If you use system link for the 360 and hook two 360's together, can they both play on the same TV or does each 360 have to have its own TV?

Each must have their own display and each needs a copy of the same game. System link is a blast, I highly recommend it. :)

You could do Picture in Picture on one if the TV allows for it..... But yea System link is great fun, especially if you have a bunch of people over!

I have two sons and we have guests over, so I could see myself eventually getting up to 4 360s. Do most games with System Link capability allow 4 systems? I would be interested in PGR3 for example.

You don't need Gold accounts for System Link, right?

It really depends on the game, many should and I think they say on the box how many players are supported though system link.

...I could see myself eventually getting up to 4 360s. Do most games with System Link capability allow 4 systems? ...

:eek: Whoa! Can I come over? Now THAT's my kind of home!! I do not have broadband so I system-link three original Xboxs on occasion and two quite often. Unfortunately, many games revert to one player per system when you system link (like Far Cry or Splinter Cell...both UbiSoft....hmmmmm) so to even get two on two you need four systems/displays/games.

Where I think it's good is on games that allow 4 player split-screen - as long as you're using a big screen (Halo2, Ghost Recon games, Mechassault(only 2)). I imagine if you can get 4 360's in one house, you have the budget for big screens... :cool:

System Link Good - Play with YOUR friends, personal interaction, immediate bragging rights, no quitters (usually), less or no LAG

System Link Bad - Setup difficulty, player availability, small screens, cost, games that only allow one player per system...(Far Cry - booooo!)

No, you don't need a gold account for system link, you don't even need LIVE or broadband. :) As for the game box telling you how many people system link supports, it will tell you how many people can be in the game but it doesn't tell you how many per box. We've got a bunch of XBoxes and 360s over here and LAN parties are the new poker nights. I haven't seen a deck of cards since I got bunches of consoles. Adults, kids, even the wives and girlfriends love the team games. :D System link is the shnizzle !!

No, you don't need a gold account for system link, you don't even need LIVE or broadband. :) As for the game box telling you how many people system link supports, it will tell you how many people can be in the game but it doesn't tell you how many per box. We've got a bunch of XBoxes and 360s over here and LAN parties are the new poker nights. I haven't seen a deck of cards since I got bunches of consoles. Adults, kids, even the wives and girlfriends love the team games. :D System link is the shnizzle !!

Same thing happened at my house, started having people over every friday for poker night but by the end of the first night videogames took over, now we have been gaming for the last 5-6 months! System link FTW! Yea it kind of sucks the boxes don't tell you how many players per xbox (I have been duped a couple times) but it gives you an idea of how many players at least.

Now... if we can just get EA on the system link bandwagon. Battlefield would be great with friends and no crappy EA server issues :D

im going to bring this thread back to life... sorry.

I hate split screen. if i have to purchase two of everything i dont care. I have not purchased the 360 yet but am interested. I have a list of games that are multiplayer that the wife and i thought were interesting.

the question is this: Do all multiplayer games support system link? If not where can i find the link info for each game on the net. i really dont feel like going into the store with my list and looking at each game when it could be done at home faster.

When I need to see if a game has system link I usually check gamespot because they usually list multiplayer capabilities in their game info area, or go to the stores and look at the boxes. Most 360 games do not appear to have system link capabilites (I can't think of one that does) you would probably have to have individual gold accounts and play through live in order to play multiplayer on two separate systems.

thanks for the info.

>>Most 360 games do not appear to have system link capabilites (I can't think of one that does)

This list is out of date (6/16/06), but it says about 25%:

http://www.dxgaming.com/?p=4


>>Whoa! Can I come over?

