Xbox LAN Party - Geeks Gone Wild!

[levelzero]

Over the weekend, I hosted a four Xbox / 5 man LAN party at my firm's office. The system link feature is one of the most under-rated features on the Xbox. If you have never experienced a Xbox LAN 'get-together', I highly recommend it. Games played included Serious Sam (makes a nice warm up game), Ghost Recon Island Thunder, and Rainbow Six 3 (which is a fantastic game!). The training room was a perfect location due to the sound system and the Electrohome projector mounted on the ceiling. Also, it is pitch black in there with the blinds closed. Further, I procured two Dell MP3100 projectors and my Dell flat panel LCD monitor. Here is a pic of the room and our setup.

Room Setup

It is difficult to understand the setup from that picture, so I added some quick overlay arrows to try and help explain the layout. Hope it helps.

Room Setup with Map

The two MP3100 projectors were pointed at the walls. The Electrohome has a retractable screen from the ceiling. And I had my Xbox connected to the LCD. These pics are taken with a flash, it was black as night in there to us.

Room Setup from front

Rear shot of the room with the flash on.

The camera didn't want to focus in the dark, so the quality is a little off.

Rear shot of the room with no flash.

Here are a few close ups of my Xbox connected to my Dell LCD flat panel. Halo looks stellar on this by the way.

Xbox LCD 1
Xbox LCD 2

The Electrohome 8500 does one hell of a job! This picture does not due this justice.

Electrohome 8500 no flash

Electrohome 8500 unit.

Just a few more shots from the front of the room

Front Picture flash

Front Picture no flash

My kid brother gaming the day away.

This a shot of the Dell MP3100 projector on the wall. Again, the quality and size does not come out in the pics.

Dell 3100 on wall

Dell 3100 unit

That was the most fun playing games I had experienced in a very long time. All you need to do this is a HUB, some patch cables, some Xboxs, games and friends. Thanks for looking!

[Chaotic]

Very sweet.

What xbox to VGA adapter are you using?

I need to get one myself and i was concerned about the resolution.

What are the spec?

[levelzero]

I couldn't recommend this product enough. It is well worth the price. It is a great VGA adapter.

http://www.x2vga.com/

[BinaryXtreme]

I think this is it. Ok, question. You can hook up your pc and XBOX to your monitor for better resolution when gaming without having to disconnect the cable each time from your monitor? I've seen these but never bought it because each time I want to use my pc I would have to disconnect the cable from my monitor that goes to the pc and plug it into my XBOX. Making sense? Essentially, I can get this, hook my XBOX up to my monitor, when I'm done playing on the XBOX, click a switch, and be back to viewing my pc images, correct? No disconnecting any cables?

[Chaotic]

Originally posted by levelzero
I couldn't recommend this product enough. It is well worth the price. It is a great VGA adapter.

http://www.x2vga.com/

Sweet that's the one i looked at last time.

So now i know it's good.

Thanks!

[levelzero]

Originally posted by BinaryXtreme
I can get this, hook my XBOX up to my monitor, when I'm done playing on the XBOX, click a switch, and be back to viewing my pc images, correct? No disconnecting any cables?

Yes...and no. When you purchase the Xvga2, they will ship with it a free VGA switcher. That will allow you to switch back and forth between a PC and an Xbox without moving around cables.

My setup is different. I have a TV and a LCD hooked to my Xbox at the same time with this. If the wife is watching TV, I just turn the Xvga2 on and play on the LCD. If I have access to the TV, I turn it off (toss a dip switch as well) and the video shoots over to the TV.

[Salmonaitor]

I was half expecting to see your vacation shots next! Man, looks like some wild party...you rally know how to get "wild" don't you?

[levelzero]

Originally posted by Salmonaitor
I was half expecting to see your vacation shots next! Man, looks like some wild party...you rally know how to get "wild" don't you?

What do you expect? We are all married nerds.......

[BinaryXtreme]

Thanks for the info. Gonna buy this asap.

[Snoop E]

very sweet setup u got there zero i wish i could get one together with my friends but we wont have those screens we will probaly be playing on 19" RCA's

[skorp]

Awsome setup...


My friends and I had a LAN party recently... But too bad I didnt take any pics... Next time I will..


Nice party.... very nice!

[dances with broom sticks]

Im in a jealous awe right now....

I have never had a lan game... Well not exactly true, four of us once lanned two xboxs for 2 vs 2 halo, but that hardly counts

[nG-Punisher]

Now that is a LAN Party

[Hero]

man i dig your set up!

the biggest lan party ive been to was three xbox, the TV's were crappy: Two 29 inch tv and one 19 inch i think ..with like 9 people..it was super dooper fun though.

even two xbox's at my parents place with like 7-8 people gets crazy.

all you needed at your lan party was some chips, soda and happy juice

[FragMaster B]

There's nothing like a nerd LAN party. I used to do that all the time when xbox first came out. I miss those days of Halo CTF super carnage... snif snif...

[J Dub]

That's pretty awesome man.

I've only experienced one LAN party, and it was only with 2 XBoxes. We had 8 people playing system-link Halo. So much fun.

[levelzero]

If you haven't experienced system-link Rainbow Six three. Go grab a few buddies, hit the local blockbuster, and hook this up.

Rainbow Six three was just soooo much fun over the system-link. It is a steller game, I can't give it enough praise.

I only wish HALO had co-op system-link. Hell, I would buy a second Xbox for the wife if Halo had system-link co-op

[Xebec]

We have two methods of Xbox lan parties. In the summer time, we all bring LCD projectors (4 of us) over to my house and project them on the outside of my house at night (it is a traffic stopper). During the colder months we go over to one of the guys basement and project the screens on the basement walls.

[m4oH]

My friends and I do a 12 (6 on 6) Halo "Tournament". About once a month. I'll take a pic next time. I think your set up is better though.!

[l Maximus l]

Every other week I attend a 16 man Halo match. There are three Projectors that project on screens and there is one HDTV. It's pretty sick...though, I prefer playing on the HDTV because when you grab an energy pack when playing on a projector, all you see is a blinding white blur. The res is always better on an HDTV sporting Component inputs.

Good stuff, man...nice work