Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360 0859345718, 9780859345712

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Andrew Edney

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in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation |

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Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

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Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360 by Andrew Edney

LIMERICK pan, FB

ree etyuhts. Bernard Babani (publishing) Ltd The Grampians Shepherds Bush Road

London W6 7NF England www. babanibooks.com

ill

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Please Note Although every care has been taken with the production of this book to ensure that any projects, designs, modifications and/or programs, etc. contained herewith, operate in a correct and safe manner and also that any components specified are normally available in Great Britain, the Publishers and Author(s) do not accept responsibility in any way for the failure (including fault in design) of any project, design, modification or program to work correctly or to cause damage to any equipment that it may be connected to or used in conjunction with, or in respect of any other damage or injury that may be so caused, nor do the Publishers accept responsibility in any way for the failure to obtain specified components.

Notice is also given that if equipment that is still under warranty is modified in any way or used or connected with home-built equipment then that warranty may be void.

ISBN 978 0 85934 571 2 © 2006 BERNARD BABANI (publishing) LTD First Published — December 2006

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Cover design by Gregor Arthur Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPD (Wales) Ltd, Ebbw Vale

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

About this Book Pretty well most households these days has a games console in it. Some even have more than one. There are many to choose from, including consoles from manufacturers such a Nintendo,

Sony and Microsoft. It’s not enough for these consoles to just play games anymore. Now they have to do a lot more. Some play back DVD movies, others connect to the Internet so that you can play against real live players instead of against the computer. More recently these consoles are being marketed as complete home entertainment systems. They can do everything from playing games, to streaming media content around your home. Microsoft, having already had the original Xbox console on the market for a couple of years recently launched the Xbox 360, the newest and most powerful games console on the planet, and truly, it’s not just for playing games as this book will aim to show!

This book will explain how to set up and configure your Xbox 360, not just to play games, but to connect to a worldwide community, to stream music and pictures from your Windows computers, to connect to Media Center PCs and more.

Please note that his book is not an authorised edition or

supported by Microsoft.

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Conventions Throughout this book, you will see a number of information boxes, bounded with either a double line like this...

DESIGNATING A WARNING ...or indeed, a single line, like this...

DESIGNATING A NOTE, INTEREST OR USEFUL TIP

POINT

OF

Procedures and walkthroughs are shown as numerical lists, like this: ieStepel 2. step2

All diagrams and Figures have a two-digit reference number containing the Chapter number, followed by the Figure number within that Chapter. For example, Figure 1-1 represents the first Figure in Chapter 1.

vi

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

About the Author Andrew Edney has been an IT consultant for over 12 years and over the course of his career has worked for a range of high-tech companies, such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Fujitsu. Services. He has a wide range of experience in virtually all aspects of Microsoft’s computing solutions, having designed and architected large enterprise solutions for government and private sector customers. Over the years, Andrew had made a number of guest appearances at major industry events, presenting on a wide range of Information Systems subjects, such as an appearance at the annual Microsoft Exchange Conference in Nice where he addressed the Microsoft technical community on Mobility Computing. Andrew is currently involved in numerous Microsoft beta programmes, including next generation Windows operating systems and next generation Microsoft Office products, and actively participates in all Windows Media Center beta programmes. On top of all of this, Andrew runs his own IT consulting company, Firebird Consulting. Andrew lives in Wiltshire with his partner, Katy, and their two cats.

vii

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Acknowledgements I would like to offer my thanks to my family and friends for their support and assistance during the long months of writing this book. In addition to the people explicitly named below, I would also like to offer my thanks to all the staff at Babani for publishing my book.

Primarily, thanks must go to Katy for her support and thanks to Apollo and Starbuck for keeping me calm when I got too stressed out. I would also like to thank Rosie for her help and input. To anyone I might have missed, a heartfelt thanks goes out to all of you for making this possible. Once again, it’s been a pleasure.

Vill

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Trademarks Microsoft,

Xbox,

Xbox

360,

Xbox

Live,

Windows

XP

Media Center Edition and Windows XP are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.

