It's only the 4th of Jan but already I'm reminiscing about the gaming Christmas just gone. I spent too much time on Mario Galaxy - nostalgia and sparkling graphics, is there a better festive game? - but that wasn't just due to the quality of Mario's latest adventure. Nope, you can blame the farce that was Xbox Live for that. Microsoft's online service - you know, the one we pay 40 quid a year for - has been broken for the entire Christmas break. And it still isn't fixed. Things are on the mend but combine these problems with the similarly farcical Sensible World of Soccer launch and you have a service that has seen its excellent reputation dented.
And the downtime was doubly disappointing - when Sensible World of Soccer finally arrived it was worth the wait. Despite a few issues - players can choose their opponent's team when playing online, connection issues with some unranked matches - Sensi plays like a dream. It looks good too. The "updated" graphics are a perfect example of how to bring a retro game up to date. Clearly we need a Competition Pro adaptor or some other joystick add-on as the Xbox pad really isn't up to the job. But for now I'm happy reliving the days - the data is based on the 96/97 version of Sensible World of Soccer - when Matt Le Tissier was a (Le)God amongst men. Xbox Live aside then, what did you play over Christmas?
