The folks at OXM took it upon themselves to fire up a bunch of older Xbox 360 titles and see if there was anyone to be found in each game's multiplayer.
Among the slew of games they tested were F.E.A.R., Tenchu Z, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. For each title, they noted how long they waited and how many players they ran into, making for a pretty interesting little article.
We've all purchased games from the bargain bin before, so the experience of finding empty lobbies shouldn't be anything new, especially if you've ever been late to the party for an Xbox LIVE Arcade game.
It wouldn't be so annoying if developers didn't spend so much time touting their game's multiplayer component and making achievements like "get 500 headshots online" when it's painfully obvious that people aren't going to want to play for more than a week or two.
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Contest:
10:43 AM on 08.12.2008
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Of course, it was pretty shitty too so I can understand.
Xbox Live doesn't use dedicated servers, so no one can "pull the plug." People just stop playing the game; that's why it's hard to get a match going.
Oh man, I was thinking about PC...lol
A game that becomes old news that no one wants to play can't really be helped.
Marvel Alliance has plenty of people online. As a comics guy I love that game and know I'm not the only one. I bet if I looked now I could find a game. I'll play online with anybody that wants to.
I played Tenchu Z online earlier this year and managed to find plenty of games. A fun rental title.
As for F.E.A.R. I've yet to play it.
I occasionally will check http://www.360voice.com/games.asp to see what everyone who has a 360 voice blog is playing. Not sure how official or reliable but is pretty cool to check out.
I wish I could find those people playing Condemned 2 that HarassmentPanda discovered though, every time I tried it was empty.
There were two map packs released for Marathon but they unfortunately cost money. I'm sure if they were free the game would get some action from those few of us who own it.
THe ports of good PC FRP like Bioshock FEAR/orange box/call of duty 4 look and play like ASS on consoles.
There is tons of people playing PC FEAR right now I just played it like last night online.
Of course nobody is playing it on consoles DUH OXM.
Hell and Who puts up with that xbox live console LOBBy crap to be empty?? that is reason enough not to play FEAR on a console ever again, it is not even running real servers.
Nice job, PC elitist.
=]
I tried playing Marvel: UA online around this time last year but I never found anyone to stay. I'd find 1 person then they'd leave. never find anyone afterwards.
Surprisingly enough, I saw a group of people playing Ridge Racer 6 online last week.
ha ha
Well nice job paying for marthon when you could have got it free all legal like years ago with an updated graphic engine and still be playing it online since on PC/MAC people play it still.
Hell you can even get more than 1 of the games WOW.
http://trilogyrelease.bungie.org/
Nice job console boy.
It all depends on the time of day and if it is the weekend or weekdays.
Believe it or not some people prefer a controller. Some people prefer sitting on their couches over sitting at their desk with a keyboard.
Is that all of that OK with you? Or does it offend you that other people have different tastes? Perhaps some people don't have the money to spend on a gaming PC. Get over it.
Not all of us have mommies and daddies that will buy us gaming rigs, sadly. Some of us have to work for our shit.
Stop talking, you weasely cunt. Give me a call the next time you have to upgrade your PC in order to play a game, or you get the blue screen of death, or your video card is incompatible with something, or you get a virus, or the next time you're not being a degenerate asshole of a fanboy.
Short form: PC is not superior. It's all a matter of preference. Stop being a dick.
Cubes first comment wasn't at all out of line, he was just reppin his shit.
I wont be the first to admit, i might be the 4th or 5th-- but to be honest most FPSs are alot more accurate and sharp on a PC. I totally understand the whole comfort of sitting on a couch or the damn floor to get your game on, so don't get me wrong.
But last time I checked, there was a PC tab at the top of this site along with all the consoles.
Whats with all the hate?
Also @ KMCC
yeah i know, i've probably seen you on third strike too =]
It's often pretty hard to get a game going on there. But i understand why, as alot of my friends stopped playing Third Strike online because of the lag =[
In all seriousness though, a well managed PC can be just as reliable as a console...if not more reliable in some cases (RROD)...and to keep a computer up to speed with the majority of high end games you could technically say it costs the same, or even less than buying consoles (because of extra controllers, accessories, online services, and the like).
But then of course there's the other side of the arguement...everything sharpless said about PC issues for one thing (if you don't know what you're doing), and of course consoles are like 90% hassle free compared to computers. Plus, in my case anyway, controllers are much easier to use for every genre of game (besides FPS and RTS).
I love how simple comments can just explode on the interweb.
Sort of like Eye Of Judgment.
Cool, hope to see you on again.
Anyways, the upside to these "abandoned" Xbox Live games is that it means you're more likely to get ranked matches with your friends if you set stuff up right, allowing you to grind through certain difficult, boring, time-consuming achievements easier. Example: I was able to get the "win 10 matches in a row" achievement in Bomberman Live by having a friend make a very specific matchtype and then searching for that matchtype, matching me up with him and letting me get some easy wins in a row in.