All other brand names and product names used in this book are recognised as trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Contents Conventions

vi

PART 1 - An Introduction 1. Introduction A History of Consoles The Xbox The Xbox 360 Technical Specifications Xbox 360 Core Pack Xbox 360 Premium Pack

The Future Summary

pm —Fk —_ = OM N=

PART 2 - Connection, Setup and Configuration 2. Connecting Your Xbox 360

IS

Putting It All Together

15

Connecting To Your TV and HiFi

16

Switching It On

18

Accessories Summary

18 20

3. The Initial Setup Summary

21 26

4. Networking

27

Edit Settings

29 29

Basic Settings

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Additional Settings Windows Connect Now

Restore to Factory Defaults Summary

5. The System Blade Memory

Computers Xbox Livé Vision Initial Setup Summary

6. Console Settings Display Audio Themes Language

Clock Locale Startup

Auto-Off Screen Saver Remote Control System Info Summary

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

7. Family Settings Console Controls Game Ratings DVD Movie Ratings Access to Xbox Live Xbox Live Membership Creation Set Pass Code Turn Off Family Settings

Xbox Live Controls Online Gameplay Privacy and Friends Content Summary

PART 3 - The Online World 8. The Guide Button

Personal Settings Online Status Voice Vibration Notifications Shut Down Music

Switching Off, Shutting Down and Starting Up Summary

9. Setting Up Xbox Live Account Management Memberships Contact Information Passport Network Password

Xil

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Xbox Live Pass Code Download History About Microsoft Points

Policy Information Summary

10. Creating a New Passport Account Creating a Child Account Summary

11. The Xbox Live Marketplace

128 HE 132 [33 134

135 144 146

147

Featured Downloads

149

Games

151

Media and Entertainment

153

Demos and Game Videos

155

Themes and Gamer Pictures

157

Redeem Code

159

Active Downloads

159

Account Management

161

Microsoft Points

161

Where are the downloads? Summary

163 164

12. The Xbox Live Community Messages Viewing and Replying to a Message Creating a New Message Friends

165 167 168 173

176

xiii

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

176 178

Friend Requests Private Chats

Players You Have Met Summary

183 184

PART 4 - Games 13. The Gamer Card

187

View Games

189

Edit Gamer Profile

190

Gamer Picture

191

Motto

196

Gamer Zone

196

Gamertag

198

Privacy Settings

199

View Rep

204

Game Defaults

207 208 209 210

General Defaults Action

Racing

Enable Auto Sign-in / Disable Auto Sign-in Summary

14. Games

212 212

213

Achievements

214

Played Games

215

Xbox Live Arcade

217 218

My Arcade Games

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

Play Trial Game / Play Game Unlock Fuli Game Delete Game Download Games

220 a22 223 224

Demos

228

Game Videos

229

Playing Xbox 360 Games

231 233

Game Updates

Playing Original Xbox Games Xbox Live Download Updates and Burn to CD Order the Update Summary

237 ple) 240 242 244

PART 5 - The Multimedia Experience 15. The Media Blade Music Music Player Hard Drive Computer Current Disc Portable Device

Pictures Computer Digital Camera Current Disc Portable Device

247 248 249 254 258 259 264 272 213 274 278 219

Video

279

Watching DVDs

282 286

Summary

XV

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

16. Windows Media Connect

287

Installing Windows Media Connect

291

Configuring Windows Media Connect

297

Using Windows Media Connect

303

Summary

17. Windows XP Media Center Edition

306

307

Setting Up the Extender — On the Xbox 360

310

Setting Up the Extender — On the Media Center

315

Using the Media Center Extender

328

Navigating Media Center from your Xbox 360

330

Summary

332

PART 6 - Troubleshooting and Online Resources 18. Troubleshooting Networking You cannot connect your Xbox 360 to your Wireless network

Xbox Live Problems Signing Into Xbox Live

Hardware Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light Two red lights flash on the Ring of Light

Windows Media Connect The Xbox 360 cannot find the Computer

335 336 336

337 S37

338 338 338

339 339

Playing CDs or DVDs

340

Disc Does Not Play

340

Windows Media Center

Xvi

341

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 cannot connect to the Media Center PC The performance is poor or not as expected

Music Some songs on your iPod or other portable device won’t play Summary

19. Online Resources

My Xbox Online Gamer Profile Privacy Settings Account Management Friends List Message Center Xbox Forums Summary

Index

341 342

344 344 344

345 345 347 348 349 349 350

352 354

355

XVil

Getting More From Your Microsoft Xbox 360

XVill

PART

1

An Introduction

—— eer

NS le mee tee.MA

NehAt

Introduction

Introduction

Thank you for buying this book, I hope it can provide you with some valuable insight into the capabilities and features the Xbox 360 can offer you over and above that of a normal games console, and also some _ valuable time-saving information. This chapter will provide a brief history of games consoles, including a quick reminder of the original Xbox and then will take a look at the new Xbox 360, the two different

packs that you can buy, and finish up with a brief look at the future.

