Ask me anything about XBox Live

Sloth

Heya, over the last while since I put my gamertag on my profile I've gotten a lot of questions regarding Xbox Live and what it's like. Firstly I want to say that it's pretty much everything you could hope for and I'd say the only problem that I've really run into is the amount of French people who play Moto GP which tends to show up my total lack of French knowledge
The games I've played so far are Moto GP (demo), Unreal Championship, Capcom Versus SNK 2 and MechAssault (demo). I've also downloaded Kola Cell for Splinter Cell which took about 5-10 minutes or so.
So if theres anything you would like to know about Live feel free to ask away.

Rnger

Whats Kola Cell? Does the voice thingy work well?

Sloth

Kola Cell is a bonus level for Splinter Cell. It's pretty damned hard but it looks amazing, the netting thats everywhere in the level is incredible to look at.
The voice communicator is great for Capcom Vs SNK 2 (oooohs and ouchs mainly) and Unreal Championship (haha! got you! etc), it's a bit odd in MotoGP due to the fact that you can only hear the person behind and ahead of you so a lot of the time your just listening in on a different conversation. Lobbies for games are a bit annoying since theres so many people talking and theres always some gob****e with a crappy voice mask on screaming in your ear. I think it will really come into it's own on Phantasy Star Online.

Thorbar

How many people are using it any problems finding servers with people in it? Have you come across many other Irish gamers on it?

Sloth

Moto GP is always packed and theres always loads of people to play with on that. MechAssault was very quiet the few times I played it and there only seemed to be one game room open every time I visited. Unreal Championship is chockoblock with servers and seems to be the most populated game. Capcom Vs SNK is the emptiest I've seen, some times it can be damn hard just to find another person to play with let alone someone who can give you a fair fight (I've seen one too many AA ranked players to be honest), it'd be a lot better if there were more players.
As far as I know mj and uzami on these boards are the only other Irish people I know playing but I'm sure theres more.

Rnger

Get ghost recon and multiply my questions will. (Trying to sound like Yoda there)

uzami

Been using the service for a few days (thanks to Sloth and all who offered advice) and thoroughly enjoying it (except for been beaten by Eurotrash at MotoGP!!!)

I had a fair few problems configuring the router to access the Xbox Live, but eventually cracked it. I was concerned that there might be a problem with eircom.

*HINT* if you are planning on buying a router and using the xbox live service now or in the future check out.....

www.xbox.com/uk/live
OR
www.xbox.com/live


....for a list of compatible routers, as there are some out there that need workarounds etc.

Highly recommended.....only to get better with the arrival of Wolfenstein (damn you amazon.co.uk.....should have delivered it today).

/d.

Sloth

How have you found the communicator uzami? I find it leads to nothing more at the moment then trash talking etc but maybe thats just me.
As for Ghost Recon I've heard thats its not all that great in multiplayer but I might get it eventually. At the top of the Live list atm are Phantasy Star, MotoGP2 Wolfenstein (even though I have the pc version) and the almighty Star Wars Galaxies.

uzami

Voice communicator is just soooo odd....kind of embarassed to be seen as enjoying myself.....dirty. sordid little games player!!!

Relaxed into it now, s'pose it was like the early days on the internet for me, intimidated by the anonyminity offered.

Trash talking is par for the course on MotoGp. Though the puerile American s**t you sometimes have to listen to makes me despair.

I believe that it will really come into it's own on team based games a la Wolfenstein. I had Ghost Recon pre-Live and it went back within two days.....might pick up Unreal as I noticed it had been recently reduced by GAME (€35 2nd hand)

My current Live list is MotoGP2, Midnight Club II (solely for the Live element), Amped 2 ( guilty secret...I was one of the few who really enjoyed the first one)

Not sure about PSO, the additional monthly subscription charge seems a bit harsh $9 pm

/d.

CivilServant

1. Where are you based?
2. How does it compare to xbconnect (free product)?
3. Does it suffer from lag?
4. How much does subscription cost?
5. Why are you such a lucky git?

