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Thread ID: 41283	2004-01-05 21:41:00	Xbox's greed for speed disputed	stu140103 (137)	Press F1

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205547	2004-01-05 21:41:00	from Stuff . co . nz ( . stuff . co . nz/stuff/0,2106,2774303a28,00 . html" target="_blank">www . stuff . co . nz) Xbox's greed for speed disputed 05 January 2004 By RICHARD WOOD Microsoft and Telecom have pooh-poohed suggestions that consumers will be burned by broadband charges when using Microsoft's recently launched Xbox Live online gaming service . At issue is the amount of broadband traffic the Xbox Live service uses when gamers play against each other over the internet . Microsoft and Telecom claim this is typically between seven and 10 megabytes per hour but Microsoft acknowledges it could reach 30Mb an hour, depending on the game . Hosting a game among 16 players can reportedly eat up 300Mb an hour . Xbox Live requires a broadband connection . Microsoft recommends a 256kbps connection . Telecom's Jetstream base service at this speed provides 500Mb a month for $49 . 95 . If a game used 30Mb per hour, this would only allow 16 hours of play a month before extra charges kicked in . Telecom's head of internet and online marketing Chris Thompson says, for a further $10 a month, the limit is 1Gb, or consumers can get a 2Gb cap for an extra $20 . Alternatively, he says, Telecom's 128kbps Jetstream Starter service gives unlimited play . Some users have questioned whether Jetstream Starter is suitable, given it's slower than Microsoft's recommended 256kbps for Xbox Live . Mr Thompson says people need to shut down other applications running on their computers if they want to use Jetstream Starter with Xbox Live . Microsoft Xbox marketing manager Wilf Robinson says, though 256kbps is recommended, "we've had a lot of people say 128kbps is absolutely fine" . Mr Robinson denies claims that when a player hosts games, the host's traffic usage multiplies by the number of people playing . He says this is not the way Xbox Live works . Multiplayer games are authenticated centrally by communicating with a server in Redmond, California, and then run in a peer-to-peer arrangement sending traffic to each other . Extra traffic for the original host has been measured as 20 per cent higher than non-hosts, says Mr Robinson, boosting a 30Mb per hour game to 36Mb per hour . Mr Robinson says there are many games active online at any one time, catering to many skill levels, so there is no need for customers to act as a host if they don't want to . The most data-intensive games are popular first-person shooter and action-adventure games . Ultimately, Mr Robinson says, he puts the game experience ahead of cost considerations for users . "It's not about getting as many people as possible to take it up . It's about providing the most enjoyable experience in the gaming world," he says . Mr Robinson says, if they wanted Xbox Live to be as accessible as possible, they would have made it a dial-up facility, not broadband . Mr Thompson dismisses suggestions that game players can't get information on what traffic they're using . He says the target customers already have a broadband-connected PC, otherwise they wouldn't be able to configure their ADSL routers . Therefore, they can check their broadband usage meter from their PCs . On Jetstream Home accounts, Telecom charges the same for local or international traffic . This is despite the higher costs it incurs with international data . Consumers might save money by playing local competitors if local traffic were free or cheaper . This is how it works in Telecom's PC games realm, where hundreds of servers are deployed nationally, specifically for games played on PCs . Mr Thompson says creating that infrastructure for Xbox Live will take some time because "it's hard to make a business case for putting in hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment for no revenue" . Mr Thompson says Xbox Live lacks the ability to identify and route traffic between groups of local players . Xbox Live tries to connect to people all over the world, he says . Mr Thompson says Telecom is working with Microsoft on the issue and is also talking to game developers and to Sony on the Playstation console side . "For most console games, they're going into general internet traffic and are having to be treated as such," he says . Before Christmas, and two weeks after the December 4 launch, Microsoft had sold 500 Xbox Live kits in New Zealand .	stu140103 (137)
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