Revisiting The OG XBOX LIVE 22 Years Later.

in 2001 Microsoft released their very first video game console known as the original Xbox its goal was not to only push 3D gaming into standard definition era rather invest heavily in online multiplayer a feature that at the time many home consoles had explored but not to the same degree as Microsoft had intended although titles like Halo 2 help submit online gaming on the console it unfortunately had a very short shelf life only lasting 8 years online with the Xbox Live 1.0 service being retired in April 2010 one decade later in a project known as Insignia was set out to be a full replacement of the original Xbox Live service bringing back hundreds of Xbox games back online and giving Gamers the ability to either revisit or experience it for the first time while being 100% free in today's video I'll be covering a brief history on the OG Xbox Live using insignia's online service by testing a few games as well as asking the community on why they still play the original Xbox Live so many years later also if You' like to play Xbox live 1.0 again in 2024 I highly recommend join the Insignia Discord Channel I'll leave a link to both their server as well as their website in the description down below before we dive in it's important to understand the impact and the climate that the original Xbox Live had in order to do this we need to go back to the '90s in the 1990s gaming was mostly confined to split screen multiplayer at least if you're playing home consoles at the time on PC that was a different story thanks to games like Doom quake and un real pushing online multiplayer to the Forefront this not only allowed people to play anywhere in the world rather it being the vision where multiplayer would end up looking like in the near future now Home console manufacturers did attempt to convey console Gamers into online gaming but none of them were as successful with their Endeavors one manufacturer in particular Sega saw the impact on how this changed the PC gaming landscape in the '90s and decide to embrace it with their upcoming console known today as a Sega Dreamcast later in the console's life SGA released an online service called sagga net which brought online multiplayer to the console way back in September of 2000 this service only lasted less than a year shutting down in the following July of 2001 although it never saw its full potential it was the first signs of entering the new era of multiplayer gaming Microsoft took notice on sega's attempt and made a bet that the growing amount of people adapting to the internet in the upcoming decade would be substantial and they needed to invest heavily into its online functionality for their first console one year after the release of the original Xbox Microsoft unveiled the Xbox Live service at E3 2002 this online service was a big deal at Microsoft as a service was backed by a$1 billion investment I found an old New York Times article back in 2002 and they went on to describe the service as and I quote the equivalent of an online Disneyland also betting that the Xbox Live service would save the Xbox system as Microsoft didn't really have any established IPS quite like Nintendo and Sony already had in the same New York Times article the author writes about how other their online services before Xbox Live had failed painting a less than optimistic Outlook at the time however Microsoft was confident that they knew where gaming was going and in November 2002 launched the Xbox Live service known today as Xbox Live 1.0 when Xbox Live launched in November 2002 there was seven games that support Xbox Live functionality those being unreal Championship Tom Clan's GES Rec NFL 2K3 NBA 2K3 whack Mecha salt NFL fever 2003 as well as Moto GP since every Xbox console had a Broadband adapter built into it all the user would have to do is plug an ethernet cable into the Xbox create an account and purchase a monthly subscription you could also purchase what was called Xbox Live starter kits which gave you both a 3-month membership a headset in an online demo or a copy of Crimson Skies after Xbox Live 1.0 launch more Xbox OG games started support the live service with over 100 games and up supporting the online functionality the biggest game on the platform that truly gave people a reason not to only own an Xbox but to hop online was Halo 2 considered by many as one of the best in the series Halo 2 not only improved on the original C multiplayer by adding online connectivity to the Xbox but innovated and set the standard on a feature that we take for granted today you see in the early 2000s Mini gamees games opted to use a server browser which is fine don't get me wrong but doesn't account for things like Rank and skill this meant that if you're new to the game and you randomly join a server you probably end up facing people who are a lot more experienced than you making it harder to come on top and at worse pushing you away from playing this game again Microsoft did have this functionality in Xbox Live called optic match which did match players based on skill level and for the most part was adapted by many thirdparty games on the platform one drawback to optim match is you can only find their matches solo Bungie saw this as an opportunity