Three Six Zero

[jsbowden]

So, the kiddo has been wanting an Xbox360 for a while. He's got quite a chunk of change in birthday money that he's never spent, so we used that to cover part of the cost. I picked up an Elite version for him yesterday. Yeah, it's a bit more expensive than the standard box (and the Arcade wasn't even an option), but it comes with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda along with all the other extras the Elite throws in the box over the standard configuration, so it was worth the extra dollars. The color also matches all our AV gear, which is a nice side benny.

So, I guess maybe I'll have to pick up whatever it is y'all play regularly and join in?

Once I get it networked. Which I haven't figured out how I'm going to do. I'm not about to spend the $100 Microsoft want for what's a $15 USB WiFi adapter under the injection molded plastic. I guess I'll have to run a cable to the second machine upstairs and bring the wireles bridge it's plugged into to the AV gear. That would get the PS2 on the network also. What I need is a four foot relay rack in the basement with a nice rj48 patch panel wired to dual or quad jacks in every room, and a gbit switch that I can cross connect any of them with (and hey, it makes phone lines easy too, since POTS runs over cat6 just as well as it does over cat3, and rj11/12 plugs into rj48 just fine). Of course, trying to retrofit that kind of wiring into the house would be expensive. But I'm pretty sure it'd also be worth it.

This here post be locked me hardys, as my kiddo can't see it that way.

Comments

[buzz.livejournal.com]

Rock Band, yo.

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

You'll want Halo 3, for sure. Also, it looks like we'll be playing Left 4 Dead and Gears of War 2 in the post-holiday period.

Then there's the non-action-gaming. Catan and Ticket To Ride are your pics there.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Man...I just wish I could join your 360 gaming sessions from my PC. I hate game controllers. Gimme my mouse and keyboard controls, please. I guess I'll have to adjust. I'm just curious if I can log in to my Steam account from the 360 and have access to all the games I already have associated with it on my PC. THAT would be pretty damn cool.

[paoconnell.livejournal.com]

If you have a USB connector on the XBox (and I really don't know if it has one), Belkin sells a wireless G adapter for about $40 or so that can connect to a USB port directly, or through a supplied cable. We bought one at Best Buy, IIRC.

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

Oh, trust me, you are far from alone in that sentiment. Every time I notice the auto-aim kicking in in Halo I feel like a God damned cheater. But you get used to it. Sort of.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

While I don't doubt that you CAN play Rock Band over the network...WHY would you? It seems like the sort of game that totally wants to be played with a bunch of people hanging out together in one room.

[buzz.livejournal.com]

While getting people together to play in one room is much more fun, that's not always a possibility. So finding folk over Live to play with fills in the gaps.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

I got the Monsters the Pro box, also with Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indy. Then I bought an extra controller, a Gold membership, Halo 3, Orange Box, Soul Calibur IV, Viva Pinata 2 and Bioshock. Yay Black Friday sales online!

That's all getting wrapped in boxes, and they'll have to go scavenger hunting for everything except the 360. The last box will be the games, wrapped together, and sitting on the pool table.

I can't wait for Thursday.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

I have a Linksys USB wireless adapter, but I doubt the 360 is going to use it. MS are going to want me to pay a premium for theirs. The 360 and the PS2 both have ethernet interfaces on them, so it's easier to just move the bridge to them.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda hoping that Valve uses Steam on the 360 just like the PC. I don't need to buy the Orange Box for it if so, since I already have it for the PC. I just have no idea yet.

[pokeypenguin.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what does and doesn't work, but you definitely can get some USB wireless adapters to play nice. (I'm pretty sure Linksys is one of them, even.) Which is not to talk you out of running the cable instead.

[pokeypenguin.livejournal.com]

I don't *think* they do. But if you find a way, you'll have the disk space for it, so that's nice.

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

I am, in fact, almost certain that they do not. More's the pity.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Wireless? What are you, some sort of apple laptop wanna be cool guy weenie? Wire that connection the way the hardware gods intended.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE to wire the connection. There's no easy way to do it, and ripping out walls to run cable across multiple rooms and then running it to a different floor just isn't on my list of things I'm in the mood for currently.