Through the use of its intelligent broadband network solution, Sandvine observed an 80% increase in the number of Xbox Live users across a sampling of North American-based broadband service providers' networks during the first week following the release of six new Xbox games. On November 7, 2006, Microsoft released six new games for Xbox, including the highly anticipated release of Gears of War, which sold 1-million copies in the first two weeks. This spike in Xbox Live traffic following the launch of a highly anticipated game is reminiscent of Halo 2's release in 2004 (www.sandvine.com/news/pr_detail.asp?ID=65), marking the first boom in online gaming and resulting in the sustainable popularity of Xbox Live.
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