Modded Xbox Consoles Banned From Xbox Live

I took a delivery of a Linksys WRT54GS router just before the weekend which meant I could finally connect up all the computers / laptops / consoles in the house to the web. Seen as I’ve do most of my work at home to one side of the bedroom it also meant that in-between sites or updates to different projects I could start dabbling more in Xbox live (mcguireken if anyone is interested).

I’ve been reading of Conor O’Neill’s tweets on modding an original xbox and while I never got around to putting the Aladin mod chip I bought for my own original Xbox (traded in against the 360), I have been giving thought to modding the 360 and doing a little more with the console.

Until I read that they’ve banned modified consoles off Xbox Live. Isn’t half the fun of an Xbox the fact that you can modify them? Replace the dashboard, upgrade the hard drive, add some water-cooling, completely ‘geek it out’? I don’t see how extra disk space or a modified dashboard is going to corrupt your online play, so why ban people willing to try it?

Anyone using a modded Xbox (180 or 360) online or see a way around it?

Update: Engadget has screens from the story from before the weekend.

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€813.99 For A Sony Playstation 3? Are You PS3 Mad?

Seriously - does anyone actually think the price tag for launch is worth the money for the Sony Playstation 3? Picked up an email this afternoon from Play.com offering this particular package (not an affiliate link) which clocks in at over 800 quid. Speaking to someone in Xtravision during the week, they’re not allowed (seemingly) to sell the console on its own and will only be offering bundle deals for the first few months.

A console with the 60gb HD, 3 games…. for that price.

Can they seriously justify over 800 quid? I’d get a half decent HD ready TV, Xbox 360 and something class of a decent game for that price. God help parents around confirmation and communion time I tell ya….

By the way - it’s just over a week to the release date…

Disappointing Xbox Live Conversations

It was around this time last week that I was disappointed with the Skype video call quality in a KKM online meet but tonight it was the turn of Xbox live, yet again.

I had previously tried the whole ‘Live’ experience with a month’s free trial in January and I let it expire after playing just one or two rounds of Pro Evolution 6 online. I decided to give it another bash earlier tonight, this time testing WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007. Now, while connections with players overseas seemed to work well enough gamewise (France, Germany, US), the audio quality and hideous latency and echoes struck again which really does hinder the in-game banter. This was noticed playing locally, moreso than across foreign waters.

Out of four local games (as in connecting to someone literally a two minute drive up the road), the first game ended in a draw and signed the other player out of Xbox Live, the second game sent him back to the menu and crashed my console, the third game experienced some mild lags in gameplay while the gameplay was fine for the fourth but for the almost complete lack of audio for conversation.

Does anyone get much enjoyment or pleasure out of Xbox Live? While it is a good service, there are some things I do like to do face to face with someone and console gaming is included in those things. I shelled out 20 quid to renew the subscription earlier this evening but on the back of taking a while to get started, battling through the incessant ‘button bashers’ I’d question whether I’ll do it again in three months, or even get the full use out of the 20 quid.

Mind you, you could have sold a house full of tickets for the final match we had when it finally took off. I’d consider myself a wrestling fan, more along the lines of the late 80s, early 90s before TV really took over but when myself and this particular player get together you can be promised an electric game. Single match clock counter ran to 33 minutes before we finally got a winner but after that I was done.

I can tolerate a small lag in a network game when played online (you would be used to it after years of Championship Manager and Football Manager) but it is the audio part that really annoyed me. In the end I resorted to the mobile phone as I at least knew the phone would carry a conversation. Maybe its just the game in particular, maybe its just me but I’ll give it one more go during the week. Bad enough that the games cost an arm and a leg and you still have to pay up to sixty quid a year for access to the online gaming environment but its worse still when the games lag (even on a 3mb connection) and the audio is unbearable.

Any Chorus 360 gamers around or NTL 360 gamers around with any tips?

Have You Silenced Your XBOX 360?

Just wondering, has anyone who reads my posts by any means made any attempt in the past to silence or at least reduce their noise output of their XBOX 360? That or would you know someone (directly) who has gone through the process? A few cups of coffee last night before recording the latest Sound System Podcast brought us around to discussing the noise output of the 360 and how it might be tackled, similar means to reducing noise output to PC cases etc.

So, if you have made any attempt to reduce the noise output of the 360 I’d be interested to hear what you’ve got to say…

When Gaming Can Get You A Job…. Almost

I love Football Manager. I’ve been an avid fan of the series since its earlier days as Championship Manager and going back further afield to the likes of Tactical Manager in the mid 90s. In more recent years four of us would get together every couple of weekends, settle ourselves in with a case of beer in the fridge, a Chinese takeaway at some stage of the night and enjoy countless hours trying to take our respective teams to the top of the leauge in good old lan game fashion.

Even after ten years or so of playing the game we still recount great matches down through the years, fantastic signings, cup finals… whatever. But its all a fantasy.

Except for John Boileau, who recently took his computing gaming experience to the next level. Having enjoyed ingame success with the likes of Doncaster, Nuneaton Borough, Rushden & Diamonds and in later years Liverpool, Real Madrid and more, John decided to apply for the vacant post at Premier League club, Middlesbrough. In real life.

John sent the application back in May, along with his footballing CV based on his exploits in the game, and to his credit, got a sweet letter back from Boro chairman Steve Gibson.

Check it out here.