to innovate and create their own matchmaking system instead of opting for the traditional server browser this would account for things like player skill ranking as well as location but offer players the ability to form parties before going to matchmaking by creating a thing that you might know today called pregame Lobby this also meant that after the match had ended people stayed together rather than having to invite each other to the next game at the time this is seen as a major risk to Microsoft as no other Xbox game had opted to use his functionality furthermore this feature scope was so large that Bungie ended up partnering with the Xbox Live team in order for this to happen but it was well worth it in the end as not only did it make multiplayer much easier play but also Inspire other major firstperson shooter franchises to implement their own party system outside of that Halo 2's multiplayer was just so much damn fun backed by a great amount of variety in game modes a level progression system as well as allowing users to make their own game modes and play them via custom games it was an experience unlike anything else on the console and you truly had to play in its Heyday to fully appreciate what Halo 2 offered back then one year after the Halo 2 release Microsoft launched their next gen console the Xbox 360 which doubled down on its online infrastructure and brought various improvements in quality life the features not found on the original Xbox fast forward 4 years later in February of 2010 Microsoft announced that they'll be terminating the online service on the classic Xbox on April 15th 2010 when the date finally came the community gave its online service a great sendoff videos of Final Moments were uploaded on YouTube with people sharing their experiences and times with Xbox Live 1.0 During the period of 2010 to 2020 you still technically could play online on the Xbox by using a program called xlink Kai which is an online tunneling service that uses a system link feature and select Xbox games make them playable online once again now fast forward to May 2020 and a project going by the name of Insignia is announced set up to be an Xbox Live 1.0 replacement the goal is to bring back the online functionality to the console while being 100% free this service promised to bring back features like friends lists and leaderboards as well as having a web app that displayed total active users in what games people are currently playing 2 years after the announcement in Fall of 2022 the service went into Clos Beta And since then the project is now public and the teams brought back well over 150 OG Xbox games as of the recording of this video giving people not only a reason to revisit the console but also an opportunity for those who missed out playing it originally so what's Insignia like to use on the Xbox well I decided to give it a try so I went ahead and registered my Xbox installed the application and within 20 minutes I was back on the original Xbox Live Again Xbox Live 1.0 was pretty Forward Thinking in its design it's easy to add friends find friends set up voice chat send voice messages to each other and I believe at one point you could download DLC on the service as well certain Xbox games gave the user the ability to master voice generally the game itself would give you various presets to choose from for an example if anyone had a working set of ears you could easily destroy them in a matter of seconds by increasing the pitch of your voice F probably sound crazy whatever hey guys what's up or if you wanted to be an edge Lord you can lower your voice tone to resemble a demon oh ancient emperor zer anyways everything here seems to be functional and just like it was back in the 2000s nice after I was done playing around the dashboard I found a few games that were my library and decided to give them a go on the service the first one up being Counter Strike so Counter-Strike on the Xbox wasn't a port rather its own exclusive version of Cs released 20 years ago back in 2003 it also uses the gold Source engine which I believe powered both 1.6 and condition zero if I'm not mistaken the game is multiplayer only but does let you play off line with Bots at least this game is loaded with 20 maps with some iconic ones like CS office as well as dust 2 but it also has some exclusive Xbox maps on top of this one of my personal favorite exclusive Maps being the map Miami set in the iconic City The Game's map is based inside a bank with the Terrace start in the back room of the bank while the counter terce start outside the building the flow of this map was pretty good but it also had various tunnels through vents scattered around the building this was a nice touch as you didn't always have to go for various choke points on the level rather giving you the ability to adjust your play style and possibly get an upper hand without feeling the need to always play in an offensive position now gam playay is your typical Counter-Strike Affair both signature Counterstrike modes like bomb diffusal and hostage modes are all here you have your typical buy menu with a traditional Counter-Strike gameplay Loop since this game was built with the Xbox in mind the controls don't feel forced and were designed with the console in mind