- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I guess I’ll put my two cents in, but I think I’m so far back most people will probably skip this.
Star wars battlefront will have 16 players on live, and 32 on Lan. I mention this only as proof that is it is possible for 8 Xbox's to run together, but it would seem lag is very likely. I purpose a compromise for 24 players. 32 seems almost like too much, you would have to rent out a community center for the night and bring in couches or something to have enough room. I guess if you can get enough people together, more power to ya.
I think something everyone is forgetting is the map sizes. I don’t think even blood gulch could handle 24 players. I do believe that if Bungie wanted 24 players, they would have gotten a start on it a while ago, because they would need extremely large maps with multiple paths to make the experience worthwhile. and keep your "I w1ll pwn 4ll teh Fa-blam!-zors w1t my G4m3Shark-L1ke SKILLZ" comments to yourself. So basically, don’t hold you breath.
At this point, it has been confirmed 16 Xboxs can be hooked up both by the E3 and several posts have astutley pointed out. Are you guys wanting maybe 8 Xboxs, each with split screen? That sounds like an excellent idea. One xbox per player seems like a poor compromise, simply because the vast majority of players don’t have enough room to facilitate all the equipment necessary. The 16 people/Xbox/Tv thing should still be included as a treat for the people that have such a Shaq-sized house, but for the rest of us, I hope bungie makes it an accessible gaming experience. Something to think about: From what I remember, all the games that need 1 player per xbox are pc ports. I suspect that taking a pc game and making it split screen would require a lot more work than we think, and the developers may have deemed it cost prohibitive.
Another idea keep in mind is maybe one xbox per screen is necessary for the raw computing power. Maybe the game is so much bigger, and so much more is going on, that all the xbox's are needed to process everything going on. I’m not saying this is true, and I really don’t know much about networking or hardware, this is just a theory. Somehow I don’t think this is the case though. destructible environments and vehicles couldn’t have taxed the xbox that much.
Summary: it is possible for up to 32 player lans that I know of. It has probably already been decided how many players there will be, and no matter how much we gripe, it is unlikely to change. 1 xbox per player is too prohibitive for Lans, but if it is indeed a hardware issue that cannot be resolved, we can learn to live with it, but this is probably not the case. Lastly, I personally with for 24 players on a few Uber huge maps, sharing at least 2 people per box.
PS
As far as Xbox live goes, I don’t think its only for nasty little grease nerds. I myself view it as a Lan-lite. I love Lans. the social experience coupled with Halo makes for one special party. However, Lans are also a pain in the ass. Getting a place, getting all the people, and the special few who must bring equipment, all adds up to one big headache. Live allows a Lan experience without the migraine, and you can do it every night of the week if you are so inclined. I myself plan to use live to keep my skills sharp against all the amazingly good people on Live. I also think Live is a good way to compare yourself against a more universal standard of measurement. I do wish their was some age limit to Live though. I’m really hoping my Live Halo isn’t ruined by a bunch of 10 year old pansy-assed snipers. My dream is the implementation of a credit system, something akin to the ebay rating system, so we could blacklist the little -blam!-s. I could block out people that don’t play well with others, especially Tkers. At the same time, they could promote eachother and knock us people that play for fun and winning equally, so maybe this isn’t the best idea.
[Edited on 5/21/2004 6:47:18 PM]