Xbox Live 20 years old on 15th November!

[MattyP]

Incredible how time has passed!

 

Remember my first experience with the service way back in September 2004 I picked up a PGR2 pack with I think a 12months gold sub which included a headset and adapter etc.

 

So hooked up my Xbox to my 2Mb (yes mega bit!!) broadband line after setting up my Gamertag and powered everything on. Had my first online gaming session with some work colleagues. It was a great experience. In fact Thursday nights became regular PGR2 sessions. 

 

Then the 360 came along and extended what had gone before adding the gamerscore and achievements amongst other things. Also making it a more integrated experience across all games. 

 

Although much derided at the sub fees MS charged for essentially a peer to peer system it worked really well and IMHO transformed online console gaming.

 

So happy incoming 20th Xbox Live. Don't play as much online as I did back then but a game changer.

 

Oh and just realised my Gamertag has come of age this year at 18.  Where does the time go?!

 

What are your experiences with Xbox Live! ?

[Jamie John]

I never owned an OG Xbox, but once I got a 360 I remember playing online team matches of the original Gears of War for hours and hours every single night for what felt like half a year back when I was about 16/17. I didn't have an HDTV, so I was playing on a 21 inch Wharfedale CRT, similar to this one:

 

 

I remember how the targeting reticule in that game was always in the dead centre of the screen, regardless of where you moved the camera, but only appeared when you looked down the sights of your gun. Sticking a small piece of blu-tac to the very centre of the TV, however, meant that you could fire from cover with the same level of accuracy as if you were aiming properly. I got so many blind fire headshots with the sniper rifle. The egg cracking sound it made was incredible. What a great game.

[fat flatulent git]

A month free when I got my first 360 and that's it.  Got hammered in RR6 but someone much better, but he then helped me get 50 achievement points by racing me again and letting me win a number of times.  Which was nice of him but I couldn't get over the utter pointlessness of it all.  The only other time I've ever paid for online gaming was a year of Switch membership, and that was only for AC, Mario Maker and the SNES games.  When it elapsed I didn't renew.  I have no interest in playing online, although I did enjoy Wii Mario Kart.  Loved the world map showing where the competitors were from.

[Paulando]

 

Had this kit from the UK beta. The starter disc had a demo of MotoGP, Whacked, and some other game iirc?

 

You could unlock the full game of MotoGP to play online if you had a save from the full game, so obviously I bought it from Game, saved the game, then returned it 🙃

 

Wonderful times. Ghost Recon was truly magical. That Embassy level, holy shit. Discovering you could climb under the barracks on the Castle stage, stand up, then shoot people through the walls was amazing.

[SMD]

yeah thanks for making something that's free on pc paid microsoft, kudos

[dumpster]

I remember my boss at the time berating Microsoft.  They've done it again!  Turned out he felt that Microsoft were making their console unnecessarily high-spec.  Who needs a hard drive on a console? Who needs Dolby digital 5.1?  And now Xbox Live required a broadband connection when so many people still had dial up.  But this forward thinking approach from MS means it's still around 20 years later.  I think I was still on dial up until about 2002, and only got broadband after staying in a friend's house in America and realising the major difference 0.5Mb broadband gave me (10 times the speed of dial up, can you imagine) 

[Qazimod]

I had an OG Xbox but it had a custom frontend and some copied games and a bunch of emulators, and I didn't know what the repercussions of taking it online would be (I was a dumb student with not a lot of money), so I didn't bother. It wasn't until the seventh-gen and the 360 that I tried Xbox Live. I had already been online gaming on PC with Unreal and Quake, but 360 was my first experience of online console gaming. Voice chat alone was a transformative experience (if you found a good group of people  ) but ultimately I just ended up playing a bunch of SFIV with forumites.

[Eighthours]

There has never been a better online experience than PGR2 after launch. Just such a friendly crowd - I spent every Friday and Saturday night after 11pm until (very) late playing with pretty much the same bunch of people who I met on there. This went on for about a year. And my girlfriend of the time could play too because it supported Guests on split-screen. I don’t even think there was any levelling up bollocks or ‘progression’, just people racing because racing was fun. Xbox Live for the first couple of years was so lovely.

[jimmbob]

Fuck off! There’s no way it’s 20 years old because that would make me at least 40 years o….

 

 

Fuck off. 
 

 

[Gambit]

Add me to the list of PGR2 people. My first ever online experience with folks from this place. I miss those times. Nowadays I don't have time to plan stuff and when playing with randoms I just mute all voice comms.

[jimmbob]

I started with Moto GP 2. @Yoshimax used to regularly thrash me at it if I remember correctly. Also Ghost recon island thunder and Rainbow six 3 were firm faves. 

[Shimmyhill]

I was on the OG Beta with a load from the forum, Moro GP demo was just pure magic and to this day still one of the best online experiences ever, utter fun and joy and none of the issues that came later as it was a community of like minded people enjoying themselves - never liked a bike racing game before or since!

