Post by: shanafan on July 21, 2003, 11:27:00 AM
X-Link works more like a MSN Messanger while XBConnect is more like a chatroom. Determine on those factors which you want to prefer.
Post by: josh689 on July 22, 2003, 06:12:00 PM
Post by: jaredkortje on July 22, 2003, 07:02:00 PM
Post by: shanafan on July 22, 2003, 07:43:00 PM
Post by: luther349 on July 23, 2003, 04:15:00 AM
Post by: miggidy on July 23, 2003, 01:33:00 PM
Ha! That's funny.
I think Gamespy's the place for me then
I just got into online gaming yesterday, I tried X-Link and XBConnect for the first time.
X-Link has a crappy interface and I couldn't even figure out how to get a game going.
XBConnec was cool. I hosted a one on one game of Halo and had absolutely no slowdown.
I'm gonna try Gamespy tonight!
Post by: Kejoriv on July 23, 2003, 02:13:00 PM
Post by: AnThRaX on July 23, 2003, 03:49:00 PM
Post by: SniperKilla on July 23, 2003, 07:47:00 PM
xbconnect has gone retail, and eventually will phase out their free version (my prediction atleast)
games that have problems on xbconnect work flawless on xlink, and when Bo-Xlink goes public, i think there will be alot more intrest in xlink....
Post by: AnThRaX on July 23, 2003, 08:05:00 PM
Post by: SniperKilla on July 23, 2003, 11:07:00 PM
Post by: Emerica on July 24, 2003, 01:13:00 AM
Gamespy.
The first to have a functional windows based tunnel. No to very little compression on the tunnel which made for a painfully laggy experience.
To my knowledge the also havent updated the tunnel software since then.
Gamespy does have a nice interface thou, easy for new people, contains a main chat. Thats something gamespy has had down for quite sometime though, they just needed the tunnel.
Overall = Good usability, bad performance, good userbase.
Xbconnect
Xbconnect has been evolving as the time has passed. Originally it was a little bit harder for the average user to get used to , but now since version 2 the interface has become a fair bit more friendly.
The tunnel performace beats gamespy by far, but latley v3+ i havent been able to finish a game with anyone.
The tunnel seems to have less bullet delay but choopier play.
Overall - Decent usability, Decent performace, Good userbase.
XboxLadder
This was a project of my own to see how the tunnel stuff worked.
I managed to get the source of a program called the Xbox Network.
Started to play around and now the Japanese use it most of the time as they cant use thier charaters in Gamspy and they get kicked out of Xbc for not speaking english.
During the times that i tested it, i noticed smoother performace than Xbc yet there was more bullet delay. Quiters didnt usually crash the game either.
The chat was basic, game hosting and joining was fairly simple.
Overall - Decent usability, Good performance, Poor userbase
Xlink Messenger
I finally got to play some games with this app today, i hosted a game of halo a week ago, but hosting a game doesnt give much of idea of how the software is working. I was quite amazed at the games that i did manage to join thou. I havent played a single game of halo on the net that was this smooth. With the smoothness did come bullet delay, but its nothing much to bitch about.
The messenger format seems to be a fair bit confusing to the users who are used to gamespy and xbconnect , but there is usally a learning curve with almost any software. Once you check it out for a few minutes you can get the hang of things.
With the combination of Xlink and boxlink, this is looking to be rather nice.
Headset support before a game and being able to choose your room from the tv, awesome.
WGN mode in Xlink is looking to be my favorite, this mode lists alll of the current games going on and you can join straight from there. So basically you set you xbox to look for games and they will appear as they are hosted.
Overall= Decent usability, Great performance, Decent userbase.
Out of them all i plan to use Xlink most of the time, i cant get enough of the WGN mode
and Boxlink is just a great addition.Keep up the good work to all!
Post by: AnThRaX on July 24, 2003, 10:01:00 PM
Post by: the haunted on July 25, 2003, 08:01:00 PM
| QUOTE (shanafan @ Jul 23 2003, 04:43 AM) |
| Lag depends on the host. When I host on XBC, I get nothing but compliments. |
Host for me. Xbox connect is better than Gamespy tunnel by far, I didnt try that X-link and i dont know where to get it
Post by: Rubadubcubb on July 26, 2003, 04:57:00 AM
Post by: muerte on July 26, 2003, 07:54:00 AM
Post by: BCfosheezy on August 19, 2003, 12:28:00 PM
I did extensive research before choosing which service I wanted to go with for my ONLINE HALO TOURNAMENT.
I just happen to have an extremely fast connection but i have to admit that none of that matters for the other players if they don't have a decent ENOUGH connection. X-Link enables people to play some games with 56k. That's incredible. No other tunnel can do this. I have tested this. While the other two tunnels either cannot start a game or lag out upon game start. X-Link is the only tunnel that will allow 56k users to play. (I wouldn't recommend this since it sucked... but nonetheless demonstrates my point.)