you know what not for nothing this actually plays really well in the controller sure there is some Oddities like having to use the x button to zoom in on your scope but aside from that it feels and plays all right and yeah what else is there to say this is a competent Counter-Strike game on console that some exclusive maps not found on the PC version and it's also one of the most actively played games on Insignia as well so if you're a fan of the Counter-Strike series or just curious definitely give this one a try the next one up is fir cry instincts Evolution based on the popular Ubisoft series Far Cry instincts Evolution was a first-person shooter set in a jungle this game came out when krych gave Ubisoft the license to make Far Cry games and it's much different than the Far Cry games we know today likewise this game offered a quite competent multiplayer Suite it offer your typical gameplay modes that you come to expect like death match team death match capture the sample AKA Capture the Flag the name a few what truly made this experience Stand Out was its robust map editor inside this game was a map editor tool where anyone could build a level using in-game assets this allowed you to do things like modifying terrain Place buildings and objects then once you're done the map you could share it online and play them over Xbox Live since these Maps were user generated you had endless amounts of levels to choose from which really added a lot of replayability as it felt fresh every time you played it seriously there's some really impressive creations and that reason alone is worth giving this game a try far cry's gameplay is also solid too there's no custom loadouts or anything like that you pick up weapons across the map as well as being able to use powerups one PowerUp in particular turns you into a predator being able to run fast and hunt down other players now the controls in this game are all right but the aiming is really weird maybe it's the use of an auto aim assist or anything like that but you can never get a truly accurate shot almost as if the sensitivity on the joysticks on the Xbox controller doesn't allow it or it's just off for something this becomes more apparent the longer you play but by no means it's a deal breaker this is another game that I routinely found other players playing and it's still appears to be active on the website I highly recommend giving this one a try while we're on the subject of firstperson Shooters let's move on to the next one that I tried out being Rainbow 6 3 Rainbow 6 3 is a tactical firstperson shooter that released a few months after the original Xbox Live launched my experience with the series was mostly contained with Vagas 1 and Vagas 2 so it came as a great surprise on how much influence that this game brought to the Vegas series now Rainbow 6 3 is quite active on the weekend but during my play time with this game which was during the week I couldn't find anyone else to play with so I decided to give terce hunt a try myself unlike the Vagas games which introduced the ability to pop in and out of cover rainbow 63 opted to use a lean mechanic which gave you the ability to lean left and right against an object on the map using the d-pad giving you not only a tactical Advantage but saves you from being completely rushed this game also has a good variety of weapons to choose from as well as equipment allowing the player to tailor your load out based on the map or the play style that you're aiming for Terrace Hunt is also a challenging mode on top of this you can't go in guns blazing as the AI will destroy you in a matter of seconds it forces you to play smarter check your six and constantly be on point for whatever appears around the corner I know this as I can completely destroy playing this mode now I'm not going to blame the controls in this one or the inability to see half the map I'm simply sh at this game now since I couldn't find anyone else to play PvP with I can't speak on that regard of this game and I can only assume it's just as fun or if not even more fun than the Terrace hunt mode I also miss this error of Ubisoft you know when they actually make games that they were different from each other games had their own identities offered a different experience that separated themselves among the various Tom Clancy IPS unlike today where usoft is less reluctant on making original titles rather applying the same fir cry formula to every single IP that they get their hands on if you like tactical shooters then row 63 is definitely one to consider on the original Xbox next game up was Area 51 this is a first-person shooter set in well you guessed it Area 51 now for this game I was actually able to to attend one of the various Insignia Community game nights this happen to be one of the titles that they're playing on a random Friday night Area 51 follows your typical 2000's firstperson shooter multiplayer formula there's no loadouts in this game and guns spawn across the map for you to pick up this game consists of various modes you come to expect like Team Deathmatch Death Match infection capture flag Etc maps have a nice amount of differences between them one for example has a portal in the middle of it which transports you to another part of the level while