Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with xbox

Halno

Christ, what an asshole — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:26:32 -0800

I just got an Xbox 360. I'm not the biggest fan of first-person shooters, Grand Theft Auto, and pseudo-instrument games like Guitar Hero, but I do love novel, esoteric games. What are some of the unsung heroes in the XB360 library that I should invest in? I used to be a hardcore gamer back in my heyday, but I just lack focus and time, so I'd call myself a casual gamer these days.

Games I've really enjoyed over the past few years: Mario Galaxy, Bangai-O Spirits, Viewtiful Joe, Shadow of the Collosus

The case of the haunted xbox.

cirrostratus — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:48:39 -0800

My internet connection is haunted! I lose connectivity the second I turn on my xbox, even when the network cable is unplugged. How can that be? The situation: we have Mediacom service in my apartment that provides a connection for two computers and xbox live on two xboxes via a netgear router. This works fine most of the time until the second I turn on the second xbox and the internet goes out every time. When this happens and the mediacom modem starts blinking just the internet light until we reset it. Eventually the internet seems to come back after reseting the modem and it seems to come back faster if there are less than four things hooked up to the router.

Here's the weird part: the connection breaks even if we have the xbox's network cable unplugged.

How can an xbox that isn't even hooked up to the router effect our connection?

More importantly, how can I prevent this from happening in the future so I can get down to business and kill some zombies in Left 4 Dead?

I'm going to bloody well fix this Xbox myself.

Frasermoo — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:11:33 -0800

Help me fix my Xbox 360. I'm looking for documentation on a tried and tested fix for the red rings on the 360. Having been through multiple consoles, I've decided to try the X clamp fix myself. Has anyone here done it themselves? What instructions did you follow? Was it successful?

Xbox 360 games for the retired and slightly arthritic?

Acarpous — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:18:41 -0800

Inexplicably, my sixty-six year old father has just bought an Xbox 360. What games could I buy for it that my parents would enjoy? I suspect that this purchase may have been motivated by his love of Tiger Woods PGA Tour that he once spent hours and hours engaged with but which they have now stopped making for the PC. He now has his beloved golf game, but I would like to buy him (and my mother) another game or two for Christmas. I do not play games of any flavour though and know nothing about them or what's available.

The main point for consideration is that my parents are both in their sixties and while my father in particular enjoys fiddling with new gadgets they'll get frustrated if they can't make something work quickly. Tiger Woods type of complexity is fine because it's slow and no in-game baddie is going to come along and take your head off with a chainsaw if you don't remember how make that putt quickly enough. But anything that requires you to press X five times to the tune of Carmina Burana while touching your toes in order to make the character jump onto something is out because even if they remember how it works they simply don't have the dexterity and it'll get discarded quickly. Years ago my mother could spend days playing the original Doom with just the arrow keys and spacebar but could not cope with performing the simplest actions in Doom 3 as the controls and the various elements had become so overwhelmingly vast and complicated.

Any genre is good, with the exception of any Guitar Hero type music making thing (dexterity again but more importantly, because all music made after 1960 is the work of Satan apparently) and preferably those they can play alone rather than together. Or maybe there are games designed for children that therefore have simple gameplay mechanisms but which are engaging and of a high enough level to hold an adult's attention too?

Does Xbox 360 have a proxy option with authentications?

omaralarifi — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:17:06 -0800

Does Xbox 360 have a proxy option with authentications such as username and password with it? Or PPTP w/ authentications. Also does it have a VPN support?

xBox around the world?

fantasticninety — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:05:28 -0800

PS3 allows players to play with players from other countries. xBox 360 appears to restrict players in North America to only play with other players from North America. Is there a workaround here? It's fun to play with players from all around the world, and unfortunately xBox seems to prevent this from happening. Does anyone know any workarounds to this? Thanks so much for any help!

What are some ways I can extend the functionality of an Xbox 360?

HC Foo — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:22:25 -0800

Is there anything cool you can do with a banned xbox 360? I'm considering picking up a banned xbox 360 for about $30 from a friend. I already have a non-modded 360, so I don't need a gaming machine. I'm interested in adding functionality through hacks.

Is there anything cool you can do with a modded 360 (Linux, homebrew, media center, etc.)? I'm not interested in playing burned games.

Any suggestions for websites where I can learn more would be awesome as well.

