Xbox Live goes down, My Xbox detailed

As the Xbox Live mantra goes, "It's good to play together." Just don't try playing together on Monday, October 24. Microsoft has announced that both the Xbox Live service and Xbox.com will be unavailable for up to 24 hours for maintenance and prep work for relaunches of both services.

Both Xbox Live and Xbox.com will be back online Tuesday, October 25. According to Xbox.com, the new Xbox Live "will also be ready to support all the great new Xbox 360 features." Xbox.com will have an entirely new look, with its main focus being the Xbox 360, which makes it debut in North America November 22.

Nearly a week later, Xbox.com will fire up My Xbox and the new forums. The new My Xbox feature will integrate Xbox 360, Xbox Live, and Xbox.com. By logging in to Xbox.com with a linked gamertag, Xbox 360 users will be able to view detailed versions of their 360 gamer cards, which is a rundown of game achievements, likes and dislikes, and basic info. Friends' gamer cards can also be checked out online, as well as compared side by side with their own.

Like the current Xbox.com, gamers can check to see if members of their friends list are online. Should friends be playing a 360 title, gamers can see what game they're playing, what their score is, and even what modes they are in. Gamer cards will also be able to be displayed online in the new MSN Space (a community site) and in the Xbox.com forums, as part of an avatar.

For more information on My Xbox, head over to Xbox.com.