another map has an underwater section these small Nuance details to the map really helps make each level stand out as this game doesn't follow a linear three lane Highway like the Call of Duty series does Gunplay felt solid too guns have a nice range and impact with many of the guns having a secondary firing style one of the guns in this game for example is an alien rifle which when you use the alternative firing style lets you bend the bullet around corners or around objects in the environment one cool feature about this game is that certain guns can be dual wielded guns like the shotgun or the rifle can be used in this mode and it's pretty damn fun too what made Area 51 truly stand out on the platform is that in any time in multiplayer if you click up on the d-pad you can transform yourself into this alien monster thing you can see your character completely transform with the screen changing color giving the illusion that you've been possessed by an alien as well as giving you the ability to throw these killer orb things at people instead of using a gun I thought this feature was pretty cool as how many FPS games have you played where it lets you completely change your play style or character for that matter on the Fly Like This although I like playing the soldier more it was still a lot of fun to mess around with and gave the multiplayer an additional amount of variety to it now Area 51 has some weird Oddities with this game that I thought that were worth mentioning the first thing you'll find when you spawn into the game is that by default the controls are inverted I don't know if this was the style at the time or anything like that but I thought this was interesting just not my cup of tea hit detection in this game can also be very dodgy at times as well and since there's no hit markers to display on screen whenever you shoot someone it can be hard to know how much damage that you're doing or if you're doing damage at all fun fact about Area 51 it uses its own in-game engine apparently half the game's development was spent building the engine while the other half was building the actual game this is interesting to note as a sequel to this game blacksite Area 51 instead of using the in-house engine that Midway awesome produce they opted for the Unreal Engine and if you've ever played blacksight Area 51 uh you're really not missing much regardless I enjoy my time with this game and I'm glad I had the chance to revisit it again I also want to shout out fellow YouTuber demon 27248 as a ging permission to not only use her footage for this video but also remind me about this event I really appreciate that so thank you so much I then decided to give Fantasy Star 1 and 2 a shot it was an MMO RPG that originally started on the Dreamcast but was later ported to the Xbox as well as the GameCube anyways it originally shut down in 2010 but thanks to the community has been brought back online via private servers as well as being fully compatible with Insignia being the first time playing this game I didn't know what to expect so I kind of went along with it I created a character gave him a name and hopped into the first server that I saw I started in this Hub called the Voyager I think and the first thing that caught me off guard was just a sheer amount of people playing this game on a week night people were just hanging out bantering and enjoying each other's company which remind me a lot of that flash game Hab a hotel where people didn't really do much rather than just lying around and chatting amongst each other now at first I thought this might have been Bots or NPCs so I decided to engage in conversation with others to confirm if they're in fact real and not Bots and uh yeah they're legit the community surrounding this game seems to be pretty friendly and appreciative of everyone from my very limited experience with this game which is a major plus as that's not always the case with other MMOs now there's a lot to learn playing this game so I'd recommend watching an introduction video on YouTube as it can be hard to understand going in blind personally I struggle with this aspect as even figuring out how to start a quest confused me initially eventually I ended up spawning into a forest where I proceed to get my ass handed to me by these things called boombas one annoying aspect with this game is its controls with the camera being worse I can tolerate an awkward button placement as mapping an MMO to an Xbox controller is not the easiest thing in the world but for whatever reason the camera is fixed this makes your character feel more like a tank than actually being able to move your character freely around the world this is annoying as you have to opt to click the left trigger to recenter the camera on where the player is currently facing making any sort of adjustments much more difficult despite that I can see myself revisiting this game in a future video it's always awesome to see games like this Thrive decades later it reminds me the importance of community Spirit if anything else so how about the community why do they still play Xbox Live 1.0 to this day and is there a reason for keeping this platform of float I wanted to investigate this so I went on to the Insignia Discord and asked AR what they thought about