Immersive Xbox environments

Hugobaron — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:59:36 -0800

Gamers: I am an Xbox newbie. Please recommend first-person games with excellently-achieved immersive environments. I'm new to first-person gaming (recreational, playing on Normal, enjoying exploration of well-realized scenarios rather than merely cut-throat battling and dying constantly - but some fighting is OK). I have just acquired an Xbox 360, and already I am loving GTA4, Arkham Asylum, Halo 3. When these are exhausted, what else will I enjoy? Which older releases should I now get on the cheap?

I want to click it and forget it for a while

Team of Scientists — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:19:11 -0800

I'm looking for games that progress in real time, similar to Farmville on Facebook. They can be browser-based or on XBox 360.

I used to play Ogame at ogame.org, in which you mine for resources that you need to build a starfleet in order to go raid other planets. The really impressive ships would take days at a time to complete. The problem with Ogame (besides the stupid name) was the level of attention it required lest some hardcore player raid your fleet when you least expect it. So basically I'd like something a little more casual, like Farmville, which I find kind of addicting (today I made a block M out of maize and blueberries).

If you don't know exactly what I mean, I'm looking for other games that sort of do their work while the player is not present. For example, in Farmville, you plant your crops, and, say, 8 real life hours later, they have grown and can be harvested. Do you know any games that use a similar mechanic?

can I use an Atom eeeBox as a Media Center "server" for an XBOX 360 "client"?

bartleby — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:21:48 -0800

XBOX 360 as Media Center hackery: what's the minimum hardware I can get away with to serve as the Media Center PC "server" to the 360's "client"? NOTE: I am aware of things like MythTV, XBMC and TVersity that can act as replacements for a Media Center PC, and display content from there. But I'm not asking about those on a full PC as a solution - I'm asking about something minimalist to act as a Media Center "server" and using the XBOX 360 as a "client" that does the streaming and display.

I'm going to do a case mod on my 360 because the thing is so damn LOUD it makes a lousy home theatre. I got a replacement case (Lian Li XB01)that promises to be much quieter.

Opening it up, it definitely looks like there's room for something small and quiet like an eeeBox or a mini(micro?)-ITX motherboard to also live inside the case, running headless and acting as the Media Center PC, adding MCE features to the XBOX 360. But it's gotta be small, very quiet, and have minimal cooling needs.

I already have an eeeBox (Atom N270 @ 1.6 ghz, 1gb RAM) at home. I'm not using it for anything, since I first got it to use as a mini HTPC and found out that it's NOT up to doing something like watching Hulu on an HDTV; between the streaming, processing, and HD output, it's underpowered.

But as I understand it, the XBOX would be doing all the video output processing; so I'd just need something to be the Media Center "backend", on the same router/switch as the 360, and stream from that backend to the 360's frontend.
Do I have that right?

If I could get everything I want, it would:
-enable Hulu watching through the 360, like PlayOn does on a windows box

-allow me to hook up a Hauppauge USB TV Tuner stick or ATI TVWonder unit and record/watch HDTV (since the eee's Atom would have a hard time doing video transcoding on the fly, if it could just capture and then play back after chewing on it for a day, that would be fine - I'm almost never watching anything the day it's on anyway.)

- for super extra bonus points, it would run on Linux. Since it's going to be always-on, internet connected, and headless, I'd like to not have to worry about malware, windows crashes and patches, etc. But that may be asking for too much.

Any Media Center or XBOX 360 experts out there able to advise?

Best/Cheapest way to stream video/audio media from PC that also acts as HD backup?

bmilner — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:38:16 -0800

Best/Cheapest way to stream video/audio from PC that also acts as HD backup? (wants: Codec support, cheap, netflix support) My 1TB external HD crashed and since I'll need a replacement, I figured why not finally add the ability to stream content to my TV in the next room. There are so many confusing options out there. Here are my wants & what I know. Any opinions?

MUST HAVE:
1. 1TB or more storage space. I will use this as a backup drive for my Vista PC
2. Ability to play many codecs. I get videos from many places H264, Divx, WMV, Mp4 etc and I'd love to avoid having to convert them.
3. Play Mp3s from a library or folder structure
4. Wi-Fi support. I don't have ethernet by my TV

NICE TO HAVE:
1. Netflix/YouTube support.
2. Ability to handle large music collections I have 100GB of music so poor interfaces that scroll slowly will suck.
3. Variety of outputs so even though my TV is standard DEF component video now, I'll likely go HD in next year or two. (HDMI?)
4. No dependency on iTunes or Windows Media Player running on my PC. I hate those apps. I use Media Monkey.

