Xbox Live Service Shut Down Amid Problems; Free February 2015 Games Lift Gamers' Spirits

Xbox Live service was recently down for Xbox One users, sparking speculation that it was hit by a hacking attack.

Microsoft was quick to respond, explaining that the service was experiencing sign-in issues. Gamer's spirits were then lifted when free games were announced for Xbox's Gold Subscribers.

Subsequently it was reported that the sign-in problem also extended to Xbox 360. On both consoles the status page greeting those who tried to sign into the Xbox Live service read "Our team is already investigating and right now we are trying to get it fixed ASAP! Thanks for your patience while we work."

Following this initial error message, several users also had problems with downloading "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's Havoc DLC," otherwise known as Exo Zombies. Users who tried to go ahead with the download were greeted with the message: "A downloadable content package was removed or all profiles are signed out." Users were then told to download the DLC compatibility pack to fix this particular problem.

Microsoft was able to fix the problem within a few hours, which was a major relief to gamers who were apprehensive of another hack attack along the lines of the one that took down the network last December.

Meanwhile others took cheer from the announcement that several new games would come to Xbox Live in February. These include "IDARB" (It Draws a Red Box), currently priced at $14.99, which will be provided free as part of a Gold subscribers promotion on Xbox One.

Xbox Live Gold Subscribers using the Xbox 360 will be able to get a free version of "Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons" between Feb. 1 – 15. After that "Sniper Elite V2," which is priced at $29.99, can be got for free from Feb. 16 to 28.