Sloth

1. Dublin, near the Phoneix Park
2. I've never used it but since connect is only for stuff like Halo split screen and it doesn't have voice communication (or communication of any type as far as I know) plus it's not well supported and damned hard to set up I'd say Live is infinitly better.
3. No, the only game that seems to lag is capcom versus snk 2 and maybe unreal a bit. MotoGP is silky smooth all the time.
4. That hasn't been decided yet, it won't be until next year they have a definite price (games like PSO and Star Wars Galaxies are seperate)
5. Because I worked long and hard for this. I spent two weeks trying to fix a broken bb connection, spent a huge amount of time looking into whether or not Live would work for me, got my own card just for it and was willing to spend a lot of money to get it going.

uzami, I'd agree with you on the voice communicator. It's tough to come out of the old shell at first (I don't think I've even managed it fully so far, I still sit back and let people chat away while laughing now and again). When are Midnight Club II and Amped 2 out?

uzami

1. Where are you based?
Dublin

2. How does it compare to xbconnect (free product)?

I only played Halo using xbconnect, and it was fine. Couldn't use the Voice Communicator. But allows System Link (LAN) games to be played. Personally I prefer the Live service, but xbconnect is a useful tool to play others on nonLive enabled games. Also it was a pain walking from room to room to connect to games.

3. Does it suffer from lag?

Not that I have particularly noticed. Sometimes connection is dropped, sometimes you see anomalies eg. in Moto GP some bikes appear to have kangaroo blood, they bounce all over the track, though it doesn't appear to slow my game down. Will update you as things progress. I think that the network is peer to peer, not server based, so lag will be a factor dependent on the Host's U/L speed. XBconnect similarly didn't suffer from lag, but one advantage is that you could see your ping to the hosts game prior to starting a session. I also appear to have a fairly decent line/low contention atm with pings to boards.ie of 20ms and jolt.co.uk of 35ms. :0

4. How much does subscription cost?

I paid €65 for the starter pack in HMV Grafton St, could have saved money by buying online....but patience ain't a vitrtue of mine. The starter pack gives you 12 months free subscription from the date you register.

5. Why are you such a lucky git?

hehehehehehehehehehe



Xbox Live gamertag: arknine

uzami

Originally posted by Sloth
plus it's not well supported and damned hard to set up

I was using xbconnect within 30mins of downloading the tunnel. Found it fairly easy to configure, compared to the two evenings of fustration trying to use Live. Be warned there is no official support from Microsoft for users in Ireland prior to official launch. I agree Live is infinitly better, and I'd say Sloth and other board members will be able to help get you set up.

spent a huge amount of time looking into whether or not Live would work for me

.....and it was this research that Sloth put in that decided it for me to try it out......again...WELL DONE ....also the fact that if I didn't get it working it was only a short stroll to HMV to get my money back.

Midnight Club II I think is out next month (?) http://shop.gameplay.co.uk/webstore/productpage.asp?productcode=XB0414




Amped 2 will be November....



Xbox Live gamertag: arknine

MadsL

Hmmm...gettin Xbox Live soon (beta testa!!! hurrahh!!)

xbconnect I haven't tried but d/l as we speak...

Don't forget GameSpy Tunnel....!

Amped 2 will be November....

I can't wait either...it was 2nd/3rd best Xbox launch game.

MadsL

Xbconnect -- v. cool...I may never sleep again..

Download now! - we need more PAL boxes on there

Seriously, do it now..

40coats

I got it last night, just played MotoGP as I was feeling very odd about the whole voice thing and I figured the other Live games would be better when you get more used to it. Got dropped from a few sessions, saw bouncing bikes, heard lots of very strange Americans and realised I am terrible at racing games, but all in all I had a ball. My Live games are MotoGP, Ghost recon, RTCW and Mech Assault. I'm on the NTL roll out in Lucan and use the Linksys router as well.

Sloth

Has anyone tried Whacked!? I'd try it if you didn't have to take out the disk and reinsert it every time you want to try a different demo.

40coats

I've played it offline and it was pretty poor. Reminded me a bit of Cel Damage, not my cup of tea at all.

KTS

I've only recently started playing the xbox as my brother had taken it to college with him and got into halo which i'm finding very addictive.

In relation to this xbox live i was on the website and it says nothing about it? has it been launched here properly or what's the story?

40coats

It's not launched here yet but you can buy kits and register with a fake UK address. The beta is starting here soon, to be considered you need to register by the 28th, you'll find the link in its own thread here somewhere. For those that have it you can add your gamertag to this database which gives the geographic location and game lists of each user.
http://www.gamertagdatabase.com/index.php
There's no option for Ireland yet but a few have used Northern Ireland (There's 2 from Cork and about 3 from Dublin on there at the moment)

Sloth

That isn't an official site though, I thought there was a proper one run by microsoft with all the tags listed.

kensutz

I'm going to buy my XBOX live kit tomorrow. Is it very easy to set up? I can get an english postcode without a problem. So what do you play on it?