NOT NEEDED (if adds to cost):
1. BitTorrent
2. Blu-Ray support
3. DVR functions (I have a TiVo series 2)

WHAT I'VE CONSIDERED:
1) Popcorn Hour A-110: Could put a 1TB drive in it. It would appear on network so I could use it as backup drive and media player. Cons: confusing, poor UI, netflix support is unofficial via $40 3rd party program

2) XBox 360: Plays games as a bonus. Means I have to run Windows Media Player on PC, yuck. Has Netflix. Also, limited codec support? Doesn't solve drive backup issue. Would need to buy separate USB drive for PC

3) XBOX w/ XBMC: I don't know how up to date this software is. Does it support netflix? Wifi? Needs seperate drive for PC backup

4) Mvix Ultio Media Player (http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/home-entertainment/bd4f/): Seems like Popcorn hour. Don't know which is better/easier.

5) Ps3 Slim: I've heard codec support's better than Xbox360. NO dependency on Windows Media Player? Netflix Support? Still needs an external drive for main backup

SO, any recommendations? Thanks!

Best (association) football game for the xbox 360?

pompomtom — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:00:26 -0800

Best (association) football game for the xbox 360? I used to enjoy the FIFA games on the original xbox, but the last one I got (08, probably...) sucked. I could never get a cross working, and the whole thing came down to a tiny amount of passing and a lot of trying to outrun people.

I've heard good things about Pro Evo Soccer, but years back, and there are new versions of everything.

So what's the best football game for the Xbox 360? Something which allows me to use recognisable players (Australian teams a huge plus), but also allows me to get the little guys to play football far better than if I just went outside and did it in the real world.

I just want to play UNIRACERS!

Bageena — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:20:30 -0800

Argh. I've installed the drivers, I've searched high and low online, nothing is helping, so I'm coming to ya'll: how can I get my Xbox 360 wireless controller (connected to my PC via the charge and play kit via a USB port) to work on my computer? Specifically, I want to play ROMs with it. ZSNES and project 64 are the two emulators I'm trying to puzzle out right now. I've installed the 360 drivers (I'm running a 64 bit copy of Windows Vista Home Premium), it shows up in my Device Manager under 'Microsoft Common Controller for Windows Class' as 'Xbox 360 Wireless Controller via Play & Charge Kit' and says it's there and fine.
HOWEVER... under Control Panel - Game Controllers, there's nothing. I open it up, there's no controllers on the list. I click advanced, I go to choose my preferred device, again - nothing. Not on the list. When I plug the controller in, the computer makes a noise and the light on the charge part of the controller shows it's plugged in, but the controller doesn't turn on (not sure if it's supposed to actually) and it certainly doesn't seem to be working with my ROMs.

Help Mefi, help! Pretty please?

think outside the xbox?

thinkingwoman — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:51:22 -0800

recommend an xbox game for me! not a lifelong gamer, so i don't have the highly developed hand-eye coordination to enjoy a shooter (or the personality to enjoy one, either), but have enjoyed fable 2 and mass effect. definitely enjoy the rpg/puzzle aspect more than battles--they are an inevitable part of any game, but i lose interest after dying seven or eight times in a row.

what should i play?

NTSC XBox 360 in Europe?

ninotchka — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:30:25 -0800

Using an American (NTSC) Xbox in Europe (land-o-PALS)? I have a 2008 XBox 360 Elite (120GB), bought in the US, NTSC. I'd like to bring it (and my NTSC games) with me to Europe to hook up to the television (which has already been provided) in my new apartment. My landlord was unable to answer me as to whether the TV was able to accept both PALS and NTSC, or only the former.
What I'm bringing: the XBox, the games, all of the cords that came with it (the AV cable, the HDMI cable, etc), a 1000-Watt step-up/step-down transformer (so as to, I hope, safely sidestep any power issues), and the other little peripherals.
Assuming, worst-case, that the TV is not HDMI and, for whatever reason, is PALS-only, do I have the basic physical bits necessary to eke even a mediocre picture and hookup out of the whole thing? Or should I buy some NTSC-to-PALS conversion kit before I leave? Any other problems with this scenario?
Any advice from anyone who's lived in Europe and made a U.S. video game system/XBox 360 work would be tremendous. I'm not disheartened by an imperfect picture, but if I'm missing a whole component I'm eager to know. Thanks, all!

