My Xbox Live rant.

I'm getting a little tired of the Xbox Lives performance lately. Hardly any games EVER support the full amount of players they say they can. Games like Ghost Recon and Unreal rarely have full games due to lag and 90% of the players inability to host mass amounts of people. Hell, Clone Wars is 8 players and that runs like fucking dial up. I'm beginning to wonder why we pay money at all when we do all the hosting. SOCOM is FREE and it has TONS of 16 player games. I guess for $50 a year I can take it but anymore and Mircosoft can EAT ME!

It is fun though. Capcom vs SNK2 and PSO are good I guess. All the games do have fun to be had but not with the large multiplayer games I have hoped for. Even Moto GP has 16 players! I guess I understand that its not really bandwidth taxing but stil..

I'm just pissed lately that when I crave a 10-16 player game its just impossible to find or even attempt to host. Damn you Sony and your working 16 player SOCOM. Too bad thats a fucking mess with all the cheaters and bugs. ARGH!

Hopefully Wolfenstein will work better when it arrives next week. I hope for at LEAST 8 player games to work well. Team based games with 2 on 2 just arent as cool.

I haven't played Ghost Recon online yet, but offline it's already a prety herky-jerky affair. I know some people who swear by it, but I can't say I see the appeal.

CvS2 isn't perfect - I lose an awful lot of cancels into the aether. But later at night it's great, especially if you're playing someone nearby.

PSO is almost flawless - no slowdown or anything, just the occasional player warping around the screen or seemingly fighting nothing. But that doesn't have any bearing on your game. I have yet to be dropped or fsoded or anything else like that.

NFL and NBA 2K3 have some lag to them, which sucks, but it's not killer or anything.

Unreal is a mess with alot of players, but I haven't played a great deal so maybe I've just tried it at bad times.

Moto GP is flawless as near as I can tell. I've only played the demo, but never had any problems.

I played the Whacked demo once, thought it was completely stupid and never tried it again. But while I was on, it ran just fine.

Mech Assault I've only played offline, and I haven't played any of the other Live offerings. But all in all, I consider Live money well spent, as long as players are monitored and standards/game integrity (ie., no haXXX0rz) maintained.

Plus, the friends thing is really cool. I just wish certain games (*coughPSOcoughcough*) did a better job of that feature...

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Originally posted by EvilMog007
I'm beginning to wonder why we pay money at all when we do all the hosting.

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you feel for MS MASTER PLAN!!!!!1111111111111

its almost as good as Jeremys master plan but MS's makes money

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Originally posted by Shin Johnpv
its almost as good as Jeremys master plan but MS's makes money

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Yeah, Atari tried Jeremy's with the Jaguar, but it didn't really work out for them.

I've played a few hundred MechAssault matches and the majority played well. During peak hours it can get a little laggy but I've managed to play lag-free 8 player games during that time. People usually get dropped from a game between the player setup and the start of the game but it's not that bad. I got LIVE as a gift but I think itw as well worth it.

Xbox Live if a joke without dedicated gaming servers, and MS took them down for good. Now it's all peer-to-peer, and peer-to-peer really sucks for games with more than 4 - 6 people, which makes games like Unreal and Wolfenstein sort of pointless.

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Originally posted by Mfkzt
Xbox Live if a joke without dedicated gaming servers, and MS took them down for good. Now it's all peer-to-peer, and peer-to-peer really sucks for games with more than 4 - 6 people, which makes games like Unreal and Wolfenstein sort of pointless.

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How the hell did I miss this happening? So you suckers are paying for a service (and sometimes fees on top of that) for something that isn't anything more than a matching service? Nice.

Yup. Before the Beta test started last year, grumblings were going on about XBL being primarily a P2P service. A lot of doomsayers moaned about it being the downfall of the service. Then things went hush-hush about it for some reason.

Now that I think about it, I gotta wonder if that's one of the reasons MS went broadband only for the Xbox. If you force the customer to host the games rather than via your servers, the hosts are going to need a fat pipe to support enough people to make it fun. That, and you need a fat pipe for the voice communication.

When it works, XBL is absolutely awesome. When it doesn't, well, it sucks compared to, say, SegaNet on a 56K line.

i still cant believe they make people pay for a P2P service

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Originally posted by EvilMog007
Ghost Recon... Unreal... Wolfenstein

I'm beginning to wonder why we pay money at all when we do all the hosting.

All the games do have fun to be had but not with the large multiplayer games I have hoped for.

