Xbox Live... is it alive or dead?

[angel]

So, here is an idea I had I thought would be a good idea since more and more games are coming out that INCREASINGLY rely on the xbox live component of the system for fun gameplay.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on it... In fact I love the idea of more people playing together. it ads so many new elements to a game, Not to mention the fact that it really helps the fun when your going against real intelligence instead of the artificial type (the majority of the time).

But with this increase in online gameplay games also live an die by gamers choosing to play or not. first, how many people buy the game? and second, How many continue to play online after the first 2 weeks of the game coming out?

I thought about this more and more after being burned on the Frontlines game. I remember seeing the commercials and just Loving the idea of two teams battling out in the trenches trying to push forward to the other teams side... So when the game came out I bought it, and yeah I was disappointed in some aspects, But so long as there were players online, the game was fun. So I played for awhile, but then a couple friends came down from there college and I got back into the Halo 3 fold and forgot about frontlines. Then come about a month later (I think, cant remember the actual time frame) It became increasingly hard to find a game with more than 5 people playing at once. and as I'm sure you all know... Online games built for teams of that magnitude with 10 or under playing suck terribly.

Now I have not played the game in a long while So there may have been a revitalization in the online side, But I thought A good thread idea would be to have a living or dead online thread. If you see a game come out that lives on the online play, then maybe you would want to make sure alot of people are playing it online before you bought it...

And my question is... Battlefield Bad Company (360). are there a good amount of games always going on throughout the day?

[fanpages]

Originally Posted by angel

So, here is an idea I had I thought would be a good idea since more and more games are coming out that INCREASINGLY rely on the xbox live component of the system for fun gameplay.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on it... In fact I love the idea of more people playing together. it ads so many new elements to a game, Not to mention the fact that it really helps the fun when your going against real intelligence instead of the artificial type (the majority of the time).

But with this increase in online gameplay games also live an die by gamers choosing to play or not. first, how many people buy the game? and second, How many continue to play online after the first 2 weeks of the game coming out?

I thought about this more and more after being burned on the Frontlines game. I remember seeing the commercials and just Loving the idea of two teams battling out in the trenches trying to push forward to the other teams side... So when the game came out I bought it, and yeah I was disappointed in some aspects, But so long as there were players online, the game was fun. So I played for awhile, but then a couple friends came down from there college and I got back into the Halo 3 fold and forgot about frontlines. Then come about a month later (I think, cant remember the actual time frame) It became increasingly hard to find a game with more than 5 people playing at once. and as I'm sure you all know... Online games built for teams of that magnitude with 10 or under playing suck terribly.

Now I have not played the game in a long while So there may have been a revitalization in the online side, But I thought A good thread idea would be to have a living or dead online thread. If you see a game come out that lives on the online play, then maybe you would want to make sure alot of people are playing it online before you bought it...

And my question is... Battlefield Bad Company (360). are there a good amount of games always going on throughout the day?

I have had "Battlefield: Bad Company" (Gold Edition) for the PS3 since it was released, but I have never opened the cellophane! Shameful.

I believe there is a similar problem with players not being able to get a game of "Unreal Tournament III" going due to lack of participants.

Unfortunately, as you said, with the advent of more & more titles offering online gaming, those who would be interested in meeting online are now spread across more & more titles at varying times of day & night, and the chances of finding somebody online (in your region, so that network lag is at a minimum) are getting less & less.

I, fortunately, always seem to find a match on "Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online", but I do recall trying to get an online game set-up for one of my kids on "John Woo presents Stranglehold" & also on "Warhawk" on one particular Sunday morning earlier this year. We had to wait almost an hour until somebody showed up. I had heard such great things about "Warhawk" too (not so, about "...Stranglehold", but that didn't matter as we enjoyed it), and it left a very disappointing time as, of course, "Warhawk" is solely an online multiplayer title.

Perhaps the way forward is for the three major console companies to discuss pooling resources & allowing cross-platform matches so that, for example, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii-based players can all co-exist in the same network. Also allowing PC-based players to join as well will only increase the number of parties available to play, and in the long term will promote a healthy and stable environment for all online gaming to continue.

Just a thought...

BFN,

fp.

[1UPGamer]

I think it would be awesome if there was some cross platform online environment where common games on different machines could all interact. would be amazing but I think we're still really far off from that ever happening.

In terms of players online, its interesting because I play online but stick to the PC which has never had this problem. Most games have huge amounts of players even if the games are really old. I think the key point here is that the PC is a united gaming platform, Im pretty sure MAC users log into the same servers that we do....(Could be wrong though)

[fanpages]

Two points of note here.

Firstly, from an article written almost a year ago by Stuart Bishop at ComputerAndVideoGames.com:

"Brothers in Arms gets cross-platform multiplayer"
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Thursday 16-Aug-2007 7:58 AM

Gearbox making use of Epic's new deal with GameSpy for PC-PS3 online play support in Unreal Engine 3

Gearbox Software is one of a number of developers to already take advantage of a new PC-PS3 cross-platform online play solution that's been integrated into Unreal Engine 3.

In a nutshell, Epic has licensed GameSpy online tech and squeezed it into its hugely popular UE3 technology, "enabling seamless PlayStation 3 and PC online functionality. Functionality available to Unreal Engine 3 licensees via GameSpy will include cross-platform gameplay, communication tools and competition applications."

Codemasters' alternate-reality WWII game Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is another title to make use of these new features of Unreal Engine 3, which in addition to cross-platform play between PC and PS3 include the likes of GameSpy's online matchmaking service, stat crunching solutions for leaderboards and tournaments and community features.

Does this mean Epic's Unreal Tournament III will feature cross-platform support for PC and PS3 online blasting? Well that's still up in the air. When we spoke with Mark Rein recently he said "It's a feature that technically works today, but whether we enable it or disable it... is still a question".
---


And secondly, if you currently have an Xbox Live Silver subscription you will find that Microsoft has allowed this level of membership to temporarily play "Universe at War", "Shadowrun", and "Lost Planet: Colonies Edition" over Xbox Live for free!

"For a limited time, we are offering free online multiplayer on Xbox 360/Games for Windows titles that offer LIVE cross platform play. This promotion won’t last, so we encourage everyone to take advantage of it while they can. When the new Xbox experience launches this fall all multiplayer gaming on Xbox 360 will be for Gold members only."

Of course, this could just be a glitch that Microsoft have not developed a patch for yet, but in any respect, get online & gaming for free whilst you can.

[And I didn't even mention free online gaming is available for Wii consoles and/or PS3 consoles all year 'round. Didn't I do well? ]

BFN,

fp.