So how's XBL?

[Plewis]

Since Im not a beta tester:mad:... YET! Is it good, bad, great, incredible? Please tell us!

[Megatron130000]

It's Good.

The games are not that good...Revolt,Fever,Nfl2k3.

I would rather be playing some Unreal Championship...there is some things need worked on..there is some lag now and again...but nothing to major complaint wise.

talking can get old to me...but it is fun playing others around the world and talking a little smack here and there..

I think it will be a success no doubt about it.

just need better games for it.

[xboxfrontier]

Of all the people chosen, we have one weak ass response. We know the games suck, it is beta.

More info on the lag or the lack of. More info on the buddy system, optimatch, quickmatch, voice etc.

Rate live, in whatever scale you like. Not the games.

[shrew king]

give detail on the voice chat, hows that going? is it user friendly?

[Megatron130000]

I try and tell you it was good and you tell me my response is weak...i wasn't giving a hands on preview...jsut said a bit about it..geez.

[Plewis]

you were lucky enough to become a beta tester... can you give us a detailed review because my mouth is watering as is...:p

[Megatron130000]

well I can try to tell you soemthing about it...

Headphones:They wrap behind your head instead of on top..which is strange...and they hurt the back of your ears after a while..it is strange because it is uncomfortable to lay your head back against soemthing with the headphones back there..if you sit upright they are not so bad however.

voice: The voice is very easy to use and very user friendly...it connects to an expansion slot on your controller..on that expansion slot is the mute button and a volume for the voices..the mute button is right above the black and white buttons so it is easy to access while playing..so you can mute on and off with ease...when you mute it only mutes your own voice and noone elses [in case you have to yell some profanities at the tv :p or soemthing like that] it is very clear..you can even hear babies or other people talking...the other peoples tv's and them mashing the buttons...with the volume all the way up...there is no lag from what i can tell...except a little echo..someone will say like "oh man i got jacked" and a little echo will follow behind...very good voice system imo...usually everyone talks not at once so you can understand whats happening most of the time..but there is no way to tell who is talking...people just talk and you don't know really who it is unless you know his voice..but its all good.

masking:each game has a predetermined set of masked voices...for example revolt has "darkmaster,big guy,cartoon,child,robot,etc" , fever would have "linebacker,scoreboard keeper,cheerleader,etc".

most people i have seen doesn't use any masks just use their regular voice...if you don't like how someone sounds you can easily mute them..an example:

i was playing with a 9 year old kid..who has the child mask..and was screaming at the top of his lungs...if you could hear a dog whistle..this is what it would sound line...it was horrid...but thankfully you can just go to users and choose to mute him and problem is solved.

it is pretty cool...you can also hear what you sound like while choosing a voice in revolt at least...that is fun in itself..lol..i spent at least 30 minutes saying stuff in the diferent voices on that screeen..LOL.

I like the voice option alot better when there is more than one or two others playing a game..than a one on one game...it is a little *** to me to just sit there and talk to another dude while playing...very strange..and uncomfortable..LOL...especially if he has some weird voice thing...hahah..so i just choose to go without the headphones on those kinda games.

there..that is a basic rundown of the headphones and voice...i will try to tell you about the other stuff you wanted to know about in the next post.

[Megatron130000]

friend list: you can access your friends list from any game by using start for the most part..it shows all your friends...it will tell you the status of each one:
darkgamer is online playing revolt
fletch is playing nfl 2k3 score is 27-0
betauser is offline

and on and on

your supposed to be able to send them invitations but i havent figured all that out yet..lol...

people will request to be your friend or whatever..and you can accept or decline...kinda cool to know where people are at all times...pretty cool little feature if you ask me.

theres basically nothing more to it than that.

quick matches...are just that...quick matches..they allow you to just jump in a game with whoever is online and you could play against or with...i mostly use this because theres not alot of people right now..so it harder to use optimatch.

optimatch you basically choose what kind of player you want to play against...lower ranked.higher ranked and blah blah...so you can find similar talent to batttle against.

anything else ya want to know ask and i will try to answer..thats basically the outline of it all.