 

The 360 really did step it up tho, mainly down to the games but I would say the 360 is up there as my fave console ever due to Xbox Live and all the online gaming I was doing, live arcade should also get plenty of praise.

 

And that BT on ear headset, brilliant - with the less toxic world online gaming i wonder if this was peak times, even the abuse you got back then was hilarious and used to have recordings of some of the best 😂

[Shimmyhill]

5 hours ago, SMD said:

yeah thanks for making something that's free on pc paid microsoft, kudos

 

It wasn’t free on PC a long time before Microsoft made it worth paying for  

[layten]

I was in from the beta. Playing MotoGP with forum people was super chilled, a total lack of dick heads back then.

 

PGR2 was peak XBL for me.

[CurryKitten]

It was like a brave new world, I'd just got a "broadband" speed of 512kb and jumped onto Xbox live on the OG machine.  A noticed a real difference there in the original days - people were just thrilled to be there and there wasn't endless american teenagers being annoying (to be fair I haven't played online for a while, but I assume this is still a thing)

 

Setting off in MotoGP and everyone losing it at the first corner and just a chorus of laughs and happiness.  I really do think that THE game that made Xbox Live in the very early days was Return to Castle Wolfenstein though.  I never even finished the actual original game, everyone just bought it for the epic team matches.  Everything seems so well balanced that entire games could turn on a dime - awesome stuff.

 

Splinter Cell: Pandora tomorrow also is very fondly remembered... at least until some cheap exploits in the way it was played started happening

[Pug]

Another OG Live beta guy here. Getting a three letter username was cool but has resulted in friend requests with similar names with added numbers and stuff to this very day.

 

Loved MotoGP, the Jerez track especially. I also liked using a headset in the early days, won't use one now as I don't like listening to your distorted music when I'm playing thanks....let alone the disgusting trash talk that goes on.

 

 

[Bleeders]

I recall MotoGP, PGR2 and Halo 2 back then. I remember being wowed by the SBMM of Halo 2 having no frame of reference at the time. Good times.

[TehStu]

There are posts out there on the interwebs where I mocked Live as pointless, as we have Steam. People in their 20s are numpties.

[Hawklord]

Yeah, another PGR2 one here with the headset as well. Friday night racing while wasted lol. Good times 

[simms]

The MotoGP days was my first step into online gaming and I loved it.  Ranks among my favourite gaming year.  After MotoGP every major Xbox live gaming release was an event in itself Ghost Recon, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, PGR amoungt many other games I cant remember right now.  meeting with forum members some of whom had me in stitches as everyone used their mic.  Was a magical time

[Mike]

Had an OG Xbox but never took it online.  Got the 360 at near launch and set up the gamer tag I still used.  First used it heavily for the FIFA league on here.  I was rubbish! 

[QuackQuack]

I remember the early days of Moto GP with all the kids using voice effects to sound like robots or chipmunks. Good times. 

 

I’m assuming you can’t do that anymore, but I haven’t had random voice comms on for many many years. 

[Kramer]

Beta Moto GP player here. Put the disc in, headset on - did not move for 8 hours for a drink/toilet/anything.

 

Absolutely, my favourite days of online gaming.

[bankies]

I am another moto gp beta player it was incredible at the time then later on ghost recon. Can't believe it been 20 years!

[Shimmyhill]

4 hours ago, Pug said:

Another OG Live beta guy here. Getting a three letter username was cool but has resulted in friend requests with similar names with added numbers and stuff to this very day.

 

Loved MotoGP, the Jerez track especially. I also liked using a headset in the early days, won't use one now as I don't like listening to your distorted music when I'm playing thanks....let alone the disgusting trash talk that goes on.

 

 

 

Mugello baby!

[jonnyalpha]

I have fond memories of playing Moto GP on the UK beta, at least the couple of tracks that they included, with people from the Edge forum or had we already moved to here? I remember racing Kryptonian in particular and I can't believe it's 20 years ago.

[Uxorious]

Loved MotoGP, though @Hitcher fell off at every corner! Good times, good times. 

[geldra]

Another beta tester here. Yep Moto GP was insane at the time. 
 

I remember picking up the US import of Unreal Championship after some peeps on the pre beta bigged it up but the released version was a bit downgraded by all accounts. Was still amazing though. @simmsi seem to remember playing you on UC? Is that right? Or am I just making that up?

 

20 years though. Fuck me. I feel like I’ve lived three or four different lives since then. 

[simms]

7 hours ago, geldra said:

Another beta tester here. Yep Moto GP was insane at the time. 
 

I remember picking up the US import of Unreal Championship after some peeps on the pre beta bigged it up but the released version was a bit downgraded by all accounts. Was still amazing though. @simmsi seem to remember playing you on UC? Is that right? Or am I just making that up?

 

20 years though. Fuck me. I feel like I’ve lived three or four different lives since then. 

yes I was on UC. I was on all of the early Xbox live games and we most likely played together or on other games

[simms]

I forgot to mention MotoGP had incredible controls - Left stick was accelerate and brake? And the triggers where front and rear brake, it worked incredibly well once you got used to it.