October, 2008

I needed an additional audio adapter to make my Xbox 360 VGA cable work with PC speakers, so I went to Monoprice because they generally have audio/video cables and adapters at dirt cheap prices with tiny shipping costs to boot. I wasn't disappointed. I got the adapters I needed shipped to my door for $3.xx Out of curiosity I added all the cables necessary to get Xbox 360 video to a PC monitor and the audio to PC speakers. The total is $14.40. Here's the parts needed, all quantities of one.

Part ID Description Price

678 3.5mm Stereo Coupler Jack to Jack (Female-Female) $0.68

2120 RCA Audio Splitter Adapter (3.5mm Male to 2 RCA Female) (Stereo) $0.65

4010 XBOX 360 VGA CABLE $8.27

USPS Priority Mail Shipping to 35763 $4.80
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Total $14.40

I was really surprised how inexpensive this could be. You provide the monitor, 360, and PC speakers, and the above hardware gets you in business. If you've been on the fence about going to a VGA monitor and PC speakers for BYOS LANs, this could seal the deal.

I recently purchased a D-Link Gamerlounge DGL-4500 Xtreme N Gaming Router. In this thread I will post my thoughts about it in a somewhat realtime manner as I begin using it. It will eventually be a full review, but I'm going to write it as a stream of consciousness rather than a complete review. Read on for my experience thus far.

I just purchased it two days ago and installed it yesterday, but I still don't have all the features configured or any experience with it during online gaming.

First, I purchased it because I run two Xbox 360s in my house, sometimes gaming at the same time, and my current router (~4 year old Belkin Wireless G router) can't support open NAT on both. This creates interesting problems when trying to host and organize online games. Another small problem that it promises to fix is increase in ping times to your online gaming host while another network computer is uploading or downloading large amounts of data.

It supposedly fixes this by prioritizing network traffic to allow gaming data through first. I don't know how it works, but it sounds great. Perhaps I'll learn in the coming days. It also has 802.11n (draft), but I currently don't have any devices that support N, so that's just some incentive for the future. It also has an LED display.

The router is a little expensive at $170 delivered from Amazon. I wasn't excited about paying this much, but my previous router lasted many years. Not only was it getting old, but it lacked several features that I want and would use regularly. I get a lot of utility from my home networking equipment through online gaming, LANs, and my home theater PC, so it was worth the $ to me to buy a quality router with lots of features, because I tend to use those features.

Last night I installed the router, upgraded the firmware, set up my wireless network, and set up MAC address filtering. My wireless security is to not broadcast my SSID plus only allow approved MAC addresses. Yes, it's possible to find out my SSID and spoof a MAC address, but it's not very probable--especially in light of all the open and WEP encrypted networks around me.

Upgrading the firmware was easy. Some reviews complained about it. I think the complaints are unfounded. Setting up MAC address filtering was essentially easy, but I did stumble on one nuance: make sure the first MAC address you add to the approved list is the MAC of the device you're using, or you essentially lock yourself out of the router and must do a hard reset to default settings.

Yeah. It happened twice.

After that things went smoothly. Both Xbox 360s have open NAT and all my devices are online. It integrated seamlessly with my existing 16-port switch that services all my home network drops. However, it appears that I must reconfigure my Vista Media Center machine (HTPC) with my Media Center Extenders (Xbox 360s). Changing the router seems to have destroyed the connection, but that should be simple enough to fix. I plan to drag the HTPC out of the closet and tackle that tonight (hopefully before the debate).

In case you all missed these: Epic has been releasing these "developer diaries" for the upcoming release of Gears of War 2. You can download most of these in High Definition WMV format at the official GoW 2 website: http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/Media/videos.htm

All videos are chronologically ordered, from newest to oldest.

Never Fight Alone:
The crew at Epic dishes on multiplayer, new modes, and psychological warfare in Gears 2.
http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/mcWKEmj2Gb4.html

Enter the Horde:
Take a closer look at the brutal new foes in Gears 2.
http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/Cic8ngjs9W0.html

Delta Blues:
The Gears 2 team talks about what makes their characters tick.
http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/EVsulpbQwEdD3M.html

Every Gun Has A Story:
The Gears 2 team explains how to reach out and touch someone… with a flamethrower.
http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/d8fhsalslNPfA84w.html

Touch The Sound:
Learn all about the "meatier," "crunchier," Gears 2 sound design.
http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/NTm4Zx0X9As.html

Gears 2: Multiplayer Footage:
Part 1:

Part 2:

Several Hushed Casket members are now in the public beta of Call of Duty 5: World at War. For those of you that aren't in just yet, here are some of my thoughts after playing it for the first day:

By the way, reserve the game at Gamestop and you can get access to the multiplayer beta. Also pay attention to this website and we'll let you know when beta keys are going to be given away.

My take of the beta:

CoD5 is as if you took the CoD4 engine and gameplay, stripped out the modern warfare element and the Middle Eastern setting, and then replaced it with WWII warfare in the Pacific/Asian theater and the German/Soviet front.

The party system, rank system, weapons, perks, classes, and kill bonuses are all built into the game just like they were for CoD4. Some new perks are added. Of course the weapons are from the WWII era.

During this first stage of the beta the maximum level is capped at level 11.

As of this writing (2PM CST), 7000 players are online.

My first game was in a large map set in what seemed like a Philippine island. The map was dark and set on a beach. On the shore where huts and buildings made out of old wood and old metal. Some of the buildings stretched out over the water. At least one building was raised about 20' off the ground and a sniper was owning us from that spot.

Wild dogs attacked us as we were playing. See below:

If you get 3 kills without dying you can call in a recon plane that will reveal enemies on the map just like the UAV in CoD4.

If you get 5 kills without dying you can call in artillery rounds to the spot on the map that you pick. (The cannon fire seemed to last 3 or 4 times longer than the bombing in CoD4). I feel like this will be more deadly than the airstrike in CoD4.

UPDATE: It's too late. You missed out on the keys. Stay tuned.

Ways to get keys:

1) preorder the game at Gamestop
2) register at callofduty.com and wait for another open call for keys
3) eBay

Want to play the beta version of Call of Duty 5?

Go to this website and register your name and email address. If you are one of the first 20,000 to register, you'll get to download the beta version of Call of Duty 5 to your XBOX 360.

Hint: On the registration this translation may help you:

Nom (Name)
Prénom (Last name)

You can skip the middle section labeled "Communauté".

Adresse email (Email Address)
Vérification email (Repeat Email Address)
Date de naissance (Date of Birth)

As of this posting only 5886 beta keys remain available.

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BTW: Be sure to follow The Hushed Casket on Twitter.com to get breaking news updates on your cellular device.

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Hushed Casket readers are beginning to get their beta keys. Good luck.

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The website has no more keys to give out. Stay tunes for more updates. We'll try to alert you of any more beta key offerings.

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The collector's edition of the game contains exclusive content:

- Colored Clan Tag: Identify your VIP-status in multiplayer with a uniquely colored clan tag