Will Xbox LIVE Fail Come December 25th?

Do you recall what happened last Christmas?  If not, here is a quick reminder...

The craptacular down time lasted longer than many of us care to remember.  The Halo 3 surge combined with the influx of new Xbox LIVE members was just too much for the super secret Xbox LIVE data center to handle. 

This year, the Xbox LIVE team will have an equally large surge of new activity thanks in large part to:

• Gears of War 2
  • The biggest game of the year for Xbox 360 fanboys will certainly bring on a ton of Xbox LIVE server activity.
• New Xbox LIVE experience
  • Starting November 19, 2008, a good amount of existing Xbox LIVE users will download the new Xbox experience.  Features include customizable animated avatars, slick new navigation, support for 8 person Xbox LIVE party chat, in addition to...
• Netflix
  • Netflix movie streaming will support up to 12,000 movie and tv episodes...
• Family Friendly Holiday Bundles
  • The cheap $199 Xbox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle package will certainly ensure that come December 25th 2008, you can expect a greater influx of new Xbox 360 users compared to holiday '07.  This massive influx of users will be creating their silver account, customizing their avatars, downloading the latest game demos, and generally causing a massive surge in Xbox LIVE activity.

So, now that we have taken a look back at the past, and a look into the future, will Major Nelson, E, and the rest of the Xbox LIVE team be able to keep us happily gaming into 2009?

We certainly hope so.......