Xbox Live's voice of the people, Major Nelson, announced that his group will be giving out a free copy of Undertow to Xbox Live Silver and Gold members starting Wednesday, January 23 at 2am (PT) through Sunday, January 26 at 11:59pm (PT). The free game is being offered as compensation for gamers who experienced major issues with the Xbox Live service around the end of 2007 holiday season. Since then, Microsoft has admitted that the servers were unable to take on the massive amount of players using the service and many current and new players had difficulty getting on.

Already rated quite highly, Undertow is an aquatic side-scrolling shooter game that brings high-definition graphics and multiplayer support for up to 16 players over the Xbox Live service. Normally, the game costs 800 points. No word yet on what gamers who purchased Undertow might receive.

UPDATE: We asked the Xbox Live team about what would happen if a user already owned undertow. A Microsoft rep replied, "Xbox LIVE members who have already purchased "Undertow" should contact Xbox support (1-800-4-MYXBOX in North America)."