Advantages: Fantastic extra range of features for your Xbox 360! Disadvantages: Disheartening when somebody many levels better than you repeatedly beats you
off, and cut out the offender. On this note, microsoft has also added a complaints system to give the rest of us a means to report abuse of the system to them, the list of unacceptable beahviour includes aggressive behaviour, racism, Unsporting behaviour and foul language. It basically means that you can choose to avoid players who behave poorly, and if enough people do so then microsoft will ban the use of thier console upon the xbox live service.
The initial setup of the service is easy and the xbox does the majority of tests for you. We use a BT Homehub which is listed as one of the most diffucult to setup and i encoutered no problems whatsoever. Once you are in you will be asked to setup your gamertag, once this is done then you are off. The service gives you an unlimited silver subscription, however this will not allow multiplayer ...
Advantages: Online gaming, good value, networking Disadvantages: Some lag, temptation to spend more money on extras
Xbox Live is good value compared to some other online subscriptions e.g. World of Warcradt or Everquest as with these you pay everymonth just for one game, whereas with xbox live you only pay once to go online with pretty much all your games.
You then get tempted, however, to pay for extra online contect such as extra levels, characters, backdrops for your xbox live dashboard, arcade games etc. etc.
So it's never as cheap as it seems!
The service on xbox live is good and it's rare to have connection issues so gameplat online tends to be smooth. Occasionally you may shoot at someone only to find they already moved- lag is rare but does happen and can be annoying.
The range of games that can be played online is excellent, and isn't just shooting and fighting! Guitar hero plays online brilliantly with options for guitar battles ...
Advantages: Online multiplayer, priviledges downloads Disadvantages: Price a little daunting at first, additional hardware required, PS3 online is free
online multiplayer capabilites of the Xbox 360. Playing against your console is fun, but nowhere near as fun as knowing the person you just shot in the head from a mile away is another human being, or that the car you just overtook was driven by someone who was lacking that little bit of skill or little bit of luck to stay ahead. You can also trade game elements like cars etc. with your fellow players.
If you have the Xbox Live headset you can even have conversations with the other players, organising assaults on the enemy's fortress or gloating a little as your opponents plane drops from the sky in a ball of flame.
What you need for Xbox Live Gold:
An Xbox, or Xbox 360
A broadband internet connection
A way to connect to the internet (discussed a little later)
An Xbox hard drive (an add-on for the 360)
Looking at how to ...
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