’s GDC, Jason Ronald, head of Xbox Advanced Technology Group announced the new program, Xbox Live Tournaments Platform. This tool will allow game developers, players and esports teams …
Read More

Xbox One’s February system update will start rolling out tomorrow, bringing with it a lot of highly-requested features. You’ll now be able to see who’s in a party before you join …
Read More

Ever join a friend’s party hoping to have a good time, but instantly regret it because said party also included a person you just can’t stand? Then have we got the …
Read More

XBLA Fans may not seem the proper venue for a bit of PC gaming news, but Microsoft has given us reason to talk about that other platform it’s known for. And it’s probably going to give us even more reasons to do so at this year’s E3.

Most Xbox fans are already aware that Microsoft is set to make its annual E3 media briefing on Monday, June 15 at 9:30 AM PDT, during which time the console holder will show off its console gaming plans for the second half of 2015 and beyond. But that won’t be the only media briefing Microsoft will take part in this E3. Microsoft will also make an appearance at the first ever PC Gaming Show, which starts on Tuesday, June 16 at 5 PM EST.

Microsoft has joined chip maker AMD in co-sponsoring the event being put on by the folks over at PC Gamer. Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer will be joined by some game developers to share Microsoft’s plans for spelling Xbox as Windows 10.

Read More

Update: After our story went live, a Twitter user claiming to be a member of Lizard Squad informed XBLA Fans that the cyber attack on Xbox Live took place between 9:00 and 11:00 pm UTC on Sunday. In a follow-up tweet, he stated that the alleged perpetrators “did manage to fix the lower restrictive server that allowed local play to be revived in a couple of hours.” Our original story is below.

Many gamers, including some XBLA Fans staffers, experienced difficulty playing multiplayer games over Xbox Live last night. If you were one of them, you now know who to blame for your woes.

Lizard Squad, the same collective of nefarious internet users behind attacks that brought Xbox Live to its knees this past holiday, has claimed responsibility for the network problems. In conjunction with the group Like No Other, Lizard Squad apparently hit Xbox Live with another shot from its weapon of choice: a DDoS attack.

Though XBL appears to have since fully recovered from the attack, this may have just been the opening salvo of Lizard Squad’s latest offensive. “More to come, it’s about time to re-ignite lizardsquad,” the group tweeted last night. Gamers may recall that the biggest holiday DDoS attack was preceded by a smaller one.

Read More

Boyd Multerer has left Microsoft after 17 years of working for the company. He marked the occasion by tweeting, “Goodbye Microsoft. It was a good run. Xbox was Great! …
Read More

Like millions of other Xbox gamers, you may have had trouble logging onto Xbox Live during Christmas. That’s because both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network were victimized by DDoS attacks that took them offline, but authorities may be closing in on the parties responsible.

YLE reported last week that a supposed member of Lizard Squad, the group claiming responsibility for the attacks, had been apprehended by Finnish authorities. A 17-year old identified only as “Ryan” was brought in for questioning, but Chief Inspector Tero Muurman of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation has since stated that Ryan was not detained, only questioned about his possible involvement.

During his questioning, Ryan denied direct involvement in the attack, claiming to only be a spokesperson for Lizard Squad. He played the part during an interview with Sky News in which he said the actual team of attackers consisted of only one or two individuals.

Although Ryan said the group may contain members younger than the age of 20, one of them may be 22-year old Vinnie Omari, who The Daily Dot reports was arrested by UK authorities on December 29 in connection to the DDoS attacks. Omari was later released on bail, with no formal charges having yet been filed. Omari told the Dot that a forensics team was pouring over his “Xbox one, phones, laptops, computer USBs, etc.”

Read More