[Plewis]

thanks a lot! Have you had any trouble with people leaving games because they are losing?

[xboxfrontier]

Megatron,
Sorry, I did not mean that to sound as bad as it did. I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a heads up on live. I am assuming by your responses you are happy with live (not necessarily the beta games).

Did it meet or excede your expectations?

Thanks again.:)

[Megatron130000]

I have actually..and others have also...

someone left in fever because i completed a damn third down conversion...but luckily it keeps how many times someone drops..

from what i seen it can tell if you quit on your own or it was a server disconnect...if the player just quits it will get marked under the drop stats..you can challenge people..so you can choose not to challenge someone with alot of drops aka quits..

but it is still annoying....i hope they figure out a real good method of stopping this...

i lost a game 27-0 for my first game and i played all the way through...no way i would quit..but there are those that do and ruin things for others.

[Plewis]

thanks a lot... now go back out there and keep playing:)

[tRuNkZ]

heh.... thats how life is in the ONline gaming world..:eek:

[Megatron130000]

Did it meet or excede your expectations?

That is a tough question to answerr...because I went in not really having expectations...I played pc online and figured it would be like that...and basically is for the most part.

Untill i play Unreal Championship I can't really say it lived up to my expectations..as that is the single game i had in mind when i bought the xbox...i am looking forward to that the most...so when i play that..then i will be able to know if it met my expectation or not.

I am happy with it so far i guess...as i said i didn't really have expectations...I really do not like to talk and all that and it seems the whole thing is soo focused on talking and socializing...i am just a harcore gamer that likes to play against the best...and to me they seem to almost not focus on the gameplay aspect as much as the socializing and communicating..so it turns me off soemwhat...i feel a little guilty if i am listening to the others or talking...

so from that aspect it kinda rubs me the wrong way...as i am not about that socializing junk...but i try and talk and stuff...just isn't me though.

it does bring gaming to a whole new level though...so much different than playing alone against some bots...for the starting foundation of it all...i am pleased...it is fun and has alot of upside..i just hope they focus more on the gameplay than social aspects of it all in the future.

[tRuNkZ]

dude you dont think NFL2k2 is a really good game? whats wrong with talking trash while beating someone?!:confused:

[Megatron130000]

It is a great game...on one player.

so far is is sooooo laggy and most of the people you try and connect with won't connect..

tons of people are having problems with it.

about the talking trash...it isn't so bad if you have like 4 guys at your house all playing and like getting into it...but when you are playing against one person you don't know..for 4 quarters....to me it's uncomfortable..

i didn't like it one bit....without the voice though it is fun.

bt even so...your basically still playing against the computer..i mean you can only control one guy...i would rather see like each player be a postion...i be a quarterback,others be the receivers and running backs...that would kickasss.

i kinda like the single experince of nfl 2k3 better than the online so far. just my opinion.

some of us are starting some football leagues and stuff so maybe that will spice it up.

[Megatron130000]

None of the other games are laggy i should add...don't want to make it sound like xbox live is laggy...it is soemthing to do with sega nfl 2k3..

i think cuz it wasn't supposed to be a beta test game...

just to clear that up..fever and revolt run exxcellent!

[Plewis]

one more thing... if i have a friend over who hasnt bought an xbox live account or anything can he play with me on the same xbox? from the video that just came out I get the feeling you cant:(

[Megatron130000]

Yes...because i played two people in fever..

each one controlled a linebacker..and one would be the qb and the other a running back.

i played them both.

but obviously both can't here the voice if both users are using voice.

i can't say exactly how it works..because i am not the one who did it..but i did play against them.

also when signing onto fever...it has a guest slot..

but i think it is the only game you can do that with at the moment.

[Megatron130000]

My bad...NFL2k3 is the one with a guest slot..not fever.

fever you log into xbox live with an account...and repeat with each controller..

so maybe the other guy needs an account also...

i am not sure...i have never tried it so can't be 100 percent.

[xboxfrontier]

Thanks again Megatron.

[Plewis]

yeah you have been quite a big help thank you:)