A History of Consoles The first games console appeared in 1972. It was called the Magnavox Odyssey and did not sell well at all. Around the same time Atari released a game called Pong (who doesn’t

Introduction

remember Pong?). Pong could be found in Pubs and Arcades, and in 1975 Pong was available to buy on a console.

Figure 1-1 Pong In 1977, Atari released the Atari VCS

or Atari 2600

as it

became known (Figure 1-2). Over 25 million consoles were sold with over 200 games released. The games, for anyone who does not remember, were small cartridges. that plugged into the top of the console.

The Atari 2600 was the games console to have even though the games were actually quite expensive for the time, and looking back now it is hard to see what fascinated all of us, but anyone who had one probably still looks back fondly on those days — I know I certainly do. Many, many hours of my early childhood were spent playing games.

Introduction

Figure 1-2 The Atari 2600

In 1982, a console was released called the Vectrex (Figure 13). This was a portable style console as it had a built in screen. Like the Atari 2600, you plugged in games cartridges. But with each cartridge came a screen overlay which you fitted to the screen which added some colour to the screen.

Figure 1-3 The Vectrex

Introduction

Over the next 20 years, a number of consoles were released from companies such as Nintendo and Sony.

The Xbox The original Xbox was released in November 2001. The number-one game that people bought at that time was Halo: Combat Evolved. In fact, people were so impressed with Halo that they actually bought the Xbox just to play it. It is certainly what made me buy an Xbox at the time.

Figure 1-4 The Original Xbox

Introduction

Xbox Live was launched exactly one year later so that people could play games with other gamers from all around the world. Within two months of Xbox Live being launched, over 250,000 people worldwide had subscribed to it. By the middle of 2006, Microsoft had sold over 24 million consoles worldwide. Surprisingly, the Xbox was not very popular in Japan. One of the main selling points of the Xbox was that it was the first console on the market to have a hard drive which could be used to store saved games and any content downloaded from Xbox Live. A

number

of accessories

were

available

for

the

Xbox,

including a DVD Playback kit so that you could watch your DVDs and various controllers.

The Xbox 360 Released in November 2005, this is the latest generation of gaming consoles. It was the first games console to be launched simultaneously in a number of different countries, however the demand was extremely high and a number of people, including those who had pre-ordered were disappointed not to be able to get one. :

Introduction

Figure 1-5 The Xbox 360 Within only a few hours of its launch, thousands of Xbox 360s were available on EBay and in some cases the prices were double and even triple what you would pay in the shops. But people actually bought them!

Technical Specifications Item

Details

Dimensions

310 x 80 x 260 mm

Weight

Bo. Ke

Introduction

Operating Temperature

od Gk(oye raedWy

Inputs and Outputs

2 x Memory Unit Ports 2 Front USB Ports 1 Rear USB Port Ethernet Port

AV Port DC IN Power Port

IR remote receiver 2.4 GHz wireless receiver for wireless controllers Processor

Custom PowerPC-based CPU

3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz

2 hardware threads per core 1 MB L2 cache

2.7 GHz Front Side Bus

Graphics

Custom ATI Graphics Processor 500 MHz clock speed

10 MB embedded DRAM (256 GB/s)

Introduction

48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines Unified shader architecture

Memory

512 MB GDDR3 RAM Unified memory architecture

High Definition Games Support

All games support 16:9 widescreen, anti-aliasing and high-definition video

Table 1-1 The Xbox 360 Technical

Specifications

Xbox 360 Core Pack This is the entry level pack and enables you to buy any specific accessories as and when you need them.

The pack contains: e

Xbox 360 console

e

Xbox 360 wired controller

e

Xbox 360 Composite AV Cable with SCART Adaptor

If you only want to play some games, and you are not really bothered about Xbox Live, then this pack has everything you will need. However, go and have a quick read of Chapter 11 and you might just change your mind!

