X-Box Live info

[Knowlesy]

Well, yesterday, after finally getting a broadband connection in the house that works properly, my stepdad went and got himself X-Box Live.

It is bloody brilliant. I rather enjoyed racing folk on Project Gotham. How I laughed at the Americans as they drove woefully. How I raged when a Brummie rammed my car off the track. How I weeped when I got beaten on Pro Evo Soccer by an Arsenal fan.

Anyways, I want my own X-Box Live now.

Can you have two seperate accounts in the same home?

Can you run it wirelessly? If so, does anybody do this and is it reliable? Ideally, I don't want to trail cables from upstairs to the downstairs router.

[Rockmunky]

I think you have to buy a wireless adapter for the xbox, i'm not sure, my friend does it without the wires, but i think he has an adapter talking to his router.

There's 2 accounts on my xbox, so you can have more than one, but you have to pay for each one as a separate account.

As for me, i can't even get my xbox talking to live atm, gonna have to go wireless to sort it out, though i don't have the money to buy the wireless adapter.

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/hardware/x...er/default.htm

Theres the wireless adapter. I seem to recall you have a 360, yes?

[gravel_monkey]

my whoe house is wireless but i still need an ethernet cable from the xbox to the pc so it can recognise the wireless connection in the house. the pc doesnt need to be switched on though

[Knowlesy]

Thanks Rockmunky, yeah I'm a 360 man!

Hit a few problems with the stepdads Live account that are slightly off-putting. Keep losing the X-Box Live connection when a game starts and this also crashes the whole internet connection. Have to remove the router cables and put them back in to get it going again. Internet works fine, but X-Box live is wrecked.

Hmmm....unsure now!

[shiny side up!]

Knowlesy,

Glad you are getting a chance to experience XBox Live. Once you get it up and running correctly/reliably, it blows most aspects of PC gaming out of the water... no hardware conflicts or upgrades, settings to tweak, and a darn sight less cheating via software and hardware gimmics...

Take the time to set it up correctly, though... make sure you have your XBox's connection configured correctly for best results. Here are a few pointers:

1) If possible, plug your 360 directly into the modem. Most of us can't do that, though, due to the fact that we have other hardware on our network and thus must utilize a router. If it is at all conceivable to unplug your router whilst playing on Live and thereby free up the modem for a direct connection, it is worth considering.

2) If using a router, assign your 360 a static IP address. Particularly useful for step #3

3) Configure your router to forward the appropriate ports to your 360. Good info on how to do this can be found at portforward.com Also, make sure that you forward port 2074 as well as the normal 88 and 3074 you read about... don't know why, but 2074 made a big difference for me in Call Of Duty 3! When you have your ports forwarded properly, running the connection test from the XBox 360's dashboard will show your NAT as OPEN. If you haven't yet forwarded ports but your NAT already says OPEN, still do it anyway... I had to. And, if all else fails and your NAT does not read OPEN, try setting your 360 up in a DMZ... there is very very little risk to doing so, and the connectivity benefits over Live well outweigh them!

4) Try not to have PCs on whilst playing on Live, sharing your connection's bandwidth with other machines tend to lead to more lagging.

5) Don't assume that all Yanks you line up on the grid next to are going to be slouches behind the wheel!

I currently use a wireless connection for my XBox and my 360. The M$ adapters are quite expensive... either look for one on EBay, or find a good electronics store (or online) that sells non-M$ wireless adapters or bridges, will be cheaper than the M$ XBox specific ones!! The M$ version for the 360 utilizes a USB connection, but you can use the older style M$ adapter or any non-M$ that has an ethernet cable connection as well.

Also, if you grow tired of the arcade nature of PGR3, pick up Forza used (or even new), it is very cheap now... and simply awesome. Even though it is an original XBox title, the single player on the 360 is pretty good... multiplayer on Live not so much. Or be patient and wait 3-4 months for Forza2, it should be stellar. Or GTR, which is supposedly coming out in the first half of next year, although there has been no news for months and we're starting to doubt it

[Rockmunky]

Yeah, good advice there, i'm going wireless, and will probably buy this adapter
http://www.netgear.com/Products/Adap...rs/WGE111.aspx

Also, my modem/router is netgear, so keeping it simple....

It's nice and easy to plug the console into the modem but for me, this wasn't practical, so wireless is the only option for me.

Like shiny said, XBox live is very, very good... now... to get me a headset...

[shiny side up!]

That looks a nice piece of kit... what kind of price tag is on it? Couldn't find it listed at big US Electronics retailers.

Another option is the LAN extenders that allow you to utilize your home's electrical wiring for networking... just starting to pop up here in the states, don't seem to be much more expensive than typical wireless setups, and supposedly somewhat superior due to working over longer distances and not experiencing as many electromagnetic disturbances...

My 360 is probably only 10 feet away from my router... but it is on the first floor, whilst my router is on the second... and the shortest path (besides tearing into the walls to run a line) between the two with an ethernet cable ended up being about 75 feet... down a hall, a set of stairs, through a living room, through a foyer, and around my TV room and into the XBox

[Rockmunky]

When i was first setting up the router, i already had a line running from the hallway where the phone line was, along the hall, up the stairs, into the room, and into the router (my xbox was in the same room, so for that brief period i had easy xbox live connectivity)

Now the router is by the main phoneline, and i don't wanna drag cables up the stairs again, so wireless it is.

I've seen those power point network things, looks good,a nd are relatively inexpensive.

As for that adapter, i think it's quite alot of money! But, i'd say it's better than buyign one solely for the xbox, as you never know which consoles you might want to use it with..

[Knowlesy]

Right, I seem to have got it running OK now and it rarely disconnects so it seems to have settled. I won't bet on that remaining the case though!

So anyways, my tag is "Knowlesy85" if anyone happens to be interested!

[Rockmunky]

I'll add ya, but won't be playing for many a moon atm!

[shiny side up!]

I'll add you (me= DougalMcGuire), but not sure how often I will see you online given the whole time zone / Atlantic Ocean in the way bit...

[Knowlesy]

Well, you never know shiny!

Will get round to adding when I'm online again.

[Knowlesy]

Some people on X-Box Live make me cross. I just lost a hard fought championship by some gimp getting his mate to park on the apex of a corner as I was about to go through. And I got left negative feedback as well. Stupid people. Yes I am taking this seriously and am upset I lost!

I try to race as clean as hell, but now it's war if I ever meet this guy again. Can't remember the name, but I'll recognise the nasal voice on the headset. I will lurk in the lobby until I find this man.

Anyways....

Had a rummage on Marketplace yesterday and got myself some nice retro games...so cool and what's even better is they go towards your 360 achievement score. Got Doom, Street Fighter II and Pacman!

Oh, and I'm losing a lot of sleep with Live, I'm horribly addicted!