Free copy of Undertow for everyone

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 January, 2008

XBLA goodie for silver and goldies.

Remember that free Xbox Live Arcade game we were all promised to thank us for our loyalty? It's Undertow.

Beginning Wednesday, 23rd January at 2am PST (10am GMT) and ending on midnight PST on Sunday (8am GMT on Monday to you and me), every Gold and Silver Xbox Live subscriber in the world will be able to download the underwater shoot-'em-up we actually rather liked for free.

Just remember, this freebie is in no way an apology or compensation for the problems experienced with connectivity over the Christmas period, but rather a "thank you for your loyalty". We didn't realise that the principles of guardedly swapping insurance details after you've rear-ended someone could be applied to the management of a 10-million-strong online community, but hey, maybe it works both ways - perhaps next time I prang someone in a car park I'll jump out and fail to establish an online movie download service in Europe for 12 months.

For more details on how not sorry Microsoft wasn't, check in with the letter from general manager Marc Whitten released just after Christmas.

As everyone knows by now, Microsoft has to watch what it says in public because angry Texans have decided to sue it for the service's performance over Christmas, meaning that Xbox Live's Major Nelson is no longer able to give us service status reports for fear of legal retribution.

Oh well, see you in Undertow.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 4 years ago

    in before rage

  • KingOfSpain #2 4 years ago

    But what if I already have Undertow?

    I don't, but what if I did?

  • muscleblade #3 4 years ago

    I already have this. Good game. What are they doing with all of us that has purchased the game already? I read something about calling the consumersupport and they will take care of us. Calling them is a real pain though. You are number xx in the line please wait.

  • OldK1ngCole #4 4 years ago

    I for one would have preferred to choose my own game.

  • muscleblade #5 4 years ago

    Im on the phone with xbox support and they tell me that if you have paid for the game you get your points back. That actually means one free game of choice for me yay.

  • bad09 #6 4 years ago

    Not played it but it looks pretty crap from the videos. Like OldK1ngCole I would have preferred to choose the game. Would it have been so hard to credit some points to us all?

    Oh well can't grumble it is free and it sounds like they will look after people who already own it, although I'm sure a lot of people will moan..ungrateful gits!

  • Freeman01 #7 4 years ago

    Thanks for the free game...but do you think you can fix the dam problem..I'm still having issues!

  • Moz #8 4 years ago

    Both me and my partner have XBL Gold account and use the same 360 there should at least been a choice of 3 or 4 games!!

  • Ignatius_Cheese #9 4 years ago

    And enter silentbob...

    You go, girlfriend!!! :oD

  • JonFE #10 4 years ago

    "Would it have been so hard to credit some points to us all?"

    If MS had announced that they would credit all XBL members with some free points, people would create extra silver accounts just to get more free credit / games. The "one game for all" offer helps them avoid this.

  • MonkeyMagik #11 4 years ago

    great news as the game is pretty good.

  • gizmo #12 4 years ago

    Bah, tried this and didn't like it :(

    Next time I'd prefer they make sure the service doesn't break horribly for 2 weeks, over the time when I've probably got more leisure time that any other period in the whole year.

  • muscleblade #13 4 years ago

    Stop complaining about the game. Undertow is actually among the xbla games with the highest score on metacritic. If you dont like it you have bad taste thats all. I own the game and its a quality title.
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/08 @ 09:26

  • groovychainsaw #14 4 years ago

    You have bad taste if you disagree with the majority now? Say what? Think you'll find its usually the other way round.... ;-)

  • bad09 #15 4 years ago

    @ JonFE

    I Didn't think of that! Thanks for filling me in.

    @ muscleblade
    Why do people have bad taste for not liking a particular game? If we all liked the same thing life would be boring!

  • oreillymj #16 4 years ago

    Won't there be another network meltdown as everyone bails onto Live to grab this game for the 1 week it's available?
    That makes sense.


    MS are masters of giving away free stuff without ever giving much away at all. They love paying fines using "free" software vouchers knowing that half of them will never be cashed.

  • Royal Fool #17 4 years ago

    I checked out the trial when it was released and didn't like it too much. But free is free...

  • Santino #18 4 years ago

    a bit cheeky giving gold and silver members the same freebie considering paying for the service and a large part of the problem was with matchmaking etc while trying to play online like we pay for. i think gold members should have been given the 800 points to buy what they please. This would also neutralize the problem JonFE mentioned.

  • JonFE #19 4 years ago

    @bad09:

    Thing is, I, too, would prefer free credit instead of Undertow, mostly because when I tried the demo I had trouble distinguishing out the players (especially the blue team) and gave up too soon. Now, I'll probably try harder :)

    EDIT: Santino, you do have a point there...
    Edited by 2 at 21/01/08 @ 09:45

  • kangarootoo #20 4 years ago

    "If you dont like it you have bad taste thats all"

    Ridiculous comment.

