rustyjaw Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 After about 6 months of having Live I must say that I think a lot of developers have dropped the ball in terms of making full use of what's available. I'm talking specifically about the way Friends are managed and how you notify, and receive notifications from, friends that you (and they) are online. If it wasn't for MotoGP2 (my first Live game), I might not even know better, since it's the only Live game I own that really gets it right. MotoGP allows you to be present on Live even in single player mode. I'm not sure how many games do this, but I'm continually surprised that new games haven't seemed to figure this out, even ones from Microsoft. The latest to surprise me is Top Spin and Crimson Skies. It's very frustrating to have to choose whether to be signed on to Live looking for friends or to be playing single player. This kind of system makes spontaneous Live games with Friends unlikely. Aside from that, it also seems like there should be a simple (unobtrusive) system for simply notifying friends that you are online. Midtown Madness 3 has a system like this, IIRC, where you can let friends know that you are ready to play. As it stands in CS, for example, you have to wait until a friend who is in a game to find you and invite you. I know that developers don't have bottomless budgets and loads of time to trick-out their games with every feature known to man. I also don't know the details of what's involved in putting these features into a game. I've heard that the SDK for Live is nonexistent or very basic. But they get so close; the first problem is, at bottom, a choice about when you sign on to Live...when you start up the game, or when you aren't in single player mode. I really don't want this to become a rant thread, if we could think of some way to change this situation, from a petition to maybe a simple list of contacts at various companies to whom we could send friendly emails suggesting that gamers value these things, it will keep us from descending into diatribes (which I know is easy to do!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 I've heard that the SDK for Live is nonexistent or very basic. Its more of a set of guidelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Well i know many games coming up will have live aware in them. However the new site to check friends lists has helped me from turning on the box for no reason, and eventually it will be part of MSN IM . So hopefully they will start moving more towards that capt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 I agree 100% about MotoGP 2, Ed. From the ability to see how much longer until the race is over, to the ability of a smaller font size in the lobby to avoid scrolling player names, it's definitely tops for Live interfaces. MM3 also has the excellent feature of allowing players to join at anytime and I believe it allows you to be online in single player. What would be best is if they used MotoGP's interface as a starting point and development houses could customize it from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted October 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Have there been any reports on how PGR2 will handle Live in this regard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Eurogamer had an article a few months back on how PGR2 will handle Live and it's sounds very promising Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 That article also states that the Kudos you earn online will count like they would in Single Player. Nice knowing you can unlock things without even having to touch the single player mode. -Dean- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Rainbow Six 3 and Amped 2 both are "Always online" games so even when playing single player mode you can (and I have) receive invites. So I think it will be a standard thing eventually if we give enough positive feedback. Amped 2 takes some big strides with Live connectivity. It allows you to join "free ride" games mid way through which is great and the "host" can leave without killing the game... What I find weird is the differences in voice quality over the headset - some games it is like talking on the phone, on others it breaks up so much it is hardly worth it - The dashboard actually has some of the worst breakup problems for me at least. When I'm just talking with people (or playing a ps2 game online and talking over xbl) we will use Tetris or MotoGP as a lobby instead of the dashboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted October 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Rainbow Six 3 and Amped 2 both are "Always online".... Curious that Amped 2 got it right, when Top Spin didn't, since they were released at the same time, both XSN games, and even have the 'themed' packaging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Moving to Xbox, because, as everyone here knows (), the Live forum is for organizing group play and Live-oriented tech support only. Savages. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted October 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Originally posted by Robot Monkey@Oct 31 2003, 11:28 AM Savages. Doh! :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baiter Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 I agree on all your points, put I think we just need to give it time. MotoGp2 has a great live interface, but you have to realize it's the 1st sequel live game. RS3 seems to have gotten it right as well, but they were probably able to pull from the feedback obtained from ghost recon. I don't think any of the games that have serious live problems had large scale beta tests, and that's probably the biggest problem. It's pretty easy to setup a game with a friend if he's in the cube next to you for testing. A lot of the things we see as glaring problems were probably never even considered during development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Actually It is a technical question in the long run :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Originally posted by EdR@Oct 31 2003, 01:25 PM Rainbow Six 3 and Amped 2 both are "Always online".... Curious that Amped 2 got it right, when Top Spin didn't, since they were released at the same time, both XSN games, and even have the 'themed' packaging. different development houses. I doubt either of the two really saw the others game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted October 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 different development houses. I doubt either of the two really saw the others game. If I was MS though, I'd be trying to bring consistency to titles that I published, beyond the packaging. It would be ideal if they could produce a system for adding Live features to games that was as plug-and-play as possible. But IvIaster Baiter's right, especially in his point about MotoGP 2 being a sequel...it took them two tries to nail it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bryan Posted November 1, 2003 Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 I think that Amped has an awesome Live interface. You can log on and play single player, see what other Live friends are doing in Amped (whether they are playing single player or Live), join an active session with friends, keep playing after the host leaves(!) and see what other friends are doing outside of Amped. You can also access XSN events that you have registered for. Gets an A+ in my book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted November 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 think that Amped has an awesome Live interface. Yep, I heard that, that's one of the reasons I just bought it. Seems like they really got the Live support down on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted November 1, 2003 Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 Originally posted by EdR@Oct 31 2003, 07:51 PM think that Amped has an awesome Live interface. Yep, I heard that, that's one of the reasons I just bought it. Seems like they really got the Live support down on this one. You're also gonna love the 720p support on your projector, Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted November 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 Originally posted by Buck@Oct 31 2003, 05:14 PMYou're also gonna love the 720p support on your projector, Ed Yup, everything looks amazing...even the small type that says "crash penalty 50%" - it's so amazing I just have to see it again, and again, and again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted November 1, 2003 Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 Originally posted by EdR+Nov 1 2003, 01:28 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (EdR @ Nov 1 2003, 01:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Buck@Oct 31 2003, 05:14 PMYou're also gonna love the 720p support on your projector, Ed Yup, everything looks amazing...even the small type that says "crash penalty 50%" - it's so amazing I just have to see it again, and again, and again... [/b] :lmfao: :lmfao: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Monkey Posted November 1, 2003 Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 I don't have a bookmark, but several people at the official XBox forums have reported that they were able to use the account code from a new Starter Kit (including the $50 2.0 kit) to extend their accounts - essentially netting a free second headset and Tetris (without losing their tagname and stats). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montag66 Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 Originally posted by EdR@Oct 31 2003, 06:03 PM But IvIaster Baiter's right, especially in his point about MotoGP 2 being a sequel...it took them two tries to nail it. MotoGP got the voice chat and lobby right prior to MotoGP 2 and actually before the official launch of Live. MotoGP voice chat in the lobby and in-game has been perfect since early October 2002, during Live beta. I really wish MS could set parameters or rules for developers regarding how voice and lobbies are incorporated into games. It would be nice if there was some consistency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 Originally posted by Beer Monkey@Nov 1 2003, 05:27 PM I don't have a bookmark, but several people at the official XBox forums have reported that they were able to use the account code from a new Starter Kit (including the $50 2.0 kit) to extend their accounts - essentially netting a free second headset and Tetris (without losing their tagname and stats). I'd appreciate it if you can confirm this sometime before the 15th! -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 Someone talk about it in this thread. I may have to look into this myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Monkey Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 Here is my experience, crossposted into both relevant threads. I bought a new Live starter kit for $50. Headset, Tetris, Mechassault DEMO. I applied the new account code to my existing Live account/dashboard. Before applying it, it (the dash) said my account would expire 11/15 with $50 annual renewal, and gave me options to pay $50, $6.99 (for a month), or to enter a renewal code. After applying it (it took it), it says my account expires 11/15 with $0 renewal. It removed all my payment options. If I try to change billing info, it refuses to let me, stating that 'your account will be converted to pre-paid after your expiration date'. It sure looks like it works to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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