My fiance’s birthday is on Wednesday and I’ve been toying with the idea of getting him XBOX Live as his gift.
Any pro’s and con’s? He has 4 games so far that are Live capable.
I understand that it needs to be hooked up to our highspeed modem. Our computer is upstairs in the office. Is there a wireless router we can hook up?
All opinions welcome.
I’ve only had X-Box live myself for a couple of months, but I’ll tell you what I know.
First, what titles does he have that claim to be compatible. As I have recently found the hard way, compatible does not mean ‘can play with others online’. It simply means there has to be some online functionality, which in the case of something like Prince of Persia is limited to telling your friends you are online, or even more egrerious, in the case of Arcade Classics, allows you to post your high scores online (a shame I cannot play Toobin, Gauntlet, or Rampart live with other people). Games like Project Gotham Racing 2, Dance Dance Revolution, Crimson Skies, and Amped 2 are much better about this, in that you can compete against other players live. Your best bet if you ever buy him more games is to check with the clerk how much Live brings to the table.
You do need a high speed modem, either DSL or cable to take advantage of Live. There is an available wireless adapter that is made specifically for the X-Box, if you can find it. I have mine and it works flawlessly (it goes through 2 walls to get to the router) once it is setup.
The only other downside I have is that I use a wireless controller for the X-Box. Unfortunately this prevents me from plugging in the headset adapter/headphones that allows me to speak to other players. I can do this if I want down the road as I have a normal controller, but I’ve gotten spoiled on the wireless. Regardless, you are able to hear the other players speak.
The only other con I have right now is that there are no MMORPGs available for the X-Box (massively multiplayer role playing games). I’m a sucker for the genre, and I’ve been trying to get my wife hooked and this would be the perfect vehicle to do so. I am not willing to spend the $180 to get the PS2 setup to play Final Fantasy XI (which is a crummy game anyway).
By the way, my X-Box live handle is the same as my user name. If you get him setup, feel free to add me to your ‘friends’ list.
I love Xbox Live.
Does your Fiance play Project Gotham 2? If so, there is no better racing experience for the Xbox than jumping in and racing against live humans on courses.
If he has Counter Strike or Rainbow Six 3 those are great online shooters.
Sports games? They can be great fun, although most of the population places the racing and shootign titles I’ve had a great time on NFL Fever and such as well.
The wireless reciever can be purchased if you have a wireless network setup. I couldn’t use it in the room where my Xbox is due to my fridge and furnace being in the way, howwever if you can use it it works nicely.
If he has one of the newer games (like project gotham 2) he probaboly has a coupon for a free 2 months on XBox live. He won’t have voice communication, but he can at least play against others and see if he likes it.
If he starts playing I’m Miles O’Toole. He can add me if he likes.
Huge fan of XBox Live.
Rainbox Six 3 alone makes it worth the $60 a year. Not even to mention Splinter Cell 2.
Microsoft hit a grand slam with with one. It’s easy to set-up, works almost flawlessly (I had to open some UDP ports on my router to get consistent strong voice in RS3) and I’ve found the Live community somewhat mature (you don’t get many 14 year olds that find it amusing to scream curses into their mic).
The biggest problem I have is playing till 2 am on work nights.
Oh, I think you can still pick up the starter kit for $60 which has a year subscription, a headset and some crappy game (Mech-Assault, righ now, I think).
Like BurnMeUp said, there’s a lot of games with 2 month trials. You might want to buy one where you’ll know he’ll enjoy the single player (1st person shooter - Rainbow, 3rd Person Stealth - Splinter Cell 2, Racing - Project Gotham, etc…) so that he can try it and it won’t be a waste if it doesn’t take.
I can’t wait for Halo 2 on Live.