Now that you are all caught up you can use the remaining hours of today to download your free game or attempt to get your free points. You have until midnight, so get crackin'.

Upon hearing the news, we immediately contacted Microsoft to ask about those who had already purchased the game, and received a swift response.

If Xbox LIVE members have already purchased the game, they should contact their local support (1-800-4-MYXBOX in North America).

As for the outages themselves, we still have reports as recent as last night that the problems are still a major issue, and while we had Microsoft's ear we also asked for their advice to those still suffering from Xbox Live difficulties.

With the high number of new members in the system, issues can appear that are independent of the situation over the holidays. As always, we are continuing to make minor adjustments, and are monitoring every aspect of Xbox LIVE closely. If you are having any problems, please contact your local support (1-800-4-MYXBOX in North America) so that we can assist you.

You should probably just write that number on a sticky note and paste it on the fridge.

Undertow free of charge next week [Xbox Live's Major Nelson - Thanks Neocutter!]

Use cover. There are areas the two smaller units (Marine and Dragoon) can hide from view. This is a great way to take enemies off guard. Hide in tall grass, behind pillars, buildings, or in clumps of rock and debris.

The game has an amazing amount of depth (HA!) in a tiny package. It is essentially the essence of any elaborate 3D team-based shooter in a simple, 2D form. Damn fun to play. Even more so if you read the tips provided below!

UNDERTOW TEAM OFFERS 'TOP 10 TIPS' FOR DOMINATING THE GAME

Since its Thanksgiving launch, the award-winning Undertow has been the #1 selling Xbox LIVE Arcade game on the system. This week, the development team at Chair Entertainment Group is releasing its "Top 10 Tips" on how gamers can dominate multiplayer matches and master the game!

Upon first trial, gamers will quickly discover the key is to boost! around the levels and rapid fire unlimited ammo, but here are some additional tips from the experts:

1 - If you are playing with a buddy online, try to coordinate what units you are. One killer combo is the Destroyer and the Dragoon. The Dragoon can hide inside the Destroyer, protecting it from nearby enemies and shooting down enemy torpedoes, allowing the Destroyer time to bombard the enemy with its huge explosions.

2 - Low on health? Take cover and wait for your health to regenerate.

3 - When trying to take an occupied enemy Control Point, swoop in with a fast unit type like the Corsair or the Marine and drop all your depth charges on the enemy. When they die you will have enough time to neutralize the Control Point so the enemy can't spawn there anymore, allowing you to quickly take it.

4 - The Corsair, while not as strong as the Dragoon or the Destroyer, has an incredible rate of fire at a long (and relatively safe) distance. Try to find pinched-off areas where the enemy will bottleneck their forces, keep a steady rate of fire on that section, and watch the kills roll in. Even hitting the wall next to an enemy can be effective - Corsairs and Destroyers do a lot of splash damage!

5 - Remember that Undertow doesn't happen in space — gravity is still a factor. There are serious advantages to having the high-ground in a face off.

6 - You can't shoot while using Turbo (X button), but you can use depth charges. Zipping by a pack of enemies for a bombing run is a good way to get some kills. You can hold up to five depth charges!

7 - Control Points don't have to be yours to get a shutout. Sometimes taking a Control Point to neutral can be advantageous if one is simply trying to deny opponents from spawning. Taking all the Control Points to neutral, and then killing all your enemies (before they can get another Control Point of course), is a quick way to win a match.

8 - Use cover. There are areas the two smaller units (Marine and Dragoon) can hide from view. This is a great way to take enemies off guard. Hide in tall grass, behind pillars, buildings, or in clumps of rock and debris.

9 - The five circles at the top represent the Control Points, and they're laid out from left to right according to where they are located in the map. You can see their timers counting down when you're taking a Control Point. The more team members you have taking a Control Point, the faster you'll take it!

10 - Upgrades are immediate - making you faster and more powerful! It also fills your health bar. Remember that during battle! If it's late in a match and you're getting owned, remember to check your points. If you have points - use them! Press the Y-Button to enter the upgrade menu, select the unit you want, and then press the A-Button to upgrade.

BONUS - Communicate! When playing multiplayer, put on your headset and talk to your teammates. The best way to decimate your opponents is to communicate your strategies!

As The Story Goes...
Undertow begins with the destruction of the Earth...at least the dry bits. Having fled from a dying world, aquatic aliens the Elect find their spaceship low on fuel. Desperate for a new place to live, they stumble upon our planet, which would be perfect if not for all of that pesky land. The simple solution? Melt the polar ice caps. Unfortunately, humanity needed those dry bits, and are nearly wiped out. Struggling to survive, the Iron Marines head underwater, only to raise the ire of one Captain Nemo, whose Nemodian followers had lived in uneasy truce with the surface dwellers. To make matters worse, the ice caps melting have revived the Atlanteans, hell-bent on reclaiming the oceans that were once their kingdom.