We all know that being able to send at high speeds does not matter if your ping to the host is high. I played a guy (we took turns hosting) with a 70ms ping (depending on who was hosting the other had that ping) which on xbconnect induces quite a bit of bullet lag. (As a matter of fact, on XBC 45-50ms ping is quite hard to pistol with.) We were able to play on X-Link almost like a lan. I say almost because every now and then there was SLIGHT bullet lag or it would momentarily skip, but compared to all the rest the gameplay was phenominal.
I have to vote X-Link hands down and declare this match NO-Contest.
Post by: sulfur on August 22, 2003, 04:25:00 PM
Post by: BCfosheezy on August 23, 2003, 05:12:00 PM
| QUOTE (sulfur @ Aug 22 2003, 07:25 PM) |
| ^ bah. XBC = the best. i went on Xlink today for the 2nd time (1st was like 3 months ago). and well only problem is that there was only 5 halo games total.. XBC is down and only 5 games! and 3 of them were PAL so that the only thing that pissed me off about this, Xlink has the potential to be better, if they did better advertisting... |
or if people like you would just stay in there for a while. It's a group effort. You can't just expect things to happen.
Post by: Smoochie on August 25, 2003, 08:20:00 AM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Jul 24 2003, 08:07 AM) |
| once boxlink drops public, everyone will forget about xbconnect |
LOL yeah right cause I want to take a chance soldering a chip on my x-box or going to some grey market shadey guy and getting him to do it to find out he was busted a week later for illegally copying games on a hard drive.
Face it unless there is a way to get to-xlink on a box without mods then there will always be more people on xbconnect. Mainly because there are more people with unmodded boxes than modded ones.
Post by: Schweeze on August 26, 2003, 12:41:00 PM
you don't have to do it yourself, and you don't have to bring it to some "grey market shadey guy"....
just bring it to someone who has a lot of positive feedback on this forum. trust me, the mod is worth it.
edit: had to add the 'e' into "shadey".. which must be a new word.
Post by: SniperKilla on August 26, 2003, 06:00:00 PM
and xlink is pc side and can work just like xbc.. but better, Bo-Xlink is the xbox program.
Post by: Smoochie on August 27, 2003, 06:50:00 AM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Aug 27 2003, 03:00 AM) |
| ...... why are you even here if you dont have a chip........ and xlink is pc side and can work just like xbc.. but better, Bo-Xlink is the xbox program. |
I am curious about what is happening and which is better. i am interested in Bo-link if I don't have to take the lid off my box and soldier. I am not interested in Modded games. I am interested in good internet play. Maybe if things were laid out better on the x-link page as to set up instructions i might be interested. But I am not going to Beta test or speculate on Bo-link untill it is released.
Chipping to give you better game play = cheating
Chipping to get off the map and Mod the vehicles (ie flying Pumas) is understandable.
Post by: Smoochie on August 28, 2003, 09:12:00 AM
| QUOTE (flat235 @ Aug 25 2003, 10:01 PM) |
| There are at least 4 ways or running unsigned code an xbox without soldering... 2 dont even require you to take the lid off your xbox.. TD |
So explain them I would like to know but so far I have NO idea how it works or what it's advantages. You are still tunneling with a computer right so the only diff is you join games from the x box instead of the computer.
Post by: Ceth on September 05, 2003, 07:01:00 AM
. I love WGN mode, what a great concept! I hope more of the xbconnect community will do the same, xlink needs more players!
Post by: Schweeze on September 05, 2003, 11:31:00 AM
i gotta get my damn satellite connection first.. 56k just wont' cut it.
Post by: SNICK! on September 05, 2003, 11:48:00 AM
and think it kicks ass! although xbconnect is good dont get me wrong but lags quite a bit nice interface though
gamespy - best interface , full of noobs who dont know nothing
x-link - no noobs lag free anmd a really nice interface
and plus i use my isdn on it flawlesly but isunberable on xbconnect and gamespy for some reason
probably xlinks just better
Post by: mvm on September 06, 2003, 08:15:00 AM
Maybe it's because I'm european, and it's easier to find a pal-game on xlink
But I think it's because the variety of games on xlink is much bigger than on XBC (haloconnect).
The waiting is now for the first stand alone xbox aplication.
Post by: Schweeze on September 08, 2003, 10:49:00 AM
can't do anything about it though.. unless i get myself a pringles can antenna to get a wireless connection from my friends house... but that's almost 3 miles away... online gaming isn't looking very good in my future. although, i'm gonna give it a shot.
Post by: King on September 20, 2003, 03:31:00 PM
| QUOTE (flat235 @ Sep 10 2003, 09:36 PM) |
| For example, MM3, Tony hawks and a couple of other games will be just fine with 1500ms pings... Obviously, things like Halo will be awful... Both XLink and XBC support all these games - so give them a go TD |
Has XBC fixed the issues with more than 2 player MM3 and MC2?