I'm just pissed lately that when I crave a 10-16 player game its just impossible to find or even attempt to host.

I hope for at LEAST 8 player games to work well. Team based games with 2 on 2 just arent as cool.

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There's this thing that does games called a PC. You're using it to browse TNL. You should really check it out, considering all of the things you don't like about Xbox Live are good (and free) on the PC.

if they took out the hosting (on MS's end) they should at the least cut the subscription price. because in my eyes the $50 covered both the match making and server costs. you cut half of the service the price should be cut as well.

and omfg.....dont ask people here to play games on pc. they're all cheap when it comes to pc's but will spend the money religiously when it comes to new game consols and games.

The maps in Unreal simply aren't big enough for 16P matches -- 8 tends to be ideal. To even include the option for that many players was a serious oversight. 16 people hopping around in Gael? Give me a break.

That said, it is disheartening to see XBL devolve into a P2P service.

that sucks. maybe they should kick all the slow cable and dsl users off. they're slowing the games down!! t1+ all teh way!!!1

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Originally posted by Delta
that sucks. maybe they should kick all the slow cable and dsl users off. they're slowing the games down!! t1+ all teh way!!!1

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The T1+ explains the volume of nonsense you are able to dish out on a daily basis.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
The T1+ explains the volume of nonsense you are able to dish out on a daily basis.

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You can't imagine how hilarious that sounds coming out of you :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Originally posted by Andy
You can't imagine how hilarious that sounds coming out of you :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Bite me, n00b. :p

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Originally posted by Shin Johnpv
i still cant believe they make people pay for a P2P service

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I still can't believe that people pay for a P2P service. As PT Barnum said...

I really dont mind paying $50 a year for the service. The friend thing is worth it alone. You always know when/who/where everyone is online. But yes, Mech Assualt DOES run ratehr well. I did forget that one in my rant. I really didnt like that game online anyways.

About PC gaming. I do it every now and then but most games lately are so damn harware taxing. Plus all the freaking time you waste installing them and setting them up. Then come the patches and downloads every other week. I have had some really badass game though in Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor. 32+ matches running well is SWEET!

I enjoy console gaming because I can just turn the damn thing on quick, sit in front of a tv and the talk to friends. Plus I think the controller evens things out more. Don't waste your time moaning about mouse and KB to me, I know its better but I dont need to hear that every time someone tries to point out how much better PC gaming is.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
How the hell did I miss this happening? So you suckers are paying for a service (and sometimes fees on top of that) for something that isn't anything more than a matching service? Nice.

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Well, I haven't had any of the lag trouble all the doomsayers describe (outside of SNK vs Capcom 2) and am pretty happy with the service.

It sure beats the hell out of playing online on the PS2 and the pathetic joke that is the GC modem.

with all the problems with xbox live, i am not going to be surprised at all at the drop in subscriptions after the initial subscriptions run out. when is that going to be? november? of course, ms won't release this info, but it'll be bad. real bad.

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Originally posted by Shin Johnpv
i still cant believe they make people pay for a P2P service

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People are paying $9 a month for a P2P matchmaking service called Phantasy Star Online, so is it really surprising that people will pay $50 a year to play more than 1 game?

The onlt two games i have for live are Capcon/Snk 2 and
NHL 2K3. CVS 2 gives me headaches during peak hours, but at night, its great. NHL always runs very smoothly. I don't like having to pay 50 buccks for the service, but when CVS 2 came out, I had no choice. I think its worth it. What I don't understand is why anyone would even waste the time or money playing first person shooters on live though. With =out mouse/keyboard control , its a joke. Plus Pc's run these games better and you can have more people on servers with the PC.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
How the hell did I miss this happening? So you suckers are paying for a service (and sometimes fees on top of that) for something that isn't anything more than a matching service? Nice.

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i have nothing to add.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
The T1+ explains the volume of nonsense you are able to dish out on a daily basis.

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:D

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Originally posted by conrooks
What I don't understand is why anyone would even waste the time or money playing first person shooters on live though. With =out mouse/keyboard control , its a joke.

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Well, at least everyone's on a level playing field. I used to feel the same way about FPS's and controllers - until I played Halo. I was suprised to find that the game played very well with one, and I wasn't constantly wishing for a key/mouse setup. Wolfenstein should be fun, and of course Halo 2.......

