Late last night, we learned the story of Richard Gaywood, the not-so-happy Xbox Live user whose gamertag was banned. Since "RichardGaywood" was both the user's gamertag as well as his legal, honest-to-goodness given name, Kotaku contacted Microsoft to learn the reason behind the ban.

Hit the jump for their response:

Xbox Live On Dial-Up Is No Fun For Anybody

Rock Band Gets Boston Six Pack

I never use my headset on XBL. Frankly, I have enough on my mind just trying to get my meaty hands to manipulate the controls properly let alone attempting to carry on any semblance of a conversation. And then the handful of times that I did use it I plain hated the experience. At best I had to listen to kids while they were talking smack [alert: 9 minutes of profanity-laced posturing] or just humming to themselves.

And at worse... well check out some of the links to listen to more examples of what has me leaving my headset in the box. I couldn't make it more than a couple of minutes into them and I already feel stupider.

The sharp eyes over at IGN have spotted what may be a juicy bit of news over on the Devil May Cry 4 fansite. If you click on the option to download a DMC4 widget, the site loads up an example picture which shows that the demo for the game will be hitting the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on January 31.

Of course, as IGN also points out, this could just be bad placeholder text for the widget example. But with the game hitting just a week into February it doesn't seem like too far a stretch for that demo date to be right.

DMC4 Demo Dated? [IGN]

Major Nelson: All Hands on Deck Working on Live Problem

Just pinged Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb to see what the status was of his baby, Xbox Live. The Xbox 360's network has been suffering sporadic issues since the holidays and it seems that a solid solution continues to elude the team.

He told me a bit earlier today that they are all over the Live issues, "we have had all hands on deck." He also pointed out that he's now using Twitter to keep readers of his site up-to-date on the current status of repairs.

26 minutes ago: Even though things are working, the teams are still hard at work to ensure things stay that way! 2 hours ago: I think I need to take e to lunch today. 2 hours ago: BTW: Account Recovery is working much better now. Give it a try. 2 hours ago: No, installing 'fatter pipes' won't have helped the issues we were having. 2 hours ago: Getting a lot of messages from people telling me LIVE Is working well for them. Great to hear. 2 hours ago: No, most of the staff is not away for the Holiday. They are right here, working on any issues.

Hopefully we'll hear that the repairs and fixes have been shored up soon. It will be interesting to hear what actually caused the problems. I suspect the influx of new accounts over the holidays didn't help.

Major Nelson

Microsoft: We're Investigating the Recon Armor Hack

Skyluss, a member of pro-gaming Team vBi, reported over the weekend that his Xbox Live account has been hacked... again. Apparently the hacker was a little envious of the Recon Armor Bungie had bestowed upon Skyluss and decided to take it for a spin him or herself.

The Halo 3 gamer writes in the vBi forums that he thinks this latest hack wasn't a product of social hacking (i.e. sweet-talking a password out of a stupid customer support person) but a genuine security flaw in Microsoft's Live service.

Skyluss says he's changed the passwords on his account three times in the past month so he's sure it's not an issue of someone having his password. Whether it is a security flaw in the system or an issue with customer support the bottom line is that there is a problem, one that I hope Microsoft is on top of.

I emailed XBL Director Larry Hryb to see if Skyluss high-profile account problems are being investigated, as the gamer was told after receiving a whole lot of run around and not a lot of answers. Hyrb told me that their security team has indeed launched an investigation and that he has been in touch with the gamer personally.

My Gift, My Curse [Team VBI, thanks Christopher]

Just minutes after the Halo 3 map packs were supposed to hit, and hadn't quite yet, we had already received an email from a very antsy and very agitated Halo fan. So it's probably worthwhile to note that the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack is now available.

The pack, which was recently shown off by Red Vs. Blue, features three new maps with endless customization possibilities.

Standoff's symmetrical valley, with its entrenched bases and fields of boulders is ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types, while Rat's Nest's vast, labyrinthine passages bring something new to the "Halo" multiplayer experience: an indoor vehicle paradise, strongly influenced by the Campaign mode, ideal for big team battles. Finally, Foundry is the ultimate Forge map - players can edit every single object in this voluminous industrial warehouse, place stairways, walls, bridges and tunnels to create an entirely new play space and build almost any kind of map they can think of.

The pack will set you back 800 points if you get it now or nothing if you are willing to wait until this coming spring.

We finally understand that whole achievement addiction syndrome. But we'd still avoid using the old rubber band trick.

For those who'd like to add a bit of sexual objectification to your otherwise very healthy, loving and mutually-respectful relationship, this feisty garment will run you $13.

ACHIEVEMENT LOCKED UNDERWEAR [via playgadgets]

Correction: XBL Has Reached 45 Million Downloads

More news from Gamerfest 2007: Microsoft announced that 7.1 million Live users have downloaded 25 45 million...things...from XBL. With that level of user base, that puts the download average of everything—from games to themes—at a (what I think is very, very low) average of 3 per person.

Given that they also said the attachment rate is reaching an average of 6-7 XBLA titles per user, we're a bit confused by all the numbers at the moment. Either those 25 45 million downloads are arcade title exclusive, or that 6-7 title figure is inflated and based upon only the most current users. We have an email out to Microsoft and will let you know if the numbers start making more sense.

UPDATE: We've talked to Microsoft PR. The real number is actually 45 million Xbox Live downloads.

Gamefest 2007: 25M Downloads on XBL [1up]

FEAR Gets Nightmares

Nothing like a little fear on the fourth! Major Nelson pointed out late last night that a new game pack is available for the 360 version of F.E.A.R. The 500-point pack comes with four new multiplayer maps. Heliport and Spill Kill are both Conquer and CTF maps. While Asylum and Cafeteria are both deathmatch and control maps.

Name: FEAR Nightmare Pack Price: 500 Points Availability: Not available in Asia or Mexico Dash Details: Can't get enough F.E.A.R.? Then grab this map-pack loaded with 4 brand new multiplayer maps. For Conquer All and CTF fans, Heliport gives you close quarters combat with an enemy waiting in every corner while Spill Kill offers cramped sewers and open spill ways for non-stop action. Deathmatch or Control fans, prepare to fight it out in a large abandoned mental institution, in Asylum, and feast on hot-lead in Cafeteria.

FEAR Nightmare Pack [Major Nelson]

Wolfmother Challenges You to Forza 2

Xbox Live Gets A Whole New Cross-Section

Microsoft Ignition Program

The New Networking: Hollywood Execs and XBL