XBL'ers out there who tried to connect for some Halo action on Christmas Day or ring in 2008 with a little online Rock Band may have run into some problems. Oh sure, your Xbox said it was connected, but friends lists were slow to react and many users just plain couldn't play.

The Live team doesn't want to let that set idle and as an apology a big announcement is on it's way. Sketchy though the details may be, Microsoft is going to treat XBL members with a free, full Live arcade game. Partially due to down time and record membership sign-ups, Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten is promising more specific information in the coming weeks to be posted on Xbox.com, so keep your browsers tuned.