As far as XBL being a rip off ( cause it's only P2P ) well they used to have their own servers for UC, even if they currently don't ( haven't played it in awhile ) we know they at least CAN do this. My favorite Live title is still Moto GP, and personally I don't care HOW the game is connecting - it IS connecting and playing 16 player games with ease, 95% of the time for me. Some of these problems people are having might be because of their internet connections/geographical location I'm thinking..........

Well, some of the issues are internet/geographical location issues, but there's gotta be some shitty network coding in some of these games. It's pretty bad when a game by a non-MS studio (THQ/MotoGP), which had it's online code jammed into an existing code base in less than 2 months, runs smoother with 16 people than MechAssault does with 6. To date, MotoGP has had the least hiccups, the best Live lobby, and the best Live interface. That pretty much blows.

As to all the "HahHAH! You're paying for P2P" people, XBL is more than P2P. Heck, I would have paid a few bucks for the Kola Cell download for Splinter Cell. Simple matter is, if MS ran everything across servers, $50 would be a monthly fee, not yearly. That said, the performance of said P2P hasn't been that great, IMO. I'm sure my ISP has something to do with many of my connectivity issues, but jeez...No lag my ass.

Like I said, when it works, it's great. XBL has a lot of potential. It remains to be seen if MS will actually take it to the next level (no pun intended. Well, maybe a little).

I don't want to seem like a dick, but to improve the service you guys should consider sending an email to their customer service department so that know what to fix and such.

Dick. :p Actually, I did just that during the beta and after some of the nastier times I had in MechAssault. Nothing recent, mind you, but other than PSO, I haven't been on much of late. (And I haven't been on much in PSO either. Damned work!)

Live has its issues, no doubt. Still, I think I'll keep my subscription for a bit...

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Originally posted by Shin Johnpv
i still cant believe they make people pay for a P2P service

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Originally posted by Delta
with all the problems with xbox live, i am not going to be surprised at all at the drop in subscriptions after the initial subscriptions run out. when is that going to be? november? of course, ms won't release this info, but it'll be bad. real bad.

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Given that I've never heard anyone say they regret getting it, I doubt it. Given that Halo 2 will be out right after that, I really doubt it.

Say what you want about "having" to host games, it's still the only place with a legit online fighter, PSO with voice chat (or anything with voice chat, for that matter), and it'll be the only place with online Halo.

They'll be just fine.

Doesn't SOCOM have voice chat?

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Originally posted by StriderKyo
Given that I've never heard anyone say they regret getting it, I doubt it. Given that Halo 2 will be out right after that, I really doubt it.

Say what you want about "having" to host games, it's still the only place with a legit online fighter, PSO with voice chat (or anything with voice chat, for that matter), and it'll be the only place with online Halo.

They'll be just fine.

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Actually the PC will have online Halo before the Xbox does and Halo is still an overrated FPS

i think some peoples well at least mine anyway point is that MS is chargeing you Yearly for the same thing that Sony and Nintendo provide for free

they said the reason for the fee was to host servers and now they arent doing that and STILL charging you for it

its like a mechanic having you come into the shop and telling you what to do to your car while he sits and watches you do all the work and then charges you 500 bucks in labor

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Originally posted by MVS
Doesn't SOCOM have voice chat?

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yes it does

The PC has voice chat, too.

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Originally posted by MVS
Doesn't SOCOM have voice chat?

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Yes it does. My bad. I shouldn't post at 4:30 am after drinking.

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[i]Originally posted by Shin Johnpv
Actually the PC will have online Halo before the Xbox does

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Well, if you wanna get picky, the Xbox has had online Halo for a while now.

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and Halo is still an overrated FPS

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Nobody who ever liked Turok: Evolution is allowed to say that.

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i think some peoples well at least mine anyway point is that MS is chargeing you Yearly for the same thing that Sony and Nintendo provide for free

they said the reason for the fee was to host servers and now they arent doing that and STILL charging you for it

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All true, and all wack. But I can still play online Street Fighter and YOU KNOW YOU WISH YOU COULD, KEN BOY!!! Ha. Ha. Get a frickin' secured credit card already.

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Originally posted by Mzo
The PC has voice chat, too.

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Yes it does. My bad. I shouldn't post at 4:30 am after drinking.

Live's still a hell of alot of fun, though.

go to txb and there are A LOT of people there that are disappointed. same with ga. halo 2 won't be out until march of 2004 at the earliest. a lof ot people's subscriptions end in november.