  • hidden_asbestos #21 4 years ago

    I wonder how this affects the makers of Undertow, will they become rich with MS underwriting a percentage the 'lost' sales? more rich than they would have been otherwise?

  • muscleblade #22 4 years ago

    Ok. I appologize for the bad taste comment, but a game that is considered good by the critics is a safer bet than a game that is considered poor.
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/08 @ 09:54

  • speedjack #23 4 years ago

    Err... Thanks.

    But My Xbox RROD on Wednesday so its unlikely that I'll have it back in time to take advantage of this.

  • Penguinzoot #24 4 years ago

    I wonder how this affects the makers of Undertow, will they become rich with MS underwriting a percentage the 'lost' sales? more rich than they would have been otherwise?

    Quite possibly. Maybe not. MS will obviously have to pay the devs/pubs for the right to distribute a copy of Undertow to each XBL user.

  • muscleblade #25 4 years ago

    I guess Chair entertainment will make some extra money with a bigger userbase when they release the upcoming DLC.
    I think its a good thing that game developers make a lot of money because that give them a reason to make good games.

  • kangarootoo #26 4 years ago

    @muscleblade

    :)

  • login_name #27 4 years ago

    If MS had announced that they would credit all XBL members with some free points, people would create extra silver accounts just to get more free credit / games. The "one game for all" offer helps them avoid this.

    Then they should have just gave the points away before announcing it.

    As for Undertow, thanks but I'll pass. Tried the demo and thought it was pants. I guess it's better than some of the other crap they could have given us though.

  • Shrike #28 4 years ago

    This also doesn't help Gold people whose xbox went off on a lovely repair holiday after Christmas. Do you think it's worth phoning and moaning to see if we can get points instead?

  • OldK1ngCole #29 4 years ago

    If you think your going to have problems downloading this when the time comes, download the trail sometime over the next couple of days, then just download the "Buy It Now" patch between Wednesday & Sunday. Hopefully if enough people do this it should stop any problems with Live :D

  • ScarOnTheSky #30 4 years ago

    I just downloaded the demo yesterday, when I heard that it would be free next week. My first impression was that the characters were way too small and the fights a bit confusing, but on second thought this could be a really nice game in multiplayer!

  • Apostle #31 4 years ago

    I'm happy with this. I was quite interested in Undertow, so will gladly give it a whirl. I would have prefered receiving MS points though, and waiting for a CoD4 map pack.

  • NickNack #32 4 years ago

    I really didn't like the demo of this a few weeks ago when I played it. Seemed like shit actually. I will not complain as it's free, but I wanted Metal Slug 3, Rez, or the new chessmaster they are releasing on 360 on the 30th with those ravin rabbits as chess pieces.

    Lame ass Undertow...sigh

  • syphaa #33 4 years ago

    Better than a kick in the teeth I spose'

  • kzmk #34 4 years ago

    @Shrike & speedjack: My problem, exactly. RRODed last week, won't be back til early February. Couldn't use Live much over the holidays, now can't play at all -- I'm a Gold member, so this is really a two months payment for nothing. Yet I can't even get that crappy game for free...

  • afghan_jones #35 4 years ago

    as of yesterday im still having trouble with the main blade and the marketplace blade so I wonder how Im going to actually download this.

    load of bollocks.

  • agparrot #36 4 years ago

    @afghan_jones
    as of yesterday im still having trouble with the main blade and the marketplace blade so I wonder how Im going to actually download this.

    load of bollocks.

    Yeah, even though my 'Live' service seemed to be back to normal at some point last week, I basically just get the rotating balls-around-the-console for the first three blades. Maybe it is symbolic.

    Or symbollocks.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #37 4 years ago

    Not bad going, but I still think choosing from a small selection of games would have been better, just in case someone had already bought Undertow. Oh well. Hopefully it's got easy achievements.

    At the mo it's been difficult for me to judge the Live service anyway, as since Xmas first my phone line and then my modem went tits up.

  • Fab4 #38 4 years ago

    Free game for the bad 'holiday performance'...ok....so what do we get for the bad performance during January, and continuing to this very day? Another open letter thanking us for making XBL great? CoD4 at certain times of the day is beyond a joke to play online. So M$, i'd rather play a game I paid for, on a service I paid for, than you give me some crappy arcade game and a pat on the head. Fix the effing service!

  • OldK1ngCole #39 4 years ago

    @ Apostle - I'm happy with this. I was quite interested in Undertow, so will gladly give it a whirl. I would have prefered receiving MS points though, and waiting for a CoD4 map pack.

    I totally agree. I would have preferred that M$ offered me the 800 Points so I could download the Bugatti Veyron for PGR4 when Bizzare get around to making/releasing it.