The single player and co-op story mode consists of 15 missions that follow the three races' struggle. Players choose from one of four upgradeable units per race and are launched into fast-paced undersea battles. Once the story ends the fun is just beginning, as Undertow takes the game online for 16 man multiplayer madness.

The Perfect Chair

If you've read any of my previous articles on Undertow, you know I am fascinated with the name of the company, Chair Entertainment, so naturally my first question was about the reasoning behind the name. I had several ideas as to the origin, all of them hilariously funny, and none of them involving Ancient Greece.

"The name derives from Plato's Theory of Forms," explains creative director Donald Mustard. The theory basically suggests that there are two worlds - the physical realm we live in and a realm of ideas where the perfect templates of everyday objects exist. One example used is a chair. Every chair you see is derivative of the perfect chair, existing in this idea dimension. "It's about the pursuit of perfection...trying to make that perfect game...the perfect chair." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why he is the creative director.

The Inspiration For All That Wetness

Games aren't often set underwater, which is a shame. Many more games are set in space, when our own oceans are as much, if not more, of a mystery to us.

"There's just so much you can do underwater," explains Donald, who as a child would draw stick figures of warriors doing battle underwater. "You can create a rich, beautiful world underwater and really push the limits of the system in terms of lighting and shadows." And bubbles. I've never spoken to a man so excited about bubbles. These better be some damn fine bubbles.

The setting and story are all about bringing together many different mythologies - Captain Nemo, Atlantis, aliens - together in a wonderfully different setting than your standard space game. I have to admit that Donald's excitement was contagious. It felt like I was talking to a fan at times more than the game's designer, which is definitely a good sign for Undertow.

Healthy Limits

Cramming a gorgeous single player game and an amazing multiplayer experience into the (at the time) 50MB limit of Xbox Live Arcade games was definitely not an easy task. especially with the Unreal Engine 3 as your backbone. "Unreal Engine 3 isn't exactly the smallest game engine available," explains Geremy Mustard, the game's technical director. "We had to compress things here, trim out features we didn't need, chipping away at it." The result? Probably the smallest iteration of the Unreal Engine 3 you're likely to see in an XBLA game.

]The 16 player multiplayer, as Geremy puts it, "Was a beast to get working." You'd imagine that a much smaller game would require less work than say, Halo 3, but you still have multiple players with multiple connections doing multiple actions. It's just as frustrating as working on a big game, but it was all worth it. "When you play it with that many people it's a blast."

Of course several months ago the size limit was raised to 150MB (with Microsoft's approval), but Donald assures me the extra 100MB of space wouldn't have changed a thing. The game would have wound up the same, only less finely tuned. "It turned out to be an awesome constraint, forcing us to boil the game down to its pure essence of fun." Plus, now that they have their engine more streamlined, that leaves all that extra space to make their next title even that much more amazing.

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

While Undertow has the makings of an amazing game, releasing it on the 21st of November seems a bit risky. Both brothers agree that the season is a time of amazing game releases, and this month is particularly insane. Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, etc.

"We'd be lying if we said we weren't concerned," explains Donald. "Our hope is that the Live Arcade market is different enough from the retail market." He says that while the majority of retail titles sell the most copies during the first few weeks of release, Live Arcade titles tend to have a much more stable sales rate, sometimes pushing more copies months after the game is released.

Plus, Christmas is coming up, and Microsoft Point cards make excellent stocking stuffers and Secret Santa gifts.

Play With Them

Brothers Donald and Geremy Mustard make an amazing team. With Donald on the creative side and Geremy on the technical side, along with their team at Chair Entertainment they have the potential to create something amazing. I admire them, and in a way I envy them. My brother does construction and I sometimes write entertaining words; the most our brotherhood could come up with is maybe a cinder block end table with a humorous pamphlet on top.

What impressed me even more is their motivation in creating Undertow. Sure, they want to make money and achieve success, but in the end Donald narrowed it down to one driving force. "Undertow is the game we wanted to play. Hopefully people will think it's cool and play with us."

Chair's Undertow Gets Launch Date On XBLA [Gamasutra]

Microsoft also gives us a look at what's on deck for XBLA in "the coming weeks", including N+, Switchball and Undertow. More information at the official media alert.

Get Your Freak On With Xbox LIVE Arcade This Week [Gamerscore Blog]

Chair Entertainment, a dev house featuring former key Advent Rising staff, announced yesterday that their upcoming game Undertow would appear on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade. The underwater action shooter features Unreal Engine 3 powered gameplay, 16-person online multiplayer and multiple co-op options. Undertow's scheduled to hit sometime this summer, so you'll have to make do with teaser trailers for now. Michael McWhertor

Undertow [Chair Entertainment]