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Originally posted by Delta
go to txb and there are A LOT of people there that are disappointed. same with ga. halo 2 won't be out until march of 2004 at the earliest. a lof ot people's subscriptions end in november.

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TNL rule #1: If you're going to hate everything, you have to at least be funny about it. Otherwise you're just a knob.

i don't personally hate it. i don't have it. i'm just letting yo know what i've heard...

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Originally posted by StriderKyo
Well, if you wanna get picky, the Xbox has had online Halo for a while now.

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this is true but i meant in an official sorta way

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Nobody who ever liked Turok: Evolution is allowed to say that.

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Hey i dont proclaim Turok Evolution as the second coming of christ in FPS form though, it has its flaws but i enjoy the weapons in it and thats whats always drawn me to the turok series, yes the multiplayer sucks ass, as does the flying levels but i had fun with the FPS stages, alot of them had better level design than halos run up the level now run down it now back again craptacular design

honestly IMHO everything that was done in Halo was done Better in Half Life (best FPS EVER!) and Tribes

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All true, and all wack. But I can still play online Street Fighter and YOU KNOW YOU WISH YOU COULD, KEN BOY!!! Ha. Ha. Get a frickin' secured credit card already.

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well if my freaking router would work id be playing Street Fighter Alpha 2 online on my PC, which reminds me i need to get a new router one of these days ;)

Dude...you still have not got a router?

I smell fear on you. Fear of getting owned at Capcom games by me.

It stinks. :(

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Originally posted by MVS
Dude...you still have not got a router?

I smell fear on you. Fear of getting owned at Capcom games by me.

It stinks. :(

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nahhhh its called being lazy

cause i dont feel like reconfiguring another router

plus theyre getting cheaper but im still waiting a bit for the price to come down a little bit more

then ill apply the ownage in some SFA2

ill have to reinstall Half Life too so you can kick my ass in Counter Strike

After all my griping I really didnt say that I do actually like the service most of the time. I'm just disappointed. I WILL sign on for another year. But if its more than $50 a year I may have to think about it.


And for the record, I think Halo is better than Halflife.
Halflife=#2.


Dont bother to flame about how much you think Halo sucks. I can at least understand why people dont like it.

MFktz

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People are paying $9 a month for a P2P matchmaking service called Phantasy Star Online, so is it really surprising that people will pay $50 a year to play more than 1 game?

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Well 50 dollars is the initial fee for xblive.....who knows what MS will do when the 1st year subcribers expire they'll probably make em pay per month then or buy some sort of subscription time cards like for online pc games. Guess we juss gonna have to wait till november and see what Bill Gates pulls out of his hat.

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Originally posted by Delta
i don't personally hate it. i don't have it. i'm just letting yo know what i've heard...

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So you're arguing about the quality of service for a product you don't even own with people who do own it? :rolleyes:

I had the worst pull today in CvS2. I was playing this guy who was using EO. First fight I won, but with only about 1/2 energy left on my last character. The second fight, I knew exactly what his pattern was, and made him a popsicle using Hibiki. Bastard pulled. :mad:

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Originally posted by Melf
So you're arguing about the quality of service for a product you don't even own with people who do own it? :rolleyes:

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But the reviews were good, so he must think it's a great game and should have ran out and purchased it. :jest:

I like XBL, in spite of all the flaws, and can't wait until it hits it's stride.

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So you're arguing about the quality of service for a product you don't even own with people who do own it?

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yes i am. let me tell you why. i was thinking about getting it but then sooooo many people told me that it wasn't worth the money. told me to wait 2 or 3 years until there are actually some games to play. told me to wait until they get the horrible lag problem fixed. told me to wait until the price dropped because $50 just wasn't worth it. so that is what i am doing. i am waiting...

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Originally posted by Schlep
I had the worst pull today in CvS2. I was playing this guy who was using EO. First fight I won, but with only about 1/2 energy left on my last character. The second fight, I knew exactly what his pattern was, and made him a popsicle using Hibiki. Bastard pulled. :mad:

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Don't you ever go to sleep? And what is with that UGLY avatar?

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Originally posted by Delta
yes i am. let me tell you why. i was thinking about getting it but then sooooo many people told me that it wasn't worth the money. told me to wait 2 or 3 years until there are actually some games to play. told me to wait until they get the horrible lag problem fixed. told me to wait until the price dropped because $50 just wasn't worth it. so that is what i am doing. i am waiting...

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Who told you this stuff? Sony?