Swapping xbox 360 hard drives...

shmegegge — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:42:49 -0800

What is the process like for swapping hard drives in an xbox 360? With the new dashboard update, and its ability to download full retail games to your hard drive, I'm considering upgrading from my 20 gig 360 hard drive. What's the process for migrating all of my data? is it possible to move my gamertag, save files etc... to the new drive? how does one go about doing this?

Search for Xbox Live gamers via email address

billtron — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:07:38 -0800

Is there a way to search for xbox live friends by email, the way there is for everything else on the internet these days? I am certain that some of my friends and acquaintances have xbox live gamertags, but I don't want to write a general email to everyone who might. Also, if you want another xbox live friend, you can find my gamertag in my profile. Right now I have three friends, and they are never online when I am. Please help me correct this affront to humanity, metafilter.

ok, who put acid in my coffee?

Kellydamnit — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:29:26 -0800

I'm having issues with severe color fluctuations while watching netflix streaming via my xbox. When I watch streaming on my xbox it looks almost like someone has their hand on the color or brightness knob and is cranking it back and forth over and over. Skin tones shift from orange to almost mint green and back again. Trippy and annoying. This does not happen when we watch tv, or when I use the xbox for anything else (games or watching short video clips on xbox live). It also did not happen when we bypass the xbox and watch netflix by just routing a computer to the tv with a s-video cable to the same tv.

I haven't had much luck with anything so far, and it doesn't look like this is a very common problem.

Anyone have any tips or, perhaps, a better way for me to explain what is happening so I can see if netflix or (ugh) xbox can assist?

Details: standard, unmodded xbox, hard-wired internet connection (cable), very old television, and, if it matters, sound via an external surround system.

What's the best game system for Rock Band?

Space Kitty — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:15:02 -0800

The Beatles: Rock Band - help! So after reading this thread, I realize I must have this game. I want to pre-order ASAP so I don't end up waiting forever or paying a premium because it's completely sold out. The problem?

I've finally got to decide which game system to go with: Wii, X-Box, or Playstation. I swear I'm not trying to start a PC/Mac flame war - but I don't know the relative strengths/weaknesses of the systems, or even what qualities will be important to me. I trust the collective intelligence here - how do I pick?

Obviously, I'm not a gamer, but I've enjoyed Rock Band, Katamari Damaci and DDR in the past. I've had a great time playing the Wii but don't know how well Rock Band translates to that system. Your experiences, shopping regrets/triumphs, anything you wish you'd thought of sooner all welcome here.

Thanks!

never meaning no harm

Antidisestablishmentarianist — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:34:43 -0800

What is the best auto racing simulation? I currently have no gaming equipment. After reading this comment, I decided to hone my driving skills with a simulator. Thing is, I have no equipment other than a mac laptop. In a way this is a bonus because I am not tied into any particular solution.

What I want: the most realistic competitive driving experience I can get. I don't care if I need a PC, a PSx, a Wii or ?? The only real reason I would really buy a gaming system, or a PC, would be for this. A great selection of real tracks would also be excellent, I plan to drive competitively on some midwestern circuits, and the preparation would be very helpful. Autocross and rally or rallycross tracks would be nice.

I plan to buy a specialized seat, a force feedback wheel, and a big TV.

So, what is the best driving simulator not taking tracks into account, and what is the best one if you want a wide array of real tracks? Availability of an online gaming experience would be an appreciated extra.

thanks in advance for what I know will be good advice.

Xbox 360 game suggestions?

WickedPissah — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:06:48 -0800

Just looking for some suggestions on a new shooter type Xbox 360 game for someone that plays occasionally. Right now I have three games. GTA IV, Rock Band and Tony Hawk Underground. I play GTA IV more than the other three and want to pick up another game along the same lines.

I don't play GTA that often but every now and then I will pick it up for a stretch and continue with the plot line. What I am looking for is something similair that allows me to follow a plot line if I want or if I have a friend over just go around and shoot stuff. Been looking at Call of Duty, Halo 3, Gears of War (2??), and Fallout 3. Anyone have any input? I don't plan on buying more than one so I would like something with a lot of game play in it, but something that is also just fun as hell when I am not following the plot along.