Well its 3 months later, I'm up to 2 360s. I'll have to get the third when hdmi comes out ;)

Hmm I didnt know GRAW and Perfect dark did (only games I own on that list) I need a second x360!

thanks for the link..
that made things a little more complicated for me to choose between games as co-op is different then multiplayer. So if i am correct about this it would mean that i cannot have a racing career in PGR3 and the wife have a racing career in PGR3 and be in the game at the same time. PGR3 would only allow us to race each other correct? same would go for other games that are not co-op?

another example i am thinking of would be a fps that was multiplayer but not co-op. we wouldnt be going through the maps together covering each others back but we could deathmatch on different maps correct?

ok one more question. with split screen which way is the screen split? top and bottom or side to side or can you choose or does it depend on the game?

has anyone been able to do system link over vpn? lots of home routers support vpn now. I haven't tried it....yet.

thanks for the link..
that made things a little more complicated for me to choose between games as co-op is different then multiplayer. So if i am correct about this it would mean that i cannot have a racing career in PGR3 and the wife have a racing career in PGR3 and be in the game at the same time. PGR3 would only allow us to race each other correct? same would go for other games that are not co-op?
You each would have a career on the different 360s but you would only race each other on system link. If you both have gold accounts then you could both race online.

another example i am thinking of would be a fps that was multiplayer but not co-op. we wouldnt be going through the maps together covering each others back but we could deathmatch on different maps correct?
For games that are not co-op you would be playing one on one deathmatch when doing system link. If you play online then you could both play different maps against different people.

ok one more question. with split screen which way is the screen split? top and bottom or side to side or can you choose or does it depend on the game?
This sometimes depends on the game. Many seem to split vertical if you have a widescreen TV though.


Some of your questions kind of confused me, I am not sure if you are asking about just system linking consoles or playing through xbox live.

has anyone been able to do system link over vpn? lots of home routers support vpn now. I haven't tried it....yet.
I have wondered about this also. I have a neighbor I'd like to play system link with running 2 360s at his house and 2 at mine. I'm just not sure how to do it.

Some of your questions kind of confused me, I am not sure if you are asking about just system linking consoles or playing through xbox live.

let me rephrase my question.

co-op mode for pgr3 allows you to do what while playing the game during system link?

the answer is nothing? correct? since it is not co-op

multiplayer mode for pgr3 allows you to do what while playing the game during system link?

the answer is just race each other? correct? the two players do not play a career together do they?

Thought I'd bring this thread back with a new question

I've got 2 360s, 2 TVs and 8 controllers for a little system link party this weekend with some friends. I have never done it with the 360. We're looking for games that do 4 on 4 split screen.

I have gathered that Halo 2 and GRAW do this (please correct me if I'm wrong) so that should cover our FPS cravings.

Are there any racing games that do 4 on 4 with only 2 360s? It seems MotoGP '06 may but I can't seem to confirm that. I haven't seen that any other games do. I'd appreciate any suggestions on racing games or other genres. Thanks in advance!

I have wondered about this also. I have a neighbor I'd like to play system link with running 2 360s at his house and 2 at mine. I'm just not sure how to do it.

xlink is always a possibility

http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17511&sid=87828e2f3937dfdb675d105a205457e5

Please note that some Xbox 360 games which support system link and/or online play do *not* support more than one person playing from a given console. Due to the weird restrictions Microsoft has on "online play" and the fact that most consoles have only a single Xbox Live Gold account, even games which support local multiplayer split screen can choke if asked to play with another system.

An example of this is Project Gotham Racing 3. Two players can play split-screen, so one figures that one can play with four players using two consoles. However, this is unfortunately not the case.

xlink is always a possibility

http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17511&sid=87828e2f3937dfdb675d105a205457e5

Have you used xlink before? Thanks for the link I'll have to try it.

An example of this is Project Gotham Racing 3. Two players can play split-screen, so one figures that one can play with four players using two consoles. However, this is unfortunately not the case.

Man I hate that. Far Cry is like that also - 4 players split and then down to ONE per Xbox when you system link. It is purely a programming decision. As an OFF-line gamer who uses a projector, the 4-player splits are critical to get a good LAN gaming session.

Unfortunately for people in my situation (minority I guess) the focus is really for the on-line experience and the local system link capabilities seem to be an afterthought (thankfully NOT with the Halo series!).

I'm not sure it's "purely a programming decision". My understanding is that once the Xbox goes online, Microsoft only allows Xbox Live Gold accounts to be signed in. Local or guest accounts are automatically signed out, since they don't have any corresponding linked Gamertags allowed to participate in online gaming on Microsoft's end.

