Those eager to spend their 1,200 Microsoft Points on the first Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 downloadable add-on map package (known as the Stimulus Pack) were in for a bit of a shock today when they found that the downloaded map package did not work. As with anyone, if I spent $15 for this map pack and it didn’t work, I would be more than a little unhappy.

You have to hand it to Microsoft: despite the problems, they communicated with the community right away through Major Nelson’s blog, acknowledging that they did have an issue and that they were investigating the problem to get down to the root cause. Before we even get into how this could possibly have happened, the good news is that within a few hours Microsoft and developer Infinity Ward were able to track down the cause. When the pack went live, multiplayer lobbies were not working, images for maps didn’t show up and the option to play private matches was missing.

According to what we have been able to find out, the problem seems centered around a missing update for CODMW2 that had been through Microsoft’s approval process and was already thought to have been pushed out. From what our sources tell us, all of the testing was done on systems that were patched to the latest revision of code which included this update, and that is why the issue didn’t show up in testing.

From what we are hearing now, Microsoft has made this update live and is pushing it out to those logging into the game now. For the fewest problems, it has been suggested that you should load up CODMW2 first and make sure that you get it updated prior to attempting to buy and download the map pack. Still, however, it seems that Microsoft has been having problems with the Xbox Live that is causing a variety of issues, including those connected with buying and paying for content such as the map pack.

With such a major download release, you would think that Microsoft would have devoted more time to testing to make sure that things would work well; after all, the Xbox 360 had a timed exclusive window for the release and it appears now to be leaving a definite black eye on the entire experience. From what we hear, users are still griping about the price, and to have this happen just makes the situation even worse.