    /closes eyes and wishes
    Edited by 2 at 21/01/08 @ 13:07

  • DefdumBlindkid #40 4 years ago

    If this was a free game to APOLOGISE I would be happy.
    As it is a 'thank you' for my loyalty I think I will go without. Cause I don't feel at all loyal at the moment.

    Keep your last-gen freebie, make Live more reliable so we can play the £40+ next gen games we've already got.

  • L42yB #41 4 years ago

    a bit cheeky giving gold and silver members the same freebie considering paying for the service and a large part of the problem was with matchmaking etc while trying to play online like we pay for. i think gold members should have been given the 800 points to buy what they please.

    This is not compensation for the problems on Live. It is a "thank you" for all the people playing on Live, so it makes sense to give it to everyone.

    But what if I already have Undertow?

    If you already have it you will be creditted with 800 points (provided you call customer services and tell them)

    But My Xbox RROD on Wednesday so its unlikely that I'll have it back in time to take advantage of this.

    If you call Customer Support and tell them about the problem then they will sort you out so you can get the game free once you have your box back. As long as you can show you have been a subscriber since before the deadline ends, you should be fine.

    Not so bad really, just a free game :) Now here's hoping that those angry texans increase their "class action" lawsuit to include me and sue for several 100 million instead ;) Altho I doubt the verdict of the case will have any impact on those of us on the other side of the ocean :S

  • Agent_Llama #42 4 years ago

    Didn't like the demo. Thought the ocean setting would sway me but not particularly.

    I want a Live that works properly, my friend and I STILL can't get a party together on PGR4.

    Surely the right thing for MS to do is credit us all with an extra month's Live for free? I renewed mine in November - what a waste of money.
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/08 @ 13:59

  • JackB #43 4 years ago

    I get my Live subscriptions on eBay for about $35 a year. That works out to 10 cents a day. Given the Live problems lasted about a week. That's about 70 cents worth or just under 100 MS Points.

    People complain so much about 70 cents worth of service. Hope you don't ever have to have a BMW repaired or lose $1 in a Coke machine. Time to sue Coca Cola!

    Anyway, if I had to spend my life making video gamers happy, I'd kill myself. 70 cents. Wow! Let's sue for 70 cents.... :-)

  • Hughes. #44 4 years ago

    Really should have let people choose their own game, or given some free points to spend, or a months free Gold. Undertow looks good, but I keep hearing "it's all about choice!", here the choice is "take it or leave it".

  • DAN.E.B #45 4 years ago

    I was hoping to get REZ or Ikaruga!
    oh well back to the credit card!!!!

  • Fab4 #46 4 years ago

    Multiply that 70 cents by all the XBL customers and print the figure...it isnt chump change. Perhaps I could ask all XBL people for 1 cent...you wouldnt hear me complain then.

    The fact is that the service was unusable for the period when most people had time to make most use of it. New XBL users' first experience of the service wasnt the shining jewel in Xbox's crown that M$ makes it out to be. The extensive game library will only keep them in front for so long as the PS3 catches up....M$ need XBL to be worth it...and from their response to this problem (which actually stems back from H3's launch) I'm not filled with confidence.

  • kangarootoo #47 4 years ago

    @JackB

    Good post... up until this bit,

    "Anyway, if I had to spend my life making video gamers happy, I'd kill myself"

    Then a little bit of me died ;)

  • NegativeZero #48 4 years ago

    A "thank you"? Hardly. The only reason that I didn't cancel my subscription three years back when it first came up for renewal is that it keeps slipping my mind and back on the xbox it was a huge hassle to cancel as you had to ring them up to do it. Additionally, what 'loyalty' are XBL Silver members showing, exactly? If this was really a loyalty thing, then it would be to gold members only, and only those who'd signed up a while back.

    MS Still haven't managed to really justify why we should be paying them for the service at all. It's all Peer-to-Peer meaning that we're using our own bandwidth to play the games and all they're doing is facilitating that, and other than playing games online the service offers nothing at all. And these last 6 weeks or so they've shown that they can't even manage to handle the few things that they do offer us properly.

    Personally I thought Undertow was pants, and I won't waste my time and bandwidth on it even if it's free. But then, the whole concept of a free XBLA game doesn't appeal to me whatsoever, since I've already purchased the ones I care about. Would have been much nicer to get points, then I could have stockpiled them and used them on a game that doesn't suck, like Rez.

    The last time they offered us a free XBLA game it was Carcasonne. I suspect that they're deliberately cherry-picking games to offer for free that are only really worthwhile when played online to try and push silvers to upgrade to gold.

  • Avenger1324 #49 4 years ago

    Great timing - I tried the demo and was about to buy this one!