Hence, this may be a Microsoft-imposed limitation.

Another vote for system link because I hate split screen. I have two 360's and each one has it's own widescreen TV...it's fantastic. My son and I beat GOW on insane mode this way.

I have two Gold accounts and can sign both in for games like GOW, etc on one Xbox.

You can use guest accounts or recover gamertag if a friend is over. Not sure if many other mp games can do it.

I have my laptop as a wireless bridge instead of using the network adapter -

Is it possible to have two Xbox's system linked up with and share one wireless connection. Or do both require their own wireless access to the router.

One machine will be upstairs (Elite) connected to a Mits 55" and the other is downstairs on a Mits 62" connected via ethernet. The one downstairs is currently the one with the wireless access.

Jeff

Man I hate that. Far Cry is like that also - 4 players split and then down to ONE per Xbox when you system link. It is purely a programming decision. As an OFF-line gamer who uses a projector, the 4-player splits are critical to get a good LAN gaming session.

Unfortunately for people in my situation (minority I guess) the focus is really for the on-line experience and the local system link capabilities seem to be an afterthought (thankfully NOT with the Halo series!).

I agree, I like to play people system linked 4 vs 4 in my house but less games are offering that capability and have live options instead which sucks. There are some games where you can have live guest accounts as long as one person has a gold account (perfect dark) but most do not.

Correct me if I am wrong. I was under the impression that games on the 360 are demanding so much from the console that to recreate 4 different windows from one is asking too much of the console. I don't know just a thought :o

Have you used xlink before? Thanks for the link I'll have to try it.

with the original xbox i was gaming online a lot (still more than i have since 360 launch) and i never paid for live, i always played system link over the net, xlink is similar to a vpn, with it's own lobby/party system, and it works well.

i cant comment on the 360 connectivity, game compatibility, etc , but for the original xbox, xlink was awesome.

Correct me if I am wrong. I was under the impression that games on the 360 are demanding so much from the console that to recreate 4 different windows from one is asking too much of the console. I don't know just a thought :o
This is true to some extent, but one of the criticisms being voiced here concerns the lack of consistency. If the system can do split-screen with 2 or 4 players on the same console, why can't it do 2 or 4 players per console via system link or when on Xbox Live? A number of 360 games simply "punt" whenever the console goes to do any sort of non-local multiplayer and lock each console down to a single player.

Again, not certain if this is imposed by Microsoft, in terms of not allowing guest accounts to play on Live, or if it's more a programming decision. There may even be some of each. In any case, folks do seem to have different experiences depending on the title involved.

well, i recently bought the microsoft steering wheel that came with the game, pgr3. Unfortunately, it wont system link to the other older copy of pgr3. both copies play fine online as well as solo mode. It's just that I cant get a game created by one to be seen by the other. Other games like graw2 do system link great. I called M$ and they are sending me a new copy of pgr3 -it seems the game has been silently updated and they broke this part of it. old and new copies dont link.

well, i recently bought the microsoft steering wheel that came with the game, pgr3. Unfortunately, it wont system link to the other older copy of pgr3. both copies play fine online as well as solo mode. It's just that I cant get a game created by one to be seen by the other. Other games like graw2 do system link great. I called M$ and they are sending me a new copy of pgr3 -it seems the game has been silently updated and they broke this part of it. old and new copies dont link.

I've had problems system linking a game that has been updated to one that is not. I had to go online and update the game before they would see each other. System link is a blast. I can link my two 360's with my xbox. It is a blast. Normally, we are playing co op or racing games. Sometimes we frag fest. I also wish ea would join the system link era. Imagine the next ssx with system link.

360 co op story mode games system link games:
GOW
Perfect Dark
Blazing Angles
The Outfit

Area 51 blacksite when it is released.

Doom3 (xbox)
Serious sam2 ( xbox no 360 update yet)
Brute Force (xbox)

>>old and new copies dont link.

wow, really? I have two old copies I use for system link. I got a third with the wheel, still sealed. I just assumed it would work if I ever get a third 360. I'll try to test it this weekend.