Thanks
Ken

uzami

....might be better to sign up to the beta test and get one FREE!!!

Though they may not commence the test for a few weeks (months?)

The service has not been officially launched here so outside of the beta test the only tech support you will get will be on the boards.

However it is easy to set up.....different users have different problems depending on their home network...check out www.xbox.com/live for initial set up info...if you need help on your config...come back to the boards and ask!

As for games you get online demo's of motogp, mech assault and whacked! with the starter pack.

Most users seem to have MotoGP and Unreal Championship.

Best Online games (reviews wise) are Return to Castle Wolfenstein and MotoGP2.....and these are what I'll be mostly playing this weekend.

MadsL

Err...Halo!

kensutz

Got xbox live and it's so simple to set up. Had a great laugh playing Moto GP with a group of scottish lads and americans. Games I have to play anyone is Wolfenstein and Unreal Tournament so far. Looking for MotoGP2 but nowhere to be found in Waterford.

XBOX Live Gamertag: Kensutz

uzami

yipeee the irish are coming ...........see you online.......been playing motogp2 too much recently......will get around to wolfenstein

nialler

Alright lads n ladies,

Got this forum addy from uzami, looks pretty good, but yeah been using live for about 2-3 weeks again used the UK postcode trick from a packet of flash wipes, used me correct details though ie credit card info (as you may need to hold onto yer gamertag and continue the subscription at the end of your year).

Generally I've found a few things, MotoGP Demo is a bit of craic, Ghost Recon is the dogs bollix but it's not yer gung HO kill fest like Unreal championship, patience is the key and a steady hand for that sniper shot to the left ear, I learn't this after running round like a lunatic and gettin shot to bits every second I respawned, keep low and hug trees you'll enjoy it, specially when you piss the yanks off.

Only got Wolfenstein at the weekend found it a bit laggy on live though that's down to the person that's hosting, I will say one thing iStream starter and self-install with a 128k upload is only suitable for hosting about 4-5 people in a game, any more than that and you'll lag to ****, but I've played a few games (look out for dedicated server in the game that you're joining) but it's starting to be a good bit of craic you need to talk to yer teammates cos they're usually more experienced and can help ya out also it's good that you have a medic and engineer cos most games involve blowing things up (deadly!!) and you can only do that as engineer and as of last night I'm somewhere around 12,500th on XBL for the week ohhhh the lofty heights of it.

See yiz online

nialler
gamertag: nialler (original or wha)

Lucutus

nialler = Lor?

Luc

nialler

Alright Tony,

Eventually found this place.


Nialler

uzami

Any thoughts on an Irish Clan?

nialler

Give it a little while ark until we get our **** together, I jumped another 1000 places last night with an hours playing, goin for a marathon session tonight in RTCW might do a bit of GR too, herself is goin out with her work, so gettin the tinnies and playing from about 7.30 onwards.


Nialler

kensutz

Well at least we should put our names together for the Irish clan. How many of us actually have Live up and running? Hopefully we can do some sort of sport game league, MotoGP league etc...

uzami

Nialler....rtcw ....tonite then....i need help.....bit of a newb on RTCW......though in the top 2000 of mOtoGP2.....and must improve

nialler

Arknine,

Where were ya, I was on till 3am though played a 3hr game in a team with some swedish bloke and a couple of brits, tell ya what though, I'm suffering now, just gonna try nurse meself thru this day, I'm exausted, I'll see yiz online over the weekend.


nialler

uzami

Sorry nialler........i picked up my new ipod yesterday evening and I was a bit distracted.....will track you down over the weekend.

Have you recieved the free game email for subscribing a friend to xbox live yet?

If so, any thoughts on it?......or more to the point, how we can benefit from it being in Ireland?

nialler

Nice one, picked yerself up an ipod, I have the 10gb one, still haven't managed to fill it yet but it's the dogs, if yer on a mac get itunes 4 but not 4.01 there's a few apps out there that allow you to share udder ppls music libraries and the ipod is quite easy to hack and find out which folder the music is stored in.

And no, haven't gotten the email yet with regard to the free game.


Nialler

uzami

it's my 2nd 10gig model.....first one crashed and burned after 7 months.....this was the replacement courtesy of apple.

I'm windows unfortunately...so I'm not too sure about sharing using the music match.....(which crashed as I was transfering 1200 mp3's last night...hence the no show on Xbox Live)

pm me your email and I will forward the M$ free game post to you.

urban Ninja

Hi

I was suppose to get Eircom i-stream but they are useless idiots so i have to wait now to get Ireland-online broadband. I should have it within 12-15 working days.

