Games: The Official Halo 2 Topic [OT!]

[Nevan]

I don't care about the humping. I'll just smack the corpse.

[Cataferal]

I never really used the health packs either come to think of it...
Anyways, i just set up my Xbox Live service, and man, it took hell to get it going. Since i use an ADSL USB modem, with no ethernet port on the back, i had to connect my Xbox to my PCI ethernet card, then use the Internet connection sharing function on my computer to enable the Xbox to go online. In the end, it took looking up my computer's IP address, and the DNS servers, and then manually inputting them into the Xbox. Majorly lame.

So, im all set for Halo 2 now. However, im concerned about my internet connection, as its only 576k downstream, and 288k upstream. Whats your connection speed, N?

[mrwiseman]

It should be more than enough. After a certain throughput, which depends on the game but should be around 3..5 KB/s up and down (mult by 8 for Kbps), it's latency what matters. I have a 600 Kbps down (650 Kbps cache burst) 150 Kbps up cable service with awesome ping times (usually 3 to 5 times lower than ADSL), and it works wonders, even running eMule in the background with an assload of connections. And I have a friend who lives in the countryside so all he gets is sucky 56 Kbps shared up/down (50 actually), and even that is enough for some Xbox online games he plays (although pings kill him sometimes).

[Nevan]

IRT Cat: I am really not sure... I had to get Roadrunner and since then I have not had a chance to check. I still need to get XBox LIVE, but you see I am going directly through my Cable Modem, a bit of a hassle, but it will cause less lag.

[Cataferal]

IRT Wiseman - Thats what i thought. But on the Xbox Live forums, they're going "blah blah blah, european standard is only 288k upstream... blah blah blah... not good enough". Then i considered the headset communication features, and the fact you can connect up to 15 other Xbox's. I think your right though, it should be sufficient if the game compresses the headset voice-communication well enough, and we keep the number of connections low.

IRT N - You got the easy end of the deal there. Trust me, using the FAQ's and forums on the official xbox website will get you connected <s>no problem</s> with less problems.

On a side not, i can no longer play Halo online anymore using XBC; about 9 in 10 users are now playing Halo 2, and its hard to find a server with a good ping out of the remaining players of the original. Very disappointing, but i guess theres not much longer to wait.

[mrwiseman]

IRT Cata: There's no European upstream standard, it varies from country to country. Most games will work with 128 Kbps up for sure, not too much to send, just fast updates. Voice is just 1 channel up, 1 down, it will take more but 128 Kbps will still be enough (a voice channel is easily compressed to 32 Kbps or less).

[Nevan]

I'm sorry Cat, but XBox LIVE is being lame. I don't know what it is, but it just will not work for me. Hopefully I can play you sometime on a friend's Box.

[Cataferal]

No worries man, it'll still be awesome when you do manage to get online. Just tell me when you'll log on, and i'll try and join you for a game.

[Nevan]

Well hopefully we could use XBC. And I'll more than likely will go over to a friend's house to get Content for LANs, anyways, that is if the PAL and NTSC versions cross.

[Cataferal]

Im sure they do, in both cases.