I am open to other suggestions as well. Thanks in advance probably can't reply for awhile.

Hello Cleveland! Are you ready to rock? And by rock, I mean click really loudly.

Rock Steady — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:41:14 -0800

A couple of Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) instrument silencing questions. Now that I live in an apartment and my video gaming set-up shares a wall with my daughter's bedroom, I need a way to not wake her up and keep my neighbors happy while I continue to rock out (for certain values of the word "rock"). To wit:

1. I have seen numerous drum pad silencers for the Rock Band drum set, but none for the GH:WT drum set. Does anyone know of any, or will the Rock Band silencers work on my drums (I realize they won't do any good on the "cymbals")?

2. Can I somehow disable the click that the strum bar on the standard GH:WT guitar makes? I am willing to take the thing apart, if I must, but I'd like some detailed instructions if I am going to do that.

Should I buy an Xbox 360 Arcade?

teem — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:46:47 -0800

Should I buy the Xbox 360 Arcade, or would a different model Xbox 360 be a better option for me? I want to play games. Based on the games I want to play and what other features I want from a console I've narrowed it down to the Xbox 360. However I've been out of the console loop for a long time and don't know which Xbox 360 model to buy. The Arcade is cheap (plus I can get a couple of free games with it -- regular games, not the bundled arcade games), but there must be downsides.

What I want to do with my console is, not surprisingly, play games. GTA IV, racing, FPS, and action/adventure games are my cup of tea. I'm not likely to use it for online gaming, and I'm not interested in my console being a media centre. That is, I won't be downloading movies or music onto it. I just want to buy games, play them, saving every now and then. Multimedia I can live without, but I'd hate to find that the cheaper model can't play certain games now or in the future.

As an aside, I used to be a big PC gamer and feel much more comfortable with the keyboard/mouse combo for games such as GTA or FPSs, so the possibility of buying and using those peripherals would be great. That said, I'll survive if it can't be done.

Any advice would be great, keeping in mind that I really have no idea about how things work on the Xbox 360.

Can't switch between XBox and Computer on my LCD Monitor

ODiV — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:33:06 -0800

How can I switch between my XBox 360 and my Computer on my LG 22" widescreen monitor? I have a 3rd party VGA adapter for my XBox. It only works with the LCD monitor (Model L226wtx-bf) if there is no signal on the DVI from the computer.

I can run another computer into the VGA input and switch between both computers just fine using the Source button. If I try to do the same thing with the XBox, It will not switch to Analog. I get a black screen for a second or two and then it goes back to the DVI.

If I have the XBox running and displaying on the LCD, I can boot up the computer and the VGA continues to work until I switch over to DVI. Then I can't get back to the XBox.

old mac Mini is too Mini for TV

penciltopper — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:06:44 -0800

I have an old G5 PowerPC Mac Mini that would be just right to repurpose as a DVR/HTPC. But the weak onboard graphics are preventing joy. Is there a way I can offload the graphics processing workload to an auxillary device? It's an old G5 powerpc mini, still works just fine; but it's an orphan at the moment, with no purpose in life.
So I thought I'd try hooking it up to my TV and using it as a HTPC of sorts.

DVI output to my TV at 1080i works for DVD player, torrented .AVIs via VLC, etc.

But if I try to watch Hulu through it, the picture is choppy if it works at all. Especially for 480p streams.

I'd also like to use something like Elgato's EyeTV to capture over-the-air HD TV broadcasts and play them back later. (Watching the signal live is unnecessary, but would be a bonus.)

But I'm pretty sure the Mini can't handle that processing load?

Elgato seems to have a couple of devices like the turbo.264 that mention that they do the transcoding/processing of the video, offloading it from the attached Mac's processor.

Would this help? If not, is there some other kind of external graphics card or add-on device I can use to externalize the graphics processing workload, so the old hardware in the Mini isn't crippling?

Desired end state is that I am able to watch recorded OTA HD shows and "live" Hulu/other video streams

I have a NAS drive to hold recordings, and an XBox 360 (all three are on same wired network) if that helps.

1080i preferred, HD only (I can skip analog)
$250 max budget (so I'm not just going to buy a new Intel Mini)

Anyone have any experience or suggestions?