this espec special thanks to the following members for sharing their thoughts with me these members are grandore furck Morpheus Rory 64 Top Spin and blasted these range from comments are feeling frustrated with the current state of modern video games especially with their heavy focus on monetization schemes at the time Publishers didn't realize the full monetization potential of their games outside of selling you a disc or maybe an expansion pack later on as a result developers were given more creative freedom AAA games didn't cost as much to produce so risky Ventures like creating a new IP or a Twist on an existing one was common back then when you compare that to today games can cost well over $100 million to produce which incentivizes Publishers to follow Trends rather than risking being a trend Setter which was a lot more common back in the 2000s other comments made the point that up to 2012 online games served a different purpose and were more focused on the player experience versus how much money the publisher could pay well or even manipulate you into spending gaming back in the 2000s was still a niche to many people and the culture surrounding it was uh a lot more nerdier than it is now thanks to the rise of casual in Mobile gaming the industry has become much more broad this isn't necessarily a bad thing but the quality and passion is becoming less noticeable now at days another comment brought up the feeling or sentimental value that comes with revisiting older things in today's world we can technically emulate the original Xbox but certainly not the same experience as picking up an Xbox controller empowering on a CRT TV also a lot of limitations graphically that the original Xbox had are lost via emulation now don't get me wrong being able to play Xbox games at higher resolutions or even better fps is a godsend but it does take away from being truly immersed in my opinion it ends up feeling more like playing older PC game than playing on 23-year-old Hardware now one final point I wanted to end this video on is just how different the Xbox era was versus today industry standards like day one patches didn't exist in the same function as they do today since the world back in the 2000s wasn't fully adapted to the internet this meant that pretty much every game released back then was distributed physically when your task with printing millions of discs there's quite a cost that comes with that physical media costs a lot more to Publishers this meant that the publisher not only had to make sure their game was feature complete rather functional as well it's not like they could backtrack or release a giant day one patch to fix its issues there was a high price tech associate with it so that help ensure quality control to a degree something if you've played Modern games lately is missing now days this time period was also a lot more social if you ever had a chance to play split screen multiplayer the experience is not only enjoyable as now you can share the same game with someone else rather what made this experience so special was the banter and the communication that comes with it there's nothing more pure than talking major to your friend just for them to come on top of the leaderboards 5 minutes later or being that one who unplugs other person's controller when they're about to lose what are you throwing a freaking wave bird for put it simply video games appealed to a different crowd and were designed with much more different intentions both from the developer and Publishers perspective during the Xbox OG days on a positive note projects like ins Sigma give me hope one day that other platforms will receive the same treatment consoles like the Playstation 3 or even the Nintendo Wii offered online experiences that just can't be found in modern gaming furthermore this also benefits the video game preservation Community which is becoming more of an issue nowadays if you decide to revisit this platform you might want to open your your Xbox up before you actually plug it into the wall as a lot of Xboxes have faulty capacitors that over time will leak and eventually destroy the console thankfully the Xbox is very easy to open up and the capacitor is quite easy to remove personally I use a set of tweezers and just took my time pulling out the capacitor after that I just use some isopro alcohol to clean up the surface and VOA my console is no longer ticking Time Bomb anymore I didn't know this beforehand and I had an Xbox that had this issue and unfortunately it's just a paper weight nowadays as it doesn't turn off anymore so make sure you check this before powering your Xbox on with that out of the way I want to thank you for watching my video If you like this style of content please consider leaving a like or even a subscription it really means a lot anyways guys Happy New Year and until next time fellas peace

Channel: MAWK3

Views: 129,935

Keywords: Halo2, XboxOG, InsigniaXboxLive, OGXBOXLIVE, XBOX2024, RetroGaming2024, OnlineXbox2024, Xbox360, Xbox Classic, Counter Strike Xbox, Online Xbox 2024, Online OG Xbox 2024, Xbox Live 1.0, Xbox Live Original, XBL, Phantasy Star Online, Xbox Content, 2002, 2001

Id: J6g0q9xd0dk

Length: 23min 13sec (1393 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 02 2024