Introduction

Figure 1-6 The Xbox 360 Core Pack

Xbox 360 Premium Pack This is the pack to buy if you want it all at once. Of course you can still add to it if you want to.

This pack contains: ®

Xbox 360 console

e

Xbox 360 wireless controller

Introduction

e

Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20GB)

e

Xbox 360 Headset

e

Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable with SCART Adaptor

e

Xbox Ethernet Cable

Figure 1-7 The Xbox 360 Premium Pack

10

Introduction

With this pack you have everything you need to play all the games,

connect

to Xbox

Live, download

content

from the

Xbox Live Marketplace and much more. The price difference between the two packs is quite small, and if you were planning on buying some of the accessories at a later stage it would work out considerably cheaper to go for the Premium Pack. You will also find a lot of retailers doing special deals, including games and extra accessories. ,

The Future At the time of writing, a HD DVD add-on is about to be released which will enable you to play back HD DVD content, including the new HD DVD movies. This add-on is due to retail for around £130 which is currently over £400 cheaper than the nearest HD DVD player. So, if you have an Xbox 360 and you want to experience HD DVD movies buy this! It should also come with a remote controller and a HD DVD movie, although this may change. I’ve already got mine on order. To go along with that, Microsoft will be providing an update, via Xbox Live, for 1080p support for HD TVs. Also expect to see lots more online content, and new games that take advantage of everything the Xbox 360 has to offer. In May 2006, Microsoft announced Live Anywhere. This is the ability for non-Xbox platforms, including Windows

11

Introduction

Vista and Windows Mobile-enabled phones to connect to Xbox Live. Live Anywhere should be launched in early 2007. Have you ever wanted to write your own Xbox 360 game? Well soon you will be able to do just that. Microsoft have announced a set of tools called XNA Game Studio Express. These tools should make it easy for anyone to write a game, and coupled with a subscription to what Microsoft are referring to as a “creators club” developers will be able to build, test and share their games online.

Summary So if you didn’t know already, you now know a little about the history of games consoles. Some of you will even remember games and consoles from a very long time ago! You also now know all about the Xbox 360 and the different packs you can buy depending on what you want the Xbox 360 for. When you have purchased your new Xbox 360, turn to Chapter 2 to learn how to connect it and start your journey into the amazing world of the Xbox 360.

12

Part 2 — Connection, Setup and Configuration

PART 2 Connection, Setup and Configuration

Connecting Your Xbox 360

u Connecting Your Xbox 360

Now that you have decided on and purchased your Xbox 360, you will want to get it out of the box and connected up as quickly as possible.

This chapter will provide some guidance on connecting all the components together so that you can start to enjoy everything your newly purchased Xbox 360 can offer without spending all day getting it ready, along with a brief look at some of the accessories that are available today.

Putting It All Together The first thing to do is to take everything out of the box and make sure it is all there.

Once you have done that, follow these simple steps:

He)

Connecting Your Xbox 360

1. Decide where you want to put your Xbox 360. Ensure that there is enough ventilation as it can get very hot. 2. Connect the power supply and the power supply lead together.

3. Connect the power supply to the DC IN on the back of your Xbox 360. 4. Connect the power supply plug to a suitable power point (but don’t switch it on just yet). 5. If you are using a wired controller, connect it to your Xbox 360.

6. If you are using a wireless controller, batteries into the back of the controller.

place the

Connecting To Your TV and HiFi Depending on what cable you have and what type of TV you have, you will need to connect your Xbox 360 to your TV. 1. Plug the single thick end of the cable into the AV port on your Xbox 360. 2. If you are connecting to a HD TV make sure you have set the selector switch on this part of the cable to HDTV. 3. Ensure that you plug all the cables into the correct sockets in the back of your TV. Consult the manual for your TV if you are unsure.

Connecting Your Xbox 360

Figure 2-1 Xbox 360 Cable Connectors

4. If you are using the Xbox 360 Component HD AV cable, ensure you connect the banded red, green and blue connectors into the corresponding inputs on your LNs

Connecting Your Xbox 360

5. Connect the solid white and red connectors into the corresponding audio inputs on your TV. 6. If you want to connect your Xbox 360 to your HiFi you will need a Toslink digital audio cable which connects from the Xbox 360’s AV connector into your HiFi. Consult your HiFi manual for more information if you are unsure. For information on how to change the display and audio settings on your Xbox 360, have a read of Chapter 6.