What do i do to use xbox live from Ireland?? I was told to use an UK postcode, but what about my address??

Any help??

urban Ninja

I have RTCW for the PC, is it worth getting for playing on Xbox live??

uzami

Originally posted by urban Ninja
I have RTCW for the PC, is it worth getting for playing on Xbox live??

It is the only reason to get it. The single player is dire. The only advantage over the PC multiplayer is the voice communications, it really adds to the game. Also there are no cheats, so its a level playing ground.

A new multiplayer level was made available for download this weekend. If they keep on releasing new levels, this will keep me going until Counterstrike and HAlo 2 are out.

nialler

Howyiz lads,

Ok for the live games, the current, really really popular one, so much so, you can hardly find a game on Ghost Recon anymore is

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

MotoGP and MotoGP 2 are supposed to be the dogs bollix.

But as for network play it's abolutely fantastic (spent 6hrs solid Sat night) the only thing you may run into is the odd bit of lag, but the thing is if it's persistent just quit the game and join another.

The voice comms really adds to the game, as communication is the key. To say I'm a fan of it is a tad understated.

Ghost Recon is another excellent game, but haven't touched it since I got RTCW.

Also have star wars clone wars, again haven't even looked at it.

As for signing up for live, use all the correct details ie name address, credit card details, but when it looks for a postcode, do not use dubln 8, dublin 4 etc, just type in a UK POSTCODE (a packet of flash wipes came in handy) and literally that's all you need, support wise I haven't needed to call them, the Zyxel USB/Ethernet modem that was supplied with Eircom's broadband worked a treat, and the xbox live dashboard does everything for ya.

Any other probs, let me know.


Nialler

Stormfox1020

I had a Xbox in the USA but i didnt have live well cuz the only good games out at the time were halo. The NFL games that game with Live over in america was no ware near as good as say Madden would be. I was reading a Article about E3 saying Sony Have exclusive Online Rites to all EA sports games, Fifa, madden, PGA. Bugger . Im thinking of getting the Xbox again and live, but can anyone tell wut the xbox is worth getting for and What will be the Best Xbox games online this year, Midtownmadess3 and Midnightclub 2 will be awesome, but are there any others. Thnx

Storm

Stormfox1020

Nialler since u have Eircom BB, there is a 4GB does, does Xbox Live use up loads of MB or not? Cuz im definatly be able to get Eircom but i dont wana cuz of the Cap, ill get ESAT or Netsoure, but if not avialable ill have to get Eircom. So does Live Rack up a big bill or what? Thnx

Emboss

When's the official live date for ireland ?

uzami

Originally posted by Emboss
When's the official live date for ireland ?

autumn 2003.

beta testing on now

nialler

Storm

I've been told that they wont charge if you go above the 4gb cap. Live doesn't chew up much of it I've only d/l u/l 800mb/300mb respectively.

If at all possible and it's available in your area, irishbroadband.ie do a 512/512 wireless connection, not sure if it's compatible with live but the 512 up is a definite plus, you'll be able to host games no problem with that.

I'm stuck with eircom for the year, but I really do believe that they should offer a iStream Gamer option (possibly with a small fee increase) with a higher upload speed. Specially with PS2 network gaming about to come online and even the pc gamers would benefit greatly from the higher speeds.


Nialler

Stormfox1020

Yep your right there. In the states i had a gamer option. I got 2mb/1mb its was tight i could host like 16-32 players no problem. And with the package i got a free game 2 it sucked but its the point that counts and it had a lil discount.

Stormfox1020

I jus got word that Netsource will be avliable in september for me, i wont get the soho package because its to crowded, but the SME looks fine with a 24:1 ratio and no cap its E90 but its worth is and 512K/128K is all i need for what i want, i cant really be bothered hosting servers id rather jus dominate them

Stormfox1020

Wut??? They wont charge you, but ive been hearing horror stories about people who have got stung by eircom for going over the limit. DO u play PC games online Nialler.?

kensutz

Why dont u get the business package with Esat?

Stormfox1020

Its not avliable in my area . Your the Lucky selected few who get that amazing service im stuck with Netsoure or Eircom . Ill probably go with eircom cuz im really looking for low pings on games, im not big into downloading, maybe the odd Song or map now and again but thats around it, i jus want internet for Access to web, Emails and games and eircom looks the best even with its gay ass cap,