Matt's+X-Box+Live+Experience

JOURNAL - I've had this Handwritten for a while, and was too lazy to type it. I should have just been typing it from the beginning. Idiocy.

__Entry 1 – Feb 4__ Signed up for X-Box live today, or more accurately, re-registered my account which has been dormant for some time. My X-Box live user name is Freed Bombs, although this is not what I had originally intended. When I first signed up, I was eager to get started and figured I would be able to change my name, not knowing that Microsoft charges for this privilege, which is totally ridiculous. But I digress. I also bought the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as it seems to be THE game of the year, and I was very impressed by what I saw from a friend who owns it.

__Entry 2 - Feb 13__ Modern Warfare 2 is predictably awesome and highly addicting. Between my roommates and myself, It is on almost constantly in my apartment. Having already played earlier games in the series, I dove right into the online multiplayer. And I still get my ass kicked! When I first started playing, I felt totally mismatched. Not knowing the layout of the levels can be pretty disorienting when it feels like everyone else knows them cold. Some people will simply hide in a good spot and mow you down as you run past. This is pretty frustrating, and my neighbors probably wonder why I’m constantly yelling obscenities.

The first hour or two, I felt helpless. I was getting killed much more often than I was dishing out the pain. Now that I have been putting some time in, though, I am playing much better. As you play and gain experience, you earn experience points (100 pts for killing someone, 20 pts for an assist, 100 pts for a long shot, etc.). When you get enough points, you level up and unlock new weapons, perks (ex: bullets do more damage, running faster), accessories (silencers, scopes), and camouflages. I am currently on level 9 of 70, so I’ve got a long way to go. One of my favorite aspects of the game, and something I’ve never seen in another first person shooter (FPS), is the Killstreak Reward. Let me un-geek this for you: when you get consecutive kills without dying, you are given a “reward,” which is anything from radar that shows you the position of enemies to armored helicopters which fly around and take out opponents as you play. If you want to play with the big dogs, you must learn to stay alive and cash in on these rewards. Everything, EVERYTHING, from weapons to Killstreak Rewards, is customizable. And that is exactly why this is such a popular and re-playable game.

__Entry 3- Feb 15__ It is probably a little late in the game, but I finally set up my X-Box Live Avatar today. Naturally, I made myself a kind of rock star. The avatars are very customizable, you can change all of your features and clothing, and then there is an “avatar marketplace” where you where you can buy accessories with Microsoft points, including clothing, or things for your avatar to play with, like a cat, guitar, remote control crab. Apparently you can unlock avatar awards by playing games · My Avatar = Freed Bombs o Long hair, big sunglasses, handlebar moustache, moccasins, jean jacket · Gamer Picture vs Avatar o Gamer picture is what people see when they look you up in a game, they don’t see your avatar, unless you “take a picture” of your avatar and use that as your gamer picture, which is what I did. Whereas in Halo 3, where you customize your actual playing Avatar (Species, armor, gender), In Modern Warfare 2 you play as a generic army guy or terrorist, and your online identity is specified by a title and emblem of your choosing. As you accomplish tasks in the game, you unlock different titles and emblems. For example, since I killed enough people with booby-trap claymores, I have unlocked the title “Mastermind,” which I am currently using. The titles also say something about the target market for this game, as a lot of them are explicit pot references, adorned with pictures of marijuana leaves. Videogames such as Modern Warfare 2 are targeted toward the college-age stoner even more so than the expected children.

__Entry 4 – Feb 23__ I must say, I think online gaming has revolutionized the medium. I haven’t played the single player for more than two minutes, because playing against the computer just feels so insignificant when I can play with real people all over the world. The environments are really impressive: I love being dropped into these painstakingly designed cyberspaces where I can battle with other real people via avatars. It is so choice. And you can interact with the environment too, to some degree. If you shoot a window, it will break, allowing for a better view of the outside. Plus, there are things like gas barrels set up at strategic locations so you can blow stuff up real good. There are also a handful of different game modes. There is the standard “Team Deathmatch,” where two teams are pitted against each other and must reach a point value of 7500 through kills. Then, there are other games like Domination and Headquarters, which are variations of Capture the Flag.