Switching It On Right, you are ready to switch it on. It is time to have a read of Chapter 3 to find out everything you need to know about the initial setup process. If you are using a Wireless Controller, when you switch on your Xbox 360 you will need to press the Guide Button in order to pair the controller with the Xbox 360.

Accessories There are a number of optional components and accessories that you can buy for Xbox 360, with more coming out all the time.

Connecting Your Xbox 360

You can buy additional controllers, wireless controllers, different faceplates for your Xbox 360 if you are bored with the one that it came with. You can also buy additional Hard Drives, an Xbox 360 Headset,

memory

units, steering wheels,

cables

and much

more.

Figure 2-2 Some of the accessories you can buy There is even a wireless network adaptor which plugs into the USB port on the back of your Xbox 360 and then clips neatly into place on some already provided clips.

19

Connecting Your Xbox 360

Figure 2-3 Some more of the accessories you can buy

Summary So hopefully now you would have put all the Xbox 360 components together and connected it to your TV and HiFi. The next chapter will look at the initial setup. It won’t be long now until you will be playing games and listening to CDs.

20

Ne ee

3 The Initial Setup

So you have now connected up all the bits and you cross your fingers and press the power button on the front of your Xbox 360.

Assuming you have connected everything together correctly, and you should have if you followed the steps in the last chapter, you should be presented with your first look at the Xbox 360 — the Language select screen, as shown in Figure 31

21

Initial Setup ON OOEE

pee

Ne

eh a to eS

ee

Figure 3-1 The Language Selection Screen

Highlight the language you would like to use and press the A button to continue. At this point, you might see the message telling you that there is already one or more Gamer profiles on your Xbox 360. If one of those profiles is yours, if for example you already started the process previously, then choose the Select a Profile option and sign in with your profile. If not, then don’t worry — just click on Don’t Select a

Profile to bring up the Gamer Profile screen, as shown in Figure 3-2.

Z2

ea a

i

Figure 3-2 Create a Gamer Profile From here you can create a new offline profile, migrate your original Xbox Live account, or even connect to Xbox Live and join up now. Don’t worry about connecting to Xbox Live just yet, this will be covered in detail in Chapter 9. If you choose Migrate Your Xbox Live Account, make sure that you have your original Xbox or Passport Network account information ready and that you have your Xbox 360 connected to your network or broadband connection.

For now, let’s assume you want to create a new offline profile. So go ahead and select Create an Offline Profile. This will

23

Initial Setup

bring up the Gamer Profile Name window, as shown in Figure 3-3.

Enter a name up to 15 characters long.

Soren enor Bh

|

(feps_j{vSpace ie Backspace 4

8

caeceoeeaeastane

inanimate

Spac

>

Figure 3-3 Enter a Gamer Profile Name

Delete the entry called Player which will be there by default — you really don’t want to be called that! Enter a name for your profile up to a maximum of 15 characters in length. When you are ready, select Done to continue. You will then be asked to select a Gamer Picture to add

to your Gamer Card, as shown in Figure 3-4.

24

eae

tal

es

a

CD Melatech

Gamer Picture

-

Figure 3-4 Choose a Gamer Picture

Pick anything you like to be your Gamer Picture — you can change this later, and even download more pictures from the Xbox Live Marketplace, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Once you have selected a picture you will be signed into your new account and you see the Initial Setup Complete screen, as shown in Figure 3-5.

25

Initial Setup

Peaterchche al aech iA

Aes

SORE

ee

Figure 3-5 Initial Setup is complete

At this point you can choose to Exit Setup and go straight to the Xbox Dashboards. However, you also have the option to set some Family Settings, if you want or need to, and also set your High Definition Settings for your audio and visual experience. High Definition Settings are covered in Chapter 6 and Family Settings are covered in Chapter 7.

Summary In this chapter you learnt how to set up the basics of your Xbox 360, now it’s time to see what else there is.

26

Networking

4 Networking

If you want to connect your Xbox 360 to either your home network or to Xbox Live, you need to first configure the network settings on your Xbox 360.

= Sign Out

ce

cee

:

Select @

Figure 4-1 The System Blade

27

Networking

To