Picked up the live package and Unreal Championship over the weekend. All I can say is wow.... I had prepared myself for lag and didn't expect the voice aspects to be very good at all. My better half was out of town all weekend, so I needed something to keep me occupied, ... I picked the Live package up saturday morning and found myself trying to tear myself away from it at 3 in the morning. The voice aspect is great and crystal clear providing an excellent line of communication to your team mates (and not as much trash talking as I expected) as I was hosting most of my own games there was practically no lag, I recieved no complaints of lag from the people playing along with me. All in all I have to give Live two thumbs up! The only complaint I have is that you buy it at the store... only to then be forced to enter a credit card, your address, phone, birthdate (the whole speil) and are told you'll get charged after your year of live is up... (I already frickin paid, why am I entering this?). But after I bit the bullit I was too emersed in gaming to care...

Can you give more info on how the live package works? Do you pay a monthly fee at some point?


Sean

You are right on. I was a beta tester for the live kit, and have had it for about 2 months now. It is VERY impressive, microsoft sure has done thier homework on this one. I think this will honestly be the "next" thing in console gaming. The online play, IMO, is the ONLY thing that computer gaming had on consoles, and now microsoft has leveled the playing field. I use the gamertag 'electricd7' if you ever see me on, give me a shout, I will give you some competition!

ED7

No.. not monthly, yearly 50 bucks a year as of right now.... that comes with your headset. But you have to provide your own internet connection. It's not advisable to use it with dial up.

Cool... my online ID is... Lopan

I was actually able to get it working using a dialup while i was beta testing, and it was pretty bad. I wouldnt recommend to anyone to use it with a dialup either.

So what games are you playing on live? so far I've just been playing unreal any suggestions?

I've played ReVolt, Unreal, MotoGP, Whacked, and NFL 2k3 so far. I would have to recommend NFL, and if you can find ReVolt, it is pretty fun as well.

I think this will honestly be the "next" thing in console gaming

I've actually been pretty upset about this for a while now. Personally, I hate FPS's. Maybe I just need to pick up some dramamine sometime, but I always get sick from playing them. So if you don't like FPS games, there isn't much point in playing online. Yeah, there's that Star Wars Galaxies thing coming out, but I don't really care about that game. It doesn't interest me. I did play online for a few days in Half Life, but considering how many people out there make these games their lives, what's the point of going on and getting th sh*t kicked out of you? That, and from what I've seen of the internet community outside of this message board, there isn't anyone out there I have much interest in playing with.

I would far rather have my gaming company focus on gaming quality than on the fastest way to get online support.

Oh, and I'm also sad, because if the rest of the Final Fantasy games are going to be online, then I guess I won't play any more of them.

I will now go bac and play FFIV. By myself

I already frickin paid, why am I entering this?

They have to recoup the cost somehow, and a $50 a year charge is one of those ways. $177 million in losses is what MS reported for the last quarter alone on the Xbox.

I will admit, I am very impressed with the XBox Live setup. Being broadband only is gutsy, but should make the experience better for all who can participate. The Dreamcast didn't live long enough to show how well online play would do on the console front, and the PS2 and Gamecube don't have any huge overall strategy. I will however like to point out that the XBox has no advantage over any other console for how ready it is out of the box for online play. Every current selling console requires me to buy something after the fact to enable online play.

And FYI for all the gamers, Unreal Tournament 2003 = Unreal Championship for the most part. Only minor differences exist like the built in voice chat, but beyond that they started their life as one game about two years ago. I'm pretty sure it's even the exact same build of the Unreal engine. So if you are like me and can't stand console FPS action, pick up the PC version.

For the record, I do own an Xbox, but see no games that interest me in getting XBox Live currently. I will however be on when Steel Battalion 2 comes out.

Halo 2

not sure about the rest of you, but lan parties and even a few times over the internet (using the linux xbox gateway and gamespy) was some of the best gaming fun i've had in a long time.

I didn't think Halo2 came out until next year sometime?

Halo 2

As far as I am concerned, Halo dosen't exist yet. XBox users got some chump beta version of it. I refuse to buy it, as the game is hindered by being rushed for XBox release, the porting time needed, and the control interface. Halo 2 might be better since it's not going to be rushed to release, but I don't have my hopes up.

I saw and played the real Halo at the 2000 E3. I look forward to playing it properly this coming summer on the PC.

Halo for the XBOX is pretty damn good. In comparison to all console games, its the best FPS. If you are a computer gaming nut, then why even get an xbox, you will never be happy with it. I'm not trying to dog anyone, but the xbox isnt intended to be owned by computer nuts....its more like the sony/pioneer/aiwa mp3 player and less like the empeg (to put this all in perspective as it is meant to reach the masses.

The real Halo? So there were features that you played that weren't in the release? Could you elaborate on some of these as I might get a glimpse into what might be put into Halo 2?

Hindered or not, what I played on xbox for months straight (till I decided I better leave my room and do stuff) was awsome. I can't get over how much fun those warthogs are.

So there were features that you played that weren't in the release?

Go see this for some of the things that were taken out as far as objects and such in the world. At E3 2000, the game was a lot bigger in scope. The aliens were going to be playable. And the size of the world was going to be much larger then it ended up being. They wanted to allow users to run around the entire ring, but I personally knew that wouldn't be feasible from a time standpoint. But, seeing the final product, the size seems much smaller then it should have been. Also, the game seems to contain quite a bit of repetition in level design. To me, the product deserves a decent rating, but not the insane ratings it has been given.

It's doubtful any of this will appear in Halo 2, as the story is shifting to Earth. But, some elements of the original ideas might show up in the PC version, as it has been stated the PC version will most likely have more missions.

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So what games are you playing on live? so far I've just been playing unreal any suggestions?

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I've been having a blast with MechAssault.

-Dylan