It's worth the money.

Have fun waiting Delta. Despite the problems its still fun. And the lag is only some games, some times. Just like anything else online.



FUCKING Cap vs SNK pullers!! FUCKERS! :D

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Originally posted by EvilMog007
About PC gaming. I do it every now and then but most games lately are so damn harware taxing. Plus all the freaking time you waste installing them and setting them up. Then come the patches and downloads every other week. I have had some really badass game though in Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor. 32+ matches running well is SWEET!

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Dude, what games are you playing? Installing is like..

"Do you want to continue with the installation?" *Click Yes*
"What folder?" *Find Folder, Click Yes*
"Finished Installation." *Click Okay*

When you get online, patches automatically download and then install. All you have to do is go eat a sandwhich or something and then you are ready to go.

My friends and I usually got to a place called ping-time where you pay about ~$15 for 7+ hours of playtime on high-end computers with every newly released (and older popular games) all connected through a LAN. You can usually get everyone in the room to play one game, last time we got about 20 people playing Soldier of Fortune 2.

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Originally posted by Valgar
Dude, what games are you playing? Installing is like..

"Do you want to continue with the installation?" *Click Yes*
"What folder?" *Find Folder, Click Yes*
"Finished Installation." *Click Okay*

When you get online, patches automatically download and then install. All you have to do is go eat a sandwhich or something and then you are ready to go.

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remember, this is a CONSOLE message board, and because of such most will spout out dumb shit about pc gaming. its just the way it is.

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Originally posted by Delta
yes i am. let me tell you why. i was thinking about getting it but then sooooo many people told me that it wasn't worth the money. told me to wait 2 or 3 years until there are actually some games to play. told me to wait until they get the horrible lag problem fixed. told me to wait until the price dropped because $50 just wasn't worth it. so that is what i am doing. i am waiting...

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You are going to be waiting forever if you want perfect online play. Does it lag sometimes? Yes. Could there be more games to play? Yes. However, the service is more than worth it. New games are coming out all the time.

The only "horrible lag" I've seen is on CVSNK2 and sometimes UC. PSO, Mech Assault, MotoGP all play great. Anyone who told you to wait 2 or 3 years is talking out their ass.

Consider your choices:

On the PS2 quality is not consistent at all either. There are much fewer games to play, some allow broadband only, and others charge you (to the dismay of many anti-Live gamers).

...or you could go with the GC modem and play...........




...PSO. Wait! There are some LAN games coming at the end of this year! :rolleyes:

I like the idea of any SF online... I wish I had DSL so I could try it. Maybe once this new job starts paying the big bucks (*snicker, laugh*) I'll do it. Own all your asses with Zangief. At least have fun trying.

Any game that can be played on XBL or on a PC (UT, Ghost Recon) sucks on Live, though. I think they should concentrate on titles that are generally better on consoles in the first place (fighters, sports games, party games, etc.)

They should have some free cheapie games to play whenever, like Yahoo has Literati and Pool and shit. That'd be awesome.

yeah xbox live sucks. i will never get it. maybe ms will get it right next time with the xbox2...hopefully ;)

but i doubt it

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Originally posted by Delta
yeah xbox live sucks. i will never get it.

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And yet you've never played it?

Congratulations: a tool of the month is you.

i watched my friend play. it blew.

That's like watching your friend read a book and saying the book sucks monkey balls.

yeah that is true. i'd watch for facial expressions and if the facial expressions said they sucked, then i would derive that the book sucked. great example. thanks. :)

Enough with the fucking smilies dude. Although they are the highlight of your posts, well, aside from the ending of them.

:):);):)

:rolleyes:

uhhh...thanks for sharing. a little too late though

No, your post was still just as stupid 24 hours later.

but it took you too long to reply. that's all. no more, no less...

Fucking lame...

On Topic: i was playing Wolfenstein this eveing and I actually had some good conections on a few 16 player games. Smaller games (under 8 players) tend to be okay. Any more than that and half the time I don't know if it's the server or my connection that is to blame for lag (I use Cablevision and have a 4 port router and my connection tends to get a little wonky.) Also I occasionally get dropped or have to reconnect to XBOX Live again. I do enjoy the game though and I think I got my money's worth but I constantly have to search for that elusive lag free game.

I played a nice 16 player match on Wolfenstein too, I think it's all about the server really. Hopefully as more people around here pick up this awesome title we'll have more opportunities for lag free/16 player games.