Post by: PuddWakkr on September 21, 2003, 06:26:00 PM
My boxlink.ini has nothing in it. I don't know what is supposed to go there. Is there a way to setup my USB keyboard to chat from the box? I think the users will slowly make their way over to Xlink from XBC. I'm not bitching about a free service but there are some improvements that need to be made. Not necessarily with the programs but how they are distributed. XBC walked this complete LAN and Internet noob through the process and I was gaming in 5 min, while I'm still not certain if my XLink is setup properly. The biggest drawback to Xlink is the lack of people. I use these tunnels for System Link games that are not on Live (namely Halo). If I have the option to play on Live I'm there. I try XLink first and there are no games open I'm not gonna sit there for 20 mins and hope someone will join my game or someone will start one up, I'll spend those 20 mins on XBC even with it's extra lag. I'm not trying to bash XLink at all because I have'nt spent any time with it. In fact I wish more people would get on it so I wouldn't have to run downstairs to my computer to get in a game.
^^^ My $0.02 anyway. And I didn't cast a vote either way.
Post by: lookformeb on September 21, 2003, 06:51:00 PM
| QUOTE (u235 @ Sep 7 2003, 04:08 PM) |
| The advantage to satellite is the bandwidth, which was about 768k down and I believe 128k up at the time. The obvious disadvantage is the latency inherent with extra terrestrial communication. |
thats not all that great of bandwidth. my cable got 1.5mbps down and 256kbps up... like 40 a month a think...
Post by: SniperKilla on September 22, 2003, 03:59:00 AM
Post by: jz28 on September 22, 2003, 04:54:00 AM
| QUOTE (PuddWakkr @ Sep 21 2003, 10:26 PM) |
| I've tried to play on Xlink but there are never any players. I tried today and there were 5 halo games and three of those were locked. Also maybe the service is pretty easy to set up but the first thing I do when I get a new piece of software is to read the documentation that was included. The BO-XLink that i got from the usual places had no readme's or .nfo's. I suppose all the info is available online somewhere but it's nice to have that stuff in a nice handy 10kb text file and not on a java based IRC page. My boxlink.ini has nothing in it. I don't know what is supposed to go there. Is there a way to setup my USB keyboard to chat from the box? I think the users will slowly make their way over to Xlink from XBC. I'm not bitching about a free service but there are some improvements that need to be made. Not necessarily with the programs but how they are distributed. XBC walked this complete LAN and Internet noob through the process and I was gaming in 5 min, while I'm still not certain if my XLink is setup properly. The biggest drawback to Xlink is the lack of people. I use these tunnels for System Link games that are not on Live (namely Halo). If I have the option to play on Live I'm there. I try XLink first and there are no games open I'm not gonna sit there for 20 mins and hope someone will join my game or someone will start one up, I'll spend those 20 mins on XBC even with it's extra lag. I'm not trying to bash XLink at all because I have'nt spent any time with it. In fact I wish more people would get on it so I wouldn't have to run downstairs to my computer to get in a game. ^^^ My $0.02 anyway. And I didn't cast a vote either way. |
www.xboxlink.co.uk
Post by: muerte on September 22, 2003, 05:03:00 AM
| QUOTE (PuddWakkr @ Sep 21 2003, 09:26 PM) |
| In fact I wish more people would get on it so I wouldn't have to run downstairs to my computer to get in a game. |
it's called boxlink
Post by: PuddWakkr on September 22, 2003, 05:57:00 AM
| QUOTE (muerte @ Sep 22 2003, 02:03 PM) | ||
it's called boxlink |
Uhh yeah? If you notice my original post it says I've already downloaded boxlink. Then i go on to say how there are no games going so i'm forced to go downstairs to my computer and play xbc.
Post by: jz28 on September 22, 2003, 06:09:00 AM
Or, go into wgn mode and do the same...
it has to start somewhere you know...
Post by: lookformeb on September 25, 2003, 01:57:00 PM
Post by: crashnet2000 on September 29, 2003, 02:00:00 AM
Post by: jz28 on September 29, 2003, 04:14:00 AM
| QUOTE (crashnet2000 @ Sep 29 2003, 06:00 AM) |
| how do i host game and how do i join? i dont understand really how it works. |
um...
go to the website and read...uh...for starters...
www.xboxlink.co.uk
Post by: jz28 on September 29, 2003, 04:15:00 AM
| QUOTE (MaximusBernie @ Sep 23 2003, 06:43 PM) |
Will any of these services ever offer the ability to play games that are only 'live' enabled? Like say ESPN Game Day Football 2004? I'd love to WHOOP on sombodies ass at that!! FOOTBALL!! |
I really dont see it happening.
Post by: unlikely on October 22, 2003, 11:05:00 AM
| QUOTE (jz28 @ Sep 29 2003, 01:15 PM) | ||
|
BEST QUESTION EVAR! And the best part you ask about ESPN "Game Day", seriously, do you even own a XBOX? "Game Day" is a PS2 only game, and ESPN has nothing to do with it.