Ask X3F: NXE FAQ edition

We don't answer a ton of NXE questions this week, but we do get around to some very specific ones. We answer one question about notifications (also known as bleep-bloops) and the Guide button and the we've got a pair of questions about installing games to the hard drive. Even our old buddy the HD DVD drive makes a guest appearance! Speaking of strange resurrections, we even have a question that involves Shadowrun. Seriously, Shadowrun. Finally, we've got the nicest, most complimentary email ever (protip: flattery is the easiest way to get your question published).

Got a question for Ask X3F? Maybe you have a story or some information you'd like to share? Send it all to ask [att] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.

Hey guys!,

I'm kind of new to your podcast but have enjoyed it thoroughly. However, I heard episode 91 when you started talking about the Left 4 Dead demo. Then I went home and downloaded the demo, forgetting what was said about how stupid people on Xbox Live are. To my demise I ran into the player who does not know the meaning of Co-op. So what we did when we died, playing on Expert(which I have to say, should be called WHAT THE "F**K"), we took all the medi-packs before he could get to the table, shot him until his health was down to a few red dots, and left him there. Hereby, making him quit, and we ended up playing with the computer which was fine with us.

Also, I wanted to thank you for your episode on the bigotry on Xbox Live as well. These Xbox Live gangsters need to leave the steroids and drugs alone and stop ruining the experience for others. Because if 95% of these people saw anyone they talk to like this in person, those words would never come out of there mouths. The disrespect to a person's nationality and to female gamers is ridiculous. However, it is good to see people who are not afraid to speak out against this ignorance and stand for what is right and proper. Thanks for your hard work and your positive influence to the gaming industry.

Much Respect,
Big Rone
Gamertag: Crazed Massacre

That is the single nicest letter we've ever received. You make us sound all legitimate and respectable and junk. Big thanks, Big Rone! Also, for future reference, in the Left 4 Dead pause menu, you can "call a vote" for all kinds of things, including booting a disruptive player. Sure, maybe it's not as much fun as blasting him, but it's more democratic!

Hey X3F,
First of all, love the site and podcast, keep it up! So my question is: In the old dashboard, you could press the guide button when a friend signed on to Live and their profile would show up in the guide. In the NXE this has stopped working for me. Any idea if this can/will be changed? Thanks.

Momer
Gamertag: Shargall

Honestly, we hadn't even noticed this until you pointed it out. We contacted Microsoft and were told that the feature was removed because of member feedback. In other words, it looks like most gamers (or at least enough gamers to matter) didn't like it, so Microsoft removed it. From a personal standpoint, we've been annoyed by it in the past when we accidentally opened up a friend's profile instead of the Guide. We should point out that the feature still works with messages though, which makes more sense.

Dear Xbox360fanboy,

A few halo 3 questions.

Why does Bungie insist on limiting what playlists we are allowed to play at a given time? I can understand that matches may take longer, but why can't they just make some social playlists that we don't get to play as much? For example why was rocket races a permanent playlist for so long yet playlists like grifball is occasional, and zombies is hardly ever there except onhalloween or other special occasions?

Also why does it take so long to do matchmaking in social matches? Many times the teams are unbalanced anyway, it seems like waiting a long time for just random teams anyway.

And lastly, why is there still a huge problem of groups being split up in social matches? You never get split up in ranked, so why does it seem to happen so much in social matches?

Thanks,

gt: A Frisky Dingo

The short answer is we don't have a clue, but that won't really work so we'll just speculate, shall we? As we understand the playlists, Bungie chooses Halo 3 playlists based on targeting the most possible users. In other words, if a playlist gets removed (Big Team for example), it's because it doesn't have a large, sustained population. Sometimes, if a playlist is demanded long enough by a large enough group of players (Pro playlists, for example), Bungie will implement them and see how well they do. So, in theory, the reason one playlist stays while others don't is because they don't attract enough players. Also, while Bungie may not have permanent playlists for things like Grifball, there's nothing stopping people from organizing private matches. Grifball even has its own league.

Again, we can only guess that this is a population issue. Assuming more people are playing in ranked playlists, there are fewer people match in social playlists. This would also explain why the matches are unbalanced. The game spends time trying to find good player matches, once it can't it's forced to match players in any way it can. Thus, you have long wait times and unbalanced teams.

The answer to the last one is really a shot in the dark, but considering it is a social playlist, there may be less emphasis placed on keeping teams together.

If you want better answers, we suggest trying the Bungie forums.

Hi X3F!!!!

/excitement

My roommates and I split 360 games (you know, so they're only 30 dollars per person instead of 60). What's the deal with the NXE feature that lets you install games on to hard drives? Are we going to run into issues where you can only install a game once, on one xbox? Or will we be able to install the same game on both of our 360s? I don't know how this works, and it seems like an important question given NXE's imminent launch.

As far as we know, there's nothing keeping you from installing a game onto more than one Xbox 360. You should know that you still have to have the disc in the tray in order to play any installed game though. So, you and your roommates will still have to have the physical disc in order to play any given game. In other words, installing it to both won't make things anymore convenient (although they will potentially load somewhat faster and preven wear and tear on the DVD drive).

The game "Shadowrun" has cross-system support, right?
So why hasn't this been implemented into other games for the 360?
As a member of Nicegamers, a PC CoD: MW & CoD: WaW community, I would love the chance to play some next-gen games against my fellow community members from my 360. PC Gaming just costs too much!

Regards,
Cakes1994

First, Shadowrun isn't exactly the best example of cross-platform play. Yes, it worked, and it was even a decent game, but it did not fare very well at all. It's not exactly a success story you could use to woo a company to implement cross-platform play. The only other title with cross-platform play that we're aware of is Universe at War: Earth Assault. Given that UAW is a PC-oriented RTS title (unlike, say, EndWar or Halo Wars), we'd imagine that PC users have a slight edge over their console counterparts.

Still, first person shooters could potentially be prime candidates for cross-platform play. We'd say the primary reason you don't see more companies trying it is simple: why should they? Unless you build a game for cross-platform play from the ground up -- like Shadowrun -- you will always encounter imbalances between the two versions. Beyond that, it doesn't make a lot of sense for a developer to put extra time and money into creating the netcode necessary for cross-platform play. We might start seeing more of it in the future, but right now we'd say it's probably just not a priority (especially from a financial standpoint) for many developers and publishers.

I got the New Xbox Experience early, and I love it, especially the installs. But I was wondering, when the Xbox checks to make sure the disc is in the drive, could it check the HD-DVD drive also? I don't have a HD-DVD drive, but that would cause me to pick one up for cheap. Thanks again, and good work on the blog!

Gamertag: sjs2626

Sorry to break it to you, but we asked Microsoft and were told that the HD DVD drive cannot be used to perform a disc check on installed games. Of course, it still makes a dandy coaster.

That's it for this week, folks. Keep sending your questions to: ask [att] xbox360fanboy [dawt] com.