Fortunately for me, a bunch of my buddies from home have also bought the game, and we have all become “friends” over the network. I can look at their gamer cards, which show me their statistics from any game they have played, and I can hear them interact with each other vocally. I plan on buying a microphone very soon so I can join in on the conversation.

__Entry 5- March 14__ So, I bought a microphone shortly after my last entry, which plugs right into the X-Box controller, and it has pretty much changed everything. Now, being “friends” with someone over X-Box live actually has some significance. And its wonderful! My playing habits have completely changed, as I now mostly play when I have time and my friends from home are available. It may sound kind of sad, but aside from Facebook, X-Box has unquestionably become the most consistent way I interact with high school friends.

Since they have long ago been added to my Friends List, I am notified every time TheDoctor887, RagingTC, or WHATAGOODEEG comes online (among others). Even when offline, we can all leave each other messages and voice notes; but online we can form parties where we basically have a conference call while in the game. We can have private chats, but usually leave our party open so that anyone else playing with a microphone can jump in on our conversation. If we get fed up with that, it is easy to simply mute anyone we do not want to talk to. Our conversations usually consist of college stories or news from home while people yell at us to shut up, and of course we all occasionally rant about other players.

The amount of trash talk that goes on over the network is truly staggering. For whatever reason, it is a joy to hear pre-pubescent players cursing like sailors and spouting racial slurs. A lot of terrible things have been said about my mom since I signed up. But it is really all a harmless game to up the ante, nobody takes any of the comments seriously, and for good reason. The greatest victory you can have over X-Box live may not even have anything to do with the game: If I can say something so horrible that I leave another trash-talking player stuttering for a comeback, I am the real champ.

Of course, meaningful conversations are not entirely out of the question. yesterday I was complaining to my friend Kevin about Microsoft Points, which are the currency of X-Box live, and another player interjected to answer my conversion question. If you were curious, one dollar buys you eighty Microsoft Points. Who knew?

Still, as a “community,” X-Box Live is more about interacting with already known friends than with newcomers. If you really want to boost your online identity, you can form Clans with other players, showing off your affiliation to one another. Having a Clan tag, which is a four letter combination that appears before your gamer tag, gives you a better chance of being on the same team with your friends. If you are not on the same team, you cannot talk to each other over the game (unless you set up a private party). My friends and I are team GUMP. Two people that I do not know have friended me, and while I would usually ignore these people, I accepted their requests. Still, I have not spoken to either of them since accepting their requests, and don't really have any desire to.

__Random Notes on the X-Box Dashboard__, which is the first thing you see when you turn the machine on

Dashboard in X-Box Live · My friends o Shamel’s Avatar looks exactly like him its unreal o If a player is not online, their avatar is sleeping o I can see how long they have been offline for § Gamer profile ú Invite to party ú Invite to private chat ú Send message ú Compare Games ú Submit player review ú File complaint ú Mute ú Remove friend · Inside xbox · My community o All of my friends · Welcome · Spotlight o Advertisements · My xbox · Game marketplace o You can buy games, download trailers, and get Downloadable content o Could buy the “Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package for 1200 Microsoft Points § Includes 5 new maps § You can download a trailer o Download arcade games o Avatar Games § Avatar Golf for 400 microsoft points · Video marketplace o Zune, Netflix, can rent or buy movies and viral videos like Machinima · Music marketplace o Can get Last.fm and other music subscriptions and download music

Set up Last.fm today on the x-box. This is way cool! Its like having my monitor on the big screen. Now I can look up artists in my living room and check out new music. Every time you play a song or radio station there is a toolbar on the bottom that lets you get info on the band, love a song, ban a song, skip, or leave the station. Also a slide show of promo pics Artists Found: Surfer Blood, The Morning Benders, Fruit Bats, Unicorns