It appears that a sincere apology and the promise of a free arcade game aren't enough to satisfy the unbridled rage of some Xbox Live users suffering from frequent outages -- three Texas residents slapped Microsoft with a class action lawsuit yesterday, claiming that the disruption of the service over the holidays is a breach of the Xbox Live Terms of Use contract. The suit claims the damages suffered from the outages exceed $5 million.

While we usually scoff at class action lawsuits for seemingly petty reasons, the plaintiffs have an excellent point -- Microsoft must have expected an influx of server-taxing Xbox Live subscribers around the holidays, yet they "failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers." The ball appears to be in your court, Microsoft -- that better be one hell of a free arcade game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/05/mi...-live-outages/