NickC Posted September 8, 2003 Report Share Posted September 8, 2003 From tech tv's the screen savers You're ready to take your Xbox online, but you don't want to spend $100 plus per year for Xbox Live. Not a problem. XBConnect, a Windows-based application, allows multiple people to connect and play Xbox games on different network segments. Long story short, I can now play Xbox games with my good friend in Switzerland. How does it work? On tonight's "Screen Savers" I'll show you XBConnect in action. From a high-level view it tricks the Xbox into thinking it's on a local network segment, enabling Xbox system link games to connect and play against each other. Although the site doesn't list the details of how XBC accomplishes its great feat, we can assume it creates a small virtual private network between several clients, analyzing packets in real time and forwarding them to the appropriate IP. How do I set it up? The simple and easy setup amazed me. Install the software. Turn on your Xbox. You'll find an XBC interface similar to that of any online gaming network. Start gaming! If you use the software, support its developers. After all, XBConnect only sets you back $14.95. here is the link http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answers...3516799,00.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted September 9, 2003 Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 This has been around forever, along with Gamespy Tunnel. How exactly does XBL cost $100 a year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted September 9, 2003 Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 ...and it sucks because you can only play with a few people at a time (unless you all have really fast connections). I managed to get in a 3 person game that was fairly lag free once. It just wasn't worth the effort. How exactly does XBL cost $100 a year? Good question...two accounts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsappel Posted September 9, 2003 Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 Live account and at least one online game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted September 9, 2003 Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 Originally posted by adamsappel@Sep 8 2003, 11:55 PM Live account and at least one online game? I suppose, but I thought you get some pretty nice games with the Live package these days? I'm not sure where his figure comes from (he says $100 plus). -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted September 9, 2003 Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 I tried XBConnect recently. After an hour and a half of faffing with it and still failing to get it running in any kind of reliable way I felt my ?40 for a years Live plus headset and MotoGP/Whacked/Mechassault demos was money well spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickC Posted September 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 So its not as good as they made it out to be? I have no idea how XBOX Live costs $100 a year either, someone messed up basically. Probably kevin who wrote the acrticle. I just thought I would post it incase people didn't know about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DataTox Posted September 10, 2003 Report Share Posted September 10, 2003 I've tried Xboxconnect a few times and my experience was pretty unpleasant each time. Most of the games were just full of lag (worse than RTCW on its worst days). Great idea though....Xboxconnect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Scorpio Posted September 10, 2003 Report Share Posted September 10, 2003 I've been playing Halo using GameSpy for a while now. Yeah, a lot if not most games are full of lag, but not if you host. There in lines the challenge... It's no fun hosting and winning, since the host has a big advantage - but it's no fun not hosting and losing all nite. I've found that asking people to switch off hosting is a decent compromise. Sometimes I've been able to do 4 vs 4 matches when joining where the lag isn't all that bad. But it can take a long time to have that happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike-D Posted September 13, 2003 Report Share Posted September 13, 2003 Hmm. I wanted to try xbconnect. But I guess I better get XBoxLive right away then. Live sounds really fun although I'd really like to know how the ping/connection quality is when I as a European play with American gamers (when possible, e.g. the Sega sports titles don't allow that). I read quite often that for many games there's still not enough European players to make it fun so a good connection to the US Servers would be important for me. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishepa Posted September 13, 2003 Report Share Posted September 13, 2003 I tried xbconnect for awhile and it was awful. The lag was terrible. Thank goodness for live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted September 15, 2003 Report Share Posted September 15, 2003 Mike, one of the things I really enjoy about Live is the fact that even when I'm not managing to catch the guys here servers feel so international. The last game of Midtown I had involved two other UK guys, a Dutchman, a Canadian, a Frenchman and two Americans, one from each coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted September 15, 2003 Report Share Posted September 15, 2003 a Dutchman, a Canadian, a Frenchman and two Americans, one from each coast. Damn. It sounded like that was building up to a rude joke! :green: Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted September 15, 2003 Report Share Posted September 15, 2003 Damn. It sounded like that was building up to a rude joke! Hehe :green: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike-D Posted September 16, 2003 Report Share Posted September 16, 2003 Mike, one of the things I really enjoy about Live is the fact that even when I'm not managing to catch the guys here servers feel so international. The last game of Midtown I had involved two other UK guys, a Dutchman, a Canadian, a Frenchman and two Americans, one from each coast. Definitely sounds great. Since you didn't mention any slowdowns or lag I assume that gameplay was smooth.I guess I'll have to get live soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Any lag issues would depend on the game. If you were playing RTWC or GR with a host from the other side of the world, you would probably have some issues. The racing games are pretty good though since they don't run on a server/host type of connection, and when there is lag, the other cars/bikes just jump around the screen a bit which doesn't usually interfere with the actual race unless they pop up right in front of you and you crash into them (which could be a good thing in MM3 depending on the mode). Lots of UK players in MotoGP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul h Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Well against what most have said i've seen it running flawlessly, MotoGP against 4 other players was smooth as silk with no problems whatsoever. At the end of the day it's a cheap and cheerfull way to play online like PC owners have been doing for years.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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