I've been trying xbox live for the past few weeks. You can guess my gamertag. There are already several titles that work with it; I've been using MotoGP and MechAssault. One thing is identical in terms of my performance on each: I suck. It doesn't really bother me though: the effort to "get good" would require I play hours every day, not just sometimes. Apparently this service is doing well.

I thought guys like me would be a target audience - adult married men with children - who's only opportunity to play against somebody other than the game AI characters is with an internet link (it's not like the other 40 something dads are coming over to play mechassault for a few hours every afternoon). Wrong. Instead it was my worst nightmare - guys who have learned how to beat their existing friends (and the AI) long ago and are looking for a REAL match. I'm easily the oldest player in the matches I've been in, which are filled with very young (10-14) players - who are better than me, skilled teen gamers (14-19), and unbeatable hard-core types (20-30).

I've got my xbox running on my Mitsubishi HDTV, using the xbox 480p output mode for high definition/16:9 gaming on a big screen. I run the audio through my Denon Receiver using 5.1 dolby with Polk speakers. I did replace my polk subwoffer with a much better BagEnd subwoofer. I connect to the internet using a linksys bridge that connects to the access point upstairs.

works like a champ, the opposite of my abilities. Maybe I should just go back joining the kids playing SimsOnLine.