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Online console gaming

16:35 / 15.02.04

i recently bought an xbox, and i was womndering if anyone could tell me about 'live'.
the package included a free trial subscription to the service(for two months) but it has no headset with it. how crap is it without? the games i have so far are midtown madness 3, halo, timesplitters and hitman 2(even though i played it already on cube...).

only midtown is live capable, so is it good enough playing it with no mic for banter? i realise splinter cell and counter strike would totally suck, but racing?

and in the intersts of inclusion, has anyone gone online with other consoles?

21:45 / 15.02.04

I shouldn't imagine it'll make a whole lot of difference. To be honest, online talky-stuff is a bit of a gimmick even in those titles where you'd imagine it could work quite well, so it's not likely to be anything more in something like Midtwon Madness. It's just there in Moto GP, for example, to let you yell insults at the racers immediately ahead of or behind you.

Do you really need to hear some kid telling you that URGay?

I was online with the Dreamcast quite a lot - for a while, it provided my only source of 'Net access. Posting here using the software keyboard was... interesting.

23:05 / 15.02.04

i would be using the headset for when i play with nice people like the ones on here or my mates in london. then i would DEFINITELY need to hear people saying 'URGay' and the like.

is it really such a gimmick in the games with the guns?
i had visions(well, auditory hallucinations anyway) of creeping up behind people and whspering 'boo' just as you plug them through their kevlar hat.
i will be sad for at least a week if its not that cool.

00:36 / 16.02.04

I'm not sure if you can select to aim your comments at certain people during the games, but then I've not got my Xbox online yet and is based on what I know from online PC gaming. Knowledge which itself is at least a year or so out of date.

So you might not want to pay any attention to me. As far as I know though, you can aim comments towards all your team or all the opposition, but not individual members thereof. And if I'm wrong and you *can* talk to individuals during a game, only can only imagine it being fiddly to do so - how would you change who you're talking to in something like Unreal Tournament without having to spend a couple of valuable seconds out of commission while you did so?

07:01 / 16.02.04

Yeah..Ive got this package too, with headphones

havent hooked it up yet though, thought I should wait `til I got my Xbox modded..seeing that I cant really afford buying new games and besides, the only online compatible game I`ve got is Midtown Madness, and I really dislike that game..with a passion..but Im looking forward to be playing stuff like Magic the gathering: Battlegrounds, ahh..wet wet dreams..

nedrichards is confused

10:43 / 16.02.04

Live is many things. Firstly and most importantly it's a system that allows you to download patches and extra content for games often well after the release of the game. Sometimes they'll ask you to pay extra for some of these, most of the time it'll be free. Secondly it's a means of playing multiplayer games across the internet, at this it is supremely good. In most other areas of life I'm a huge critic of MS (just look at the archive) but with the Xbox and live in particular they've created a very good service that actually adds considerable value and fun to the gaming experience. Perhaps its because they don't have a monopoly in gaming.

You can't go online with a modded Xbox. They won't let you (quite rightly), I support modding the Xbox for your own personal use but if you want to play in an end to end secured online community you have to abide by its rules and this is the only way MS can absolutely guarantee that cheating is (pretty much) impossible.

Xbox Live itself is great, the headset is actually quite important. I'd wait until the two months are almost up and then get the Project Gotham Racing 2, headset and 12 months of live bundle. It's really actually quite important to have a headset for anything which is a team game. I've got Crimson Skies (top game, unbeatable live fun) and organising a team strategy in Wild Chicken or capture the flag is actually quite important if you want to win.

The friends list system is a pretty useful way of treating 'URGay' people as damage and routing around them. If you can get yourself into a netowrk of sane people you'll have loads of fun. My gamertag is nedrichards, anyone feel free to send a friends request and I'll see you online.

Games I have that are also online:
Midtown Madness 3 - Good game with loads of downloadable content (cars, extra races etc.) I'm not very good at racing games so I can't really help you there but it's lots of fun destroying everyone and everything in Washington and Paris.

Crimson Skies - Online dogfighting in an alternate reality steampunk 30s? How is that not the coolest game you've ever heard of? Oh and you're an *air pirate*.

I'm getting Dance Dance Revolution as soon as it comes out which also has live capability, I'll let you know what's it's like in the appropriate thread.

15:52 / 16.02.04

does an Xbox with a bigger hard drive installed count as a modded?
a mate has done that to his and it sounded like a worthy investment.

whothehell@where?

16:16 / 16.02.04

unreal championship is alright, but i disabled the sound, not interested in teenaged asshats' voices.

but i miss unreal on the dreamcast. the weapons would actually kill things then. now you unload a flack grenade into someones face and their still alive. and no sniper rifle? what's that? the lightning gun is NOT a comparible substitute.

the one shot kills boards are fun

16:37 / 16.02.04

unreal has no sniper rifle??
are they FUCKIN crazy?

man, i love the stealth... that one's off my list.

nedrichards is confused

17:19 / 16.02.04

toksik: what do you want to do with your xbox? 8 gigs should be enough for anyone :-)

In an unmodded BIOS the os can only see 8 gigs AFAIK. Although the newer xboxes come with 10 gig drives the spec is the same for compatability reasons.

17:37 / 16.02.04

When I finally start earning again I'm going to get a second hand Xbox off eBay or somewhere and mod that, purely so that I can still use the other for Live.

Hoping that Xbox2 uses the same online system (or, better yet, is backwards compatible) so that the Xbox1 servers don't get shut down. The recent death of the Dreamcast servers was inevitable, but a real shame - Phantasy Star Online always made perfect sense as a subscription-free title.

15:17 / 09.08.04

xbox two is supposed to be compatible, according to xbox world.
i think that may be related to their plan to 'take sony' this generation.
they might well do just that, after the PSX recall in japan.

19:53 / 09.08.04

OK: it is possible to get online with a modded xbox if you have a switch for the modchip, so you can turn it off before you go online. If you don't, not only do you get chucked off, but your account gets knackered too. That said, MS are getting better at tracing switched-off modchips.

Headset makes a big difference, imho; it's a bit more friendly, more personable, and there's always a degree of organisation even in free-for-alls. Midtown Madness, incidentally, is REALLY good fun on Live, if a little daft.

Yes, an upgraded hard disk counts as modded, because you need to reformat and reimage it, and the bios can only see 8gig as nedrichards says. Also, the only reason to upgrade is to copy emulators and games to the HD.

Pandora Tomorrow (Splinter Cell 2) is superb online; like nothing else. It also has a HARD learning curve, worth finding a friend to learn with. Once you suss it, it's great.

As regards yelling "Boo" at people: you usually can't, simply because you generally talk only to people on your team. FFA stuff is a bit sucky online; teamplay is where it's at. That said, in Pandora Tomorrow, once you have someone in a neck hold, you can hold white to whisper in their ear. And then snap their neck. Ahehe.

22:36 / 09.08.04

man... i need that game just for that...

i need help as well, dont i?

i got the starter pack, with a headset, but i am pretty dissapointed with it. i reckon i might go get the so-com one soon.

but live...
i have never felt so shit and felt so good about it.
dude.

it took me one hour to be called bitch, and ten minutes to get called faggot. i my first game, i even got to eavesdrop on some dozy pair flirting. in mechs.

they tried to get their mechs to hold hands...