Xband Still Playable?

[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.