XBox Live and Kickin' - Feature #26

Still waiting anxiously for Xbox Live to bring your console online in Australia? Bennett Ring shows you that there’s no need to get impatient -- it’s already here.

'Welcome to the future of video gaming!'
These are the self-righteous words we faced at the beginning of our journey to create a Gamer Tag account on Xbox Live (XBL). Little did we know that, for once, such a bold statement could be so close to the truth.

While Australian Xbox owners have been waiting anxiously for the launch of Xbox Live, it's actually been laying a-waiting to be played since its US launch date, way back in November of last year. A few experimental types decided to import the US Xbox Live Starter kit from the States, and lo and behold it worked in Australia! Praise be to the Gods of the Net!

All you needed are the standard XBL requirements: one unmodified Xbox (or one with a mod chip that can be switched off, as Microsoft won't allow modded Xboxes to play on Live for fear of cheating), a broadband Internet connection (preferably with a 512kb/s download speed, and a decent upload speed if you plan to host games) and more than a few hours to pummel Yanks into submission in MotoGP. You've also got to be mentally prepared for the thousand and one Steve Irwin smartarse remarks that you'll inevitably face from the primarily American Live subscribers. If I have to say 'Crikey' one more time. . .

The starter disk included in the kit runs in both NTSC and PAL formats, so you can still use the kit on Aussie Xboxes. Perfect.

Got to get me one of those
We managed to scrounge one of these precious kits out of the lovely folk over at Burn (www.burn.com.au), one of the first Australian importers of the US Xbox Live Starter Kit. All it costs is a lousy $115, little more than a standard game, and for this you'll receive a small box containing the Communicator Headset, Starter Kit disc, and most importantly, a registration code to unlock a 12-month subscription. Once the 12-month subscription runs out, it's anyone's guess as to how much Microsoft are going to charge for the service, as no prices have been announced, but due to the peer-to-peer nature of the network most games should remain free.

ABOVE: The Xbox Communicator. The earpiece clips so it can be mounted on any side, while mute and volume controls are on the plug.

Yep, you heard right -- peer-to-peer. Every game currently on Live is hosted on a user's Xbox, while Microsoft's Xbox 'Datacenter' servers only handle friend and game-matching services. Makes you wonder where Microsoft are spending the AU$2 billion it earmarked for the Live service, doesn't it? Can you spell a-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-i-n-g? The nature of the peer-to-peer setup makes it crucial that the upload speed of the host's connection is high, preferably 512kb/s or faster.

The great thing about peer-to-peer is that there won't be a shortage of servers, but the bad thing is that fickle hosts often close servers in the middle of a game, especially if they're getting their butt handed to them on a platter. You might think that the peer-to-peer model wouldn't be able to handle large games very well, but we've been in 16-player races without a speck of lag or packet loss. 

The fun begins
We tested the service on a BigPond 512k/256k ADSL account, and setup was as easy as you'd expect for a console-based service. Provided your router is supported, (head over to www.xbox.com/live to check), it's simply a matter of plugging your Xbox into the router via some CAT 5 cabling, and you can start setting up your account. Even simpler than that, but less convenient, is to plug the Xbox directly into your DSL/Cable modem via the Ethernet port, as we had to do when we moved to a location with a non-compatible router. You can even chuck in another network card into your PC and use Windows' ICS feature to share your broadband connection.

ABOVE: The Live Dashboard continues the yummy theme from the Xbox dashboard, and is incredibly easy and intuitive to use.

Once you've successfully patched in to the Xbox Live network, you're asked to supply relevant information about yourself to set up your unique Gamer Tag. You'll need a valid credit card to verify that you're an adult, even though there is no charge. A couple of the fields required that we faked some US details, such as the phone number, but other than that it was very intuitive, and we'd set up our account within minutes.

The service only chews through approximately 20MB of data per hour, allowing those with 3GB caps to be able to play for around 150 hours a month (provided they don't do much else with their connections), so you needn't worry about Xbox Live being a bandwidth bruiser. Thanks to the non-existence of an Aussie Live Starter Kit, we're not sure if there are going to be any problems installing the Aussie version when the service finally hits our shores. But we doubt it. And because the kit hasn't been officially launched in Australia yet, don't expect any official support from Microsoft, but the official Aussie Xbox forums are a good place to start: http://forums.xbox.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=55

What's so good about Live?
We'll talk about the games in a second, but first you need to know the different features that are common across all Xbox Live titles. Trust us, you do.

Speak to Me
The feature that has got everyone talking (nyuk, nyuk) is definitely the voice communications function. The headset plugs into the top port on your controller, and has a volume control and mute button -- remember the mute button, as people don't particularly enjoy hearing you cough up your right lung. The headset is quite comfortable with a single adjustable speaker covering the ear of your choosing, although the ability to adjust the headset's size would be nice. All voice is piped through the single speaker, while game sounds come through your regular speakers. A slight problem with this is that it's impossible to wear the headset and a set of headphones at the same time.

Voice quality is superb, especially when only one person speaks at a time, although it doesn't quite live up to the 'better-than-telephone' quality that Microsoft claims. No doubt the distance between us and the US games doesn't help, so it's only going to get better as more Aussies sign up.

There can be some distortion when lots of people all try to talk at once, but clever game design involving use of radio channels minimises this problem. For example, within MotoGP you can only hear the riders immediately in front and behind you, while in Ghost Recon you can only hear your own team. Voice masks are available which can make you sound like a robot, small child or Demon from the 47th level of Hell. Strangely enough, these are universally unpopular among Live players, but can be fun if yo