Xband Still Playable?

[AcePuppy]

Anyone know if it is still possible to rig the X-Band modem to still play online with other players? And anyone know why it has yet to be emulated yet? I still think it was one of the best online systems ever made to this day.

It would be nice to see it return, even though it probably won't just some incite would be nice if it is possible to rig it to work today and if so how?

[ncman071]

i'm pretty sure you can't play xband today. the network itself was discontinued. however, i've seen where some people believe there are loop holes in the technology on xband.com. unfortunately i was never able to experience xband. my first online gaming experience was with the dreamcast.

[AcePuppy]

i'm pretty sure you can't play xband today. the network itself was discontinued. however, i've seen where some people believe there are loop holes in the technology on xband.com. unfortunately i was never able to experience xband. my first online gaming experience was with the dreamcast.

Ya I've read some of those posts and I'm sure there is some loopholes as there was a loophole in the product that allowed you to have unlimited nationwide hours even if you had a certain limit on your account.

[Greg2600]

Ehh, xband.com has a forum, although it looks like 90% of the posts are porno spam? I'm sure it could be made to function again, if someone got a hold of the original host software. Which is doubtful. The other problem is how would you connect? Dialup is simply not feasible anymore. As an alternative, the most popular emulators have network capabilities.

[AcePuppy]

Ehh, xband.com has a forum, although it looks like 90% of the posts are porno spam? I'm sure it could be made to function again, if someone got a hold of the original host software. Which is doubtful. The other problem is how would you connect? Dialup is simply not feasible anymore. As an alternative, the most popular emulators have network capabilities.

Ya I know the popular emulators have network capabilities, but it's just not the same without the funny looking icon avatars, rankings, news, etc. Ahhh how I wish it was the mid-90s again. Sighhhhh.

[DreamTR]

I hate to say it, dial-up on Xband had better latency then anything XBOX Live and PS Network can throw at you...It was direct connect, and the only time you felt lag is if the other person did not have call waiting turned OFF.

I know you can play ZBattle online for SNES on a PC, but PC and console are not the same thing...I would much rather see someone get this thing working again one day for Genesis and SNES, but how much work would that take?

[AcePuppy]

I hate to say it, dial-up on Xband had better latency then anything XBOX Live and PS Network can throw at you...It was direct connect, and the only time you felt lag is if the other person did not have call waiting turned OFF.

I know you can play ZBattle online for SNES on a PC, but PC and console are not the same thing...I would much rather see someone get this thing working again one day for Genesis and SNES, but how much work would that take?

It would be nice to see, and I bet you it would have a nice following should it get to work again. Hell I would actually buy into getting a landline should someone get it going again. I mean with phone companies now having unlimited long distance plans, no one would have to worry about paying a per minute charge, so that part of things is easily feasible. Anyone who worked for Catapult on these forums?

[Greg2600]

I hate to say it, dial-up on Xband had better latency then anything XBOX Live and PS Network can throw at you...It was direct connect, and the only time you felt lag is if the other person did not have call waiting turned OFF.

I know you can play ZBattle online for SNES on a PC, but PC and console are not the same thing...I would much rather see someone get this thing working again one day for Genesis and SNES, but how much work would that take?

I can't imagine Dialup being better. Maybe if you're playing NES Baseball? For any PC games from the last 10 years, dialup is almost unplayable. Odds are that today's games are just too big. I only played XBL a couple times years ago on the free trial, and quite due to the amount of 12 year olds mucking the game up. I prefer PC games online (much more civilized).

Ace, the only novelty to playing on Xband would be that you are using your own console. Otherwise nah. I've never personally looked into it, but there are probably gamerooms on IRC or something with the current emulators, where you can join games. Frankly, without network play, I'd have no interest in Virtual Console or XBLA vintage games. Rather play them on an emu or original console if I have them.

[ProgrammingAce]

I would much rather see someone get this thing working again one day for Genesis and SNES, but how much work would that take?

Honestly, you put the right people on it with the right tools and they could get it back up and running.

[DreamTR]

Greg2600: I'm not sure you ever played it, but all the top fighting game players and sports players back in the day will swear to it. I would never compare anything to PC. Fighting games have the most stringent movements and are most susceptible to lag issues. Xband used a simple modem that has no interference with your cable company or stoppages or any of that jazz with the connections. Don't be fooled. The "Internet" is slow and outdated, and these high speed connections are not as great as everyone is led to believe on certain things.

