Xbox network: Difference between revisions

Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. It went online on November 15, 2002 and allows players to play games with or against other Xbox Live players from around the world. Over 100 Xbox games are Xbox Live Enabled; all Xbox 360 games are at least Xbox Live Aware.

Xbox Live provides, as standard, voice communications (through a headset bundled in the starter pack or available separately), and a game-independent "Friends list" of online associates. Players may choose, on compatible games, to be alerted when a friend is online or has sent them a message, even if the game they are playing at the time does not support internet play itself. These games are known as "Live Aware". A common concern of first time users is security of their personal card. Your credit/debit card is safe; there are millions of Xbox Live gamers, and there has not been a single report of identity theft.

Unlike other online multiplayer systems (including those used on the PC and PlayStation 2), Xbox Live is highly centralized. This means that while game companies supply the networking code and gameplay, Microsoft provides the server bandwidth and user frontend; this, in turn, removes much of the financial burden from game developers, adding incentive to add multiplayer modes to games. This system also means that instead of paying developer firms for access to individual games, users need to pay only one yearly fee (currently 50USD or 40GBP) for most games. Also, because Xbox Live is broadband-only, it is much less susceptible to network lag. While some third-party services for online play also exist, they are unsupported by Microsoft.

Centralization does have its downsides, however. On the PC, for example, few games charge a separate fee to play online. Players pay monthly fees for massively multiplayer online games (regardless of the platform), which, on Xbox Live, translates to paying in addition to the yearly fee, such as Phantasy Star Online's 9USD a month. The centralized requirement of Xbox Live was also a reason why Electronic Arts was reluctant to use the service. However, Electronic Arts finally released its first Xbox Live title in 2004: NCAA Football 2004.

At the Game Developers Conference in March 2004, Microsoft announced plans to make newer versions of Windows support Xbox Live, thereby opening the service to computer gamers.

Xbox Live received a major boost in May 2004 when Electronic Arts announced it would support the service for the first time (the company had formerly only supported the PlayStation 2's online capabilities) — with the concession, however, that EA's own servers could be used instead of the standard servers maintained by Microsoft for other Xbox Live titles. Many users in Europe have complained about the performance of EA's servers, however, particularly on the game Burnout 3, questioning the logic of providing a central service only to decentralise servers for certain titles.

With the release of Halo 2, Xbox Live gained status as a significant killer app. Bungie's website now hosts statistics for every Live Halo 2 game a player has been involved in, including a graphical summary of the key events in the match. These statistics are also available as RSS news feeds.

On November 4, 2004, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Arcade. A free installation disk (available by mail order from Microsoft, and frequently included with Official Xbox Magazine) allows the player to demo various comparatively simple games, and download them for a fee.

Microsoft has also revealed an Xbox Live webcam, for video chat. The webcam has been exclusively released in Japan, due to high Internet speeds and it carries a price tag of 6800 yen (roughly $60). (Official Xbox Magazine — March 2005 — Pg. 26)

Xbox Live is currently in its third generation with the next due to be part of the Xbox 360.

On October 24th 2005, Xbox Live went offline for 24 hours to prepare for the launch of the Xbox 360 and all of its new Live Enabled features. In addition the Xbox Live upgrades there were also changes made to Microsoft's [Xbox.com] website, which received a redesign after it was taken offline. The upgrades were performed to integrate Xbox Live, the Xbox website and the Xbox forums.

With the launch of the Xbox 360, Xbox Live will go through a major change. The most notable change is two forms of subscriptions called Silver (the default, free service, only allowing online game play for selected weekends) and Gold (requiring a one year subscription fee of USD 50 or GBP 30 which allows online game play).

Note that some of the below details are based on speculation, and remain unconfirmed by Microsoft.

• Universal features (1) also available offline
  • Intermittent free weekend multiplayer gameplay for Xbox Live Silver members
  • Access to MMOs (additional fees may apply)
  • Avatar (called 'Gamer Tile') for your gamer profile (1)
  • Motto for your gamer profile (1)
  • Option to change gamer profile name
  • Personalized look for the Xbox system guide (1)
  • Offline achievements (1)
  • Online achievements
  • Access to other players' gamer cards via Live
  • Cumulative gamer score (1)
  • Location/language profile (1)
  • Reputation
  • Recent players list
  • Free and premium download game content
  • Free and premium downloadable movies, music, TV
  • Downloadable demos/trailers
  • Microtransactions
  • Custom playlist in every game (1)
  • Communicate with voice, video (in Japan), or text

• Gold Service Features
  • Seamless transition of Xbox Live account from Xbox to Xbox 360 (Requires you use a .net passport to transfer. Refer to [1])
  • Multiplayer online gameplay
  • Enhanced matchmaking using cumulative gamer score, reputation, location/language profile and skill level.
  • Gameplay style profile (casual, competitive, etc.)
  • A real-world "perks card" known as the "Xbox Live Diamond Card". The card is printed with the gamertag of the owner, and is purported to grant discounts and other benefits at various retailers. Retailers listed by Microsoft include Ticketmaster, Cambridge Soundworks, McDonald's and Timberland. [2]

A webcam has been unveiled with the Xbox 360 system, to support the video messaging described above. Unlike the first iteration of Xbox Live, the Live system will be built into the Xbox at a low level; friends lists, messages, and chat will be accessible at all times (during games, movies, music and any other time the Xbox is switched on).

Trueskill On the Xbox 360 involves the user playing ranked games against players found by an algorithm (takes into account your skill level, uncertainty of skill), your location, language, and gamerzone (one of four sets of guidelines for users to play by). Custom matches can be found be either picking quickmatch, Optimatch or by joining a friend's game. Note: Custom matches can never be ranked.

Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming service contains automated security checks which ban users suspected of modchip use. At logon time, Xbox live conducts a check of the currently running BIOS. If it differs in any way from the original BIOS, that particular Xbox (which is uniquely identified by a code in the motherboard's onboard ROM) is banned from the service. Some modchips (notably the very popular Xecuter line) include a manual switch which can be attached to the exterior of the case and used to switch the modchip on and off. When switched off, the Xbox will boot the original BIOS and dashboard, and allow the use of Xbox live with an original game as if no modchip were present at all. Further to this, newer custom 'unofficial' BIOS releases, including those from Team Xecuter, sport a "Live Blocking" feature which counters Microsoft's extensive system checks during logon by preventing inadvertent connection to Xbox Live. It does this by blocking access to any Xbox Live-related IP addresses when the modchip is enabled, thus preventing the Xbox Live service from detecting and subsequently banning a modified Xbox console from the service.

Finally, Xbox live also maintains a database of the hard drive serial numbers associated with each particular Xbox (commonly referred to as the 'Marriage Theory'). If the user has replaced the original Xbox hard drive with a larger one, they may become banned from the service even if their modchip is disabled. This pairing of serial numbers is created at the user's first login, so if the new hard drive is locked with the original hard drive's key using a specialized dashboard like Evolution-X, it is possible to use a non-original hard drive on Xbox live, as long as the Xbox never logged on to Live with its original drive.

• Official Xbox Live website
• Major Nelson's Blog, by Larry Hryb, Xbox Live Director of Programming
• [3]