A few days ago, Microsoft took the entire Xbox LIVE Service down for around 24 hours to complete scheduled maintenance and perform upgrades. Sounds innocent enough, but for a paid service like LIVE, I'm finding it more and more difficult to accept these scheduled downtimes. Xbox LIVE is no longer a niche service for hardcore gamers to frag each other in HALO 2. Today it's the backbone to an entertainment experience that families, moms, dads, and kids rely on.

Now, I'm a reasonable guy. I understand that systems like LIVE, which are always being pushed to their limit, need maintenance, patches, and expansions. However, Microsoft's approach needs to change; they need to ensure a basic level of service for all their paid customers.

In case you didn't notice, on June 5th, one of the most famous puzzle games of all time celebrated it's 25th anniversary... Tetris.  Even Google honored the puzzle-shifting masterpiece with its own custom search page logo.  Game Informer featured a wonderful interview with Alexey Pajitnov - the original creator, who to this day is delighted that his brainchild has inspired generations of gamers to exercise their neurons.