Xband has much more appeal over some download client and bs because of the way it was setup with Xmail, Bandwith News, Top players of the week, cities being easy to see in profiles, I mean, XBOX Live is not bad for their interface, but the interface and playability is what made Xband. There is no comparison to this day. Even right down to the music...it really gave the illusion you were part of some secret game society with it. Even the marketing was well placed, just too bad it was near the end of the SNES and Genesis system lifecycle.

[otoko]

@.@ A lot to read. Anyway, it could be done even though it is a dial connection. There's a project my sister found *we got halfway though and it was working* that routed the Dreamcast modem through a desktop's modem and allowed it to connect to any ISP. Maybe this could be done with the Xband. The only thing is you had to put in a battery system to give power to the Dreamcast modem. Maybe it will be the same with the Xband? I wish I still had the link to the project page. Yet, alas that was a year and a half and another computer ago.

[AcePuppy]

I'm sure there is someone out there who has had the thought or has tried to do some reverse engineering to get it work. It always seems the simple things are hard to bring back.

[Boozle061083]

Well there is a way to connect the Dreamcast to a computer with a high speed connection through some software and using the computer as the server or something along those lines and no you don't get high speed through it. You still get the maximum baud rate the modem can handle. Don't remember anything about a battery powering the modem. The modem is powered by the system.

Anyways, so it would be possible in theory to do the same here. Apparently there is a way to access a built in hex editor in inside the XBAND to alter the number dialed which is key. It has been years since the leader of the revival has surfaced. Last I checked he was wading through the BIOS and had a test server up and only needed to dial into it with the hacked XBAND to test. Then he went silent. I am now making a sad attempt to gather as much info as I can and possibly contact some Devs about the project who might be willing to give up some of the source or whatever they might have. If I run into any luck I will set up a Paypal account so they can be compensated for their work for the project. We will have to see.

The most important thing is to buy up EVERY XBAND you can get your hands on to submit for dumping because the XBAND used hacked code to support the networking of the games and the codes where for individual games. When a game was connected the XBAND would then download the codes from the server and was then stored in memory. As these items age, the likelihood of the internal battery keeping these codes after all these years gets slimmer and slimmer. Now that the server is gone and without any documentation left, once the info for a game is gone, it is gone for good.

[otoko]

Well there is a way to connect the Dreamcast to a computer with a high speed connection through some software and using the computer as the server or something along those lines and no you don't get high speed through it. You still get the maximum baud rate the modem can handle. Don't remember anything about a battery powering the modem. The modem is powered by the system.

No. Incorrect, of course this might depend on your dreamcast. My sister and I both worked on this. The modem is powered by the electricity flowing through the phone cord. The regular PC modem does not produce this (any I know anyway) so.. What you had to do is wire a battery 9v I think.. into the phone cord.

[Boozle061083]

I suppose THIS (http://dreamcast.onlineconsoles.com/phpBB2/guides_pcdcwin98.php) is what you are referring to. Guess I was mistaken. :ass: Those guys at OC know their stuff. They where the ones that helped me get back online with PSO.

[Malakalips]

I've been very interested in XBAND since I played back in the day. Among the research I've done is who ended up with ownership of the product and technology. I believe it went like this: Catapult->MPath->Gamespy->(Fox Interactive Media/Fox/News Corp./Rupert Murdoch)

I believe Gamespy still uses technology based on the intellectual property of XBAND that they and their parent companies own. :o

[Greg2600]

Wrestling With Gaming, a fairly good Youtuber, did a really nice interview series on X-Band last year, including hearing from several of the original team.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_5M-z_RUKA

The project mentioned in the video attempting to revive X-Band is dead, but someone else is working on an alternative.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaCooCA5bcw

[ArcadePerfect]

How was the X-Band back in the day? Was it comparable to the Sega Saturn Netlink in terms of speed?

[Greg2600]

How was the X-Band back in the day? Was it comparable to the Sega Saturn Netlink in terms of speed?

By all accounts it was remarkably reliable, though I think latency would become an issue if you were in USA playing say someone in UK or Japan.