| gekko |
06-28-2002 03:44 PM |
IGN goes online too:
Quote:
IGN Xbox goes Live
We talk smack with Microsoft while playing Xbox Live.
June 28, 2002 - In case you hadn't heard, Microsoft is releasing a little thing called Xbox Live this fall. For $50 you get software, a year's subscription to Xbox Live, and a snazzy Xbox Communicator headset. There are a batch of online games coming to Xbox, one of the first being NFL Fever 2003. Though Fever ships a couple of months before the launch of Xbox Live (currently scheduled for a November release), once Xbox Live is up and kicking, gamers will have the chance to play against another gridiron diehard 3000 miles away. Only two machines can compete against each other on NFL Fever 2003, with up to eight people total (four on each machine).
I grabbed our guides editor and resident Cheesehead, Chris Carle, and took him with me to play NFL Fever 2003 against a pair of blokes in Chicago. Sitting in an office in downtown San Francisco, we were introduced to Live. Being the last batch of media to play that day, we had an advantage. No one was really gonna go out of their way, at the end of a long day, to walk us through Live step-by-step. Instead, we had the chance to figure out how to get online with our Chicago competition ourselves.
Granted, the Xbox was already connected and we already had our own unique IDs, which were stored on an orange memory card. We plopped in the memory card in the bottom slot, then slid the Communicator into the top slot and were just moments away from online glory. The headset was comfortable and light, with an earpiece for your left ear and a small mouthpiece you hardly notice once you begin playing.
The large Communicator connection plugged into the top slot has a mute button, which glows red when you're muted, and a volume control to adjust the yakking in your ear. Though the Communicator seems big, it actually doesn't add much weight at all to the controller and never made playing the game uncomfortable. In fact, the only thing that made my play uneasy was Chris Carle's glancing looks of desire. That guys needs a cold shower like jockey needs a horse to ride.
From the Fever menu, we had to sign in. Just a click on the menu and the memory card was scanned for our identities. We selected our IDs and then optimized the settings to fit our style of play. For those afraid of having their voice heard and recognized, several voice masks are available. There were only five voice masks available in the version we played, but there will be about thirty when Live launches. I chose the "cartoon" voice and Chris Carle chose "big guy." Guess someone can only be big in their fantasy online world.
To play with our pals in Chicago, all that remained was selecting the Live option from the menu. There they were, PR guru Eric Wein and Group Product Manager Xbox Sports and Racing Bill Nielsen. The Carle and I were known as Lando and Smokey, respectively. We took the modern-day Packers against the classic Gayle Sayers Chicago Bears.
We wasted no time on pleasant introductions, preferring instead to kick off the trash talk from the get go. "We'll try not to make you cry," I said. Of course, on their end my voice came off as somewhat of a low-pitched Mickey Mouse taunt thanks to the voice masking.
Turns out that was the wrong thing to say. These two Fever experts had been getting their butts handed to them all day. It's not likely that two guys who've played more Fever than most would get beaten repeatedly if they weren't playing soft to make some lesser-skilled journalists feel good about themselves. At least, that's my excuse for why we were the only set of journalists not to whoop arse. "We've lost all day," a thick, booming voice said through my headset, "and it's time to earn back some respect." Oops. Guess we woke up the sleeping giant.
Considering we'd spent a few hours the previous day practicing our Fever moves, it was utterly embarrassing to watch our failed attempts at offense. However, that didn't keep us from talking smack. Following a sweet run by Ahman Green, in which he danced, juked, and hurdled over four defenders for a twelve-yard gain, me and my Mickey Mouse voice shouted, "You can't stop me, your daddy can't stop me, even his daddy can't stop me!"
There was no latency in button presses, something that really hurt the Dreamcast sports games online. Here, when you press a button, your play performs it instantly. There were one or two spots of lag, though, where the game froze for about a second, but it was minimal and something that hopefully won't occur much, if at all, when Xbox Live launches. The only consistent lag came with the Communicator, which had about a one-to-two second delay. The sound quality wasn't the best, but about equal to your average cell phone. Live ran better than I'd thought it would. And when caught up in the drama of our ass-beating, it was hard to believe we were playing people thousands of miles away.
The game was quite a heated contest and the Communicator really made the competition sparkle. It seems like such a negligible thing, but having played both Unreal Championship and NFL Fever 2003 live with the Communicator, I can assure you it is a vital asset to the online experience. It's a Microsoft requirement that every head-to-head online Xbox game utilize the Communicator in some way, so it will certainly see a lot of use in your home.
Back to the game and our sad performance. We weren't able to connect on passes and our running game was getting stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Our one saving grace in the game was the Packer's stellar defense. One series saw us swat down four straight pass attempts leading to the necessary smack, "You might be able to get away with that in your mama's house, but you can't throw that junk in my house!"
At first Eric and Bill in Chicago seemed tentative at throwing out smack. After all, it's best to be cautious what you say to the media. Hurt someone's feelings and you could spend the next three months trying to convince them they really aren't a "dumb-wad loser sissy boy." But our constant heckling, when we weren't even winning, was enough to coax out a few slams from our Chicago competition. It was all in good fun and in the end they had the last laugh. I won't tell you the final score, but I will say that we lost by less than two touchdowns... because they missed a couple of two-point conversions. Who knew all it took was saying, "Sheesh, even my grandma goes for two," to convince a couple of nice guys to avoid kicking PATs?
We lost, but in a way we all won. Okay, actually in no way did we win. Don't let our suck deter you. Xbox Live is looking great and is on track to deliver the best online console experience possible. Look for lots more on Xbox Live over the coming months and expect to hear my Mickey Mouse voice berate you live this fall.
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