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Xbox Live For The Players
jasoncart writes "Ferrago has an article up suggestion how Xbox Live could be improved with a unified multiplayer matching system, clans, and player-funded dedicated servers." From the article: "Meeting friends via Xbox Live can happen only in the heat of battle, you can send friend requests to people you've enjoyed playing with, and keep an eye on who you have met during your gaming adventures. But as yet there is nowhere in Xbox Live (although plenty of places if you use a PC) to meet up with other likeminded Xbox 360 gamers, chat, arrange a game, and get playing. This is why the Xbox 360 needs a unified multiplayer matching system."
Apart from the potential extra work of producing pc dedicated server software, I can't really see why this isn't already a reality.
I wish to remain anomalous
Isn't this something you could just do with a web site on your own? Hell, even a myspace page or something would do the job. Don't most X-Box Live players own computers?
Last time I looked, the X-Box 360 has no keyboard. Not an ideal machine for interacting with people beyond in-game chat.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I'm sorry, if you have broadband access, why would you want to pay even more money to get fewer features, when most game sites hosted by game publishers do a far better job and interfere less often?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Lifeless looser seeks likeminded, brainless gamer for game play 20 hours a day. Must be pathetic, foul mouthed and unable to communicate like a normal human.
"This is why the Xbox 360 needs a unified multiplayer matching system."
Bollocks.
This problem is solved easier and cheaper by existing communities already. Online gaming communities do this SO much better than anything Microsoft (or any other company for that matter) would be able to put together. The author has no understanding about community development. It doesn't happen because Microsoft enables us to do that, it happens because the PLAYERS do it themselves. This is how it happens on every successful online community.
There simply is no need for any centralized Xbox Live community.
There's plenty of other things to improve on Xbox Live, but this is not one of them.
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
My experience with XBox Live (new to me via the 360) is that it is good, but there are so many areas for improvement its kinda scarey that they haven't been implemented yet. After five minutes of using it and doing any single task, you can quickly come up with a list of ways to improve that task, and that goes for almost every aspect of it.
i.e. right now i have no idea what new live arcade games have become available unless i go into that section and go through each category to see what, if any, new games are available...
i'm sure MS is saving some of the nicer features and updates until sony/nintendo release their online services...
You mean there is a unified community on PCs that lets me talk with all my different MMO buddies and FPS buddies at one place???
As for the Xbox not having one, did the author check out http://gamertag.com/ ?
walk over to your computer and get on irc
This practice of stories opening with a "X has an article up about such-and-such" without explaining, in the story summary, who the hell "X" is, is really becoming trite and cheesy. Who or what is "Ferrago?" Am I supposed to know? It sounds like an expensive foreign sports car, but I'm pretty sure they don't have any opinions regarding XBox Live... I think.
k culture that I'm not privy to, I don't know, but it's damn screwy.
If it's a guy's blog, fine, say so: "'Ferrago,' the blog of hardcore gamer-pundit Joe Smith, has just posted an interesting article..." OK, got it, great. If "Ferrago" is a company, or some "online community," whatever, say so. It just -- really, truly -- makes no sense otherwise.
Maybe I'm still recovering from that whole "travelling carnival" -thing, or it's just part of some blogger-credibility-don't-ask-don't-tell-wink-win
He suggests you could scan across games to find different matches ignoring the fact this would probably be incredibly difficult for the 360 to do how can you possibly make this easy and steamlined. Youd have to have ever single game in the 360 catalogue listed. Maybe you could select the games and then only ever look at your selections. Itd still be adding in a whole bunch of new menues and complications.
As for clans, youd need a page for the whole thing. Youd need a subsection for a given game and another sub section for a given clan. Add 20 or 30 games and the fact that it would be inconsistant, as many games dont have clans and you have a jumbled mess of a system. The way round hes thinking is even more confusing. Having a clan of players which you then apply to games? As if all the players in your clan are going to have all the games every other clan member does. Youd have a list of clans some on some games some on others some on both, itd be ridiculous. He doesnt stop there though he keeps layering more and more controls on top making the whole thing absurdly convoluted for a console system.
'It seems the PC has done it well for years and years'
Since when? In his own article he says people use chat programs and all sorts to get in touch with each other and then arrange games. This isnt a smooth process and nor is it one a console can learn from. Its not like im not speaking from experience. Ive had to install new chat programs or sign up to forums just to arrange a simple game. A console simply doesnt have the wealth of apps that the PC does at its disposal.
Ohh but it gets worse. Not content to try overcomplicate and largely break the live interface he wants to introduce user supported servers. Dear lord if there is one problem with online PC gaming it is servers that are up and down like a yoyo. Has been for years. As long as ive been using it Live has remained entirely solid. Not only does he want that compomised he wants to charge people through live for 'fair cost sharing' issues so that if everything does go pear shaped (and it will.) someone (MS) can be held liable. Its a nightmare of a system just in theory. This is ignoring security issues etc.
This guy hasnt thought this through at all. The 360 _isnt_, and I cant stress _isnt_ enough, a PC. You dont run multiple apps with mouse keyboard all lined up in a startbar. You do one thing at a time with a limited controller. It required an entirely new way of organising things and copying the PC is not only a horribly flawed idea it could be detrimental to the development of online console gaming.
If this guy wants his PC systems, use a PC. Ill stick with the awesome relief from all that that live has given me.
...get rid of kids like this. Or, Microsoft could start offering Parenting seminars.
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