XBox Netplay Already

ElectusUnum writes "Well, it's been a little while since the XBox was released and people are already playing online! The folks at xboxgw.com have written a program to create an ethernet bridge between xbox's over the net, fooling the xbox's into thinking they're on a LAN. 1v1 seems to create no major lag and reports have come in like this one that claim up to four xbox's work fine. It seems a DSL connection is preferred for hosting the server." I want an X-Box so bad, or as I would call it, a DOA3-Box.

Microsoft can't be to happy about this...

[autopr0n]

There goes the revenue I'm sure they were hoping to get off online gamers. How much do you want to bet future games won't work like this? Or even have any LAN support at all.

While it's true that developers can do whatever they want, I doubt Microsoft would let them use the system however they want (after all, do you think Sony would be very happy if someone released a 'game' that let people pirate PS2 games easily?)

This hack is pretty sweet, though. It would be really cool to play online games with people across the country (or world) without going through some stupid intermediary.

Re:Microsoft can't be to happy about this...

[Telek]

don't you think that it might be a good thing for them, since if it becomes this open, then more people will buy them, and more and more games? It's bound to make them more money in the long run.

The only thing that they might be angry about is that they didn't get there first, or they won't be able to provide the service if it's free.

Re:Microsoft can't be to happy about this...

[alen]

My guess is that Microsoft will allow this and maybe even encourage it. All to sell as many X-Boxes as possible. Then in the next version of the X-Box or X-Box version 3 they will crack down and lock the system down. But by then Nintendo and Sony may only be shadows of their former selves and it will be time for the X-Box to be a money maker.

Just like MS looked the other way at casual piracy of Win9x and NT for years it will probably do so with the X-Box. But sooner or later payday will come.

Re:Net Ready

[damiam]

The XBox is the whore of gaming consoles. It's a celeron processor with an nvidia video card. Whow, some great amazing technology that Microsoft gets to put their name on.

And the GameCube has a PPC processor and an ATI video card. AFAIK, all modern consoles have parts not made by the company that sells them. The XBox is no different.

Re:Kali?

[Forkenhoppen]

That was for piping IPX traffic over TCP/IP. This is for piping whatever comes out of an XBox (lan TCP/IP, I'd expect) over internet TCP/IP. Same idea, different protocol.

See, essentially you just wrap all the packets coming from the XBox in a TCP/IP packet, and throw 'em over the internet. On the other end, you unwrap 'em and send 'em on. Not too difficult. (in theory..)

Main problems are looking after people joining and quitting, and the problem of finding other people to play against. These are reasons why services like Battle.net and Kali took off; not so much because of the software, but because of the meet-others service that they provided.

Some incomplete thoughts there.

[El Camino SS]

First thing... the Xbox is not going to replace the pc market. It is going to play games... and there will always be a market for PCs. There are businesses out there that have to buy PCs. Programmers that have to bu PCs. Server people that have to buy servers.... hooked up to PCs.

If the computer revolution has taught us anything, it is that computers got more complex, interchangeable, and personlized. In the beginning you had Texas Instruments and Commodore. Now how many technology manufacturers are there? You theory is that the marketplace will become less diverse. People will all line up to get the same system... under someone else's idea of what services they want. That is insane. People have been bucking M$ for years. And their product does pracitcally anything the user friendlies want on their computer.

This topic alone is counter to your argument.
There you show your Xbox, the universal computer replacement, and IN DAYS people are already customizing it. Making it more diverse. Making it to their liking. Cracking it. They aren't lining up to do all the same things, they're breaking out.

So the ideas that everyone will be planting the Xbox4 in the bowels of their home next to the washing machine is preposterous. The world will never dance to the tune of one drummer forever.

Re:MMOFPS?

[gakido]

There is always Planetside [ign.com] . It's going to be what HALO was supposed to, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

EA, Namco, Capcom...

[gatesh8r]

...yet no one mentions Squaresoft. Why do I have a PS2? Squaresoft. They make some *real* kick-ass games, especially RPG. These guys always get the attention of the hard-core gamers because of how they use the platform they design for, their story plots, and how much fun their console RPGs really are! Seems to me the critical company is Squaresoft, and Sony's got them. Not M$, not Nintendo, and certainly not Sega. Nintendo had their chance to keep them for the N64, but since Nintendo wanted to dictate to them their releases, Squaresoft jumped ship and went to Sony's camp. Let that be a lesson to Sony so they don't lose out on a critial player in their age market, because M$ will be more than happy to take them in and take a seige at the market.

Personally, if M$ can't get Squaresoft, they can't dominate. This isn't the OS industry, M$ -- you can't do it all in-house; you need a huge backing.

Re:Someone tell me

[Have Blue]

According to the site, it's different in that it doesn't require a huge investment in professional VPN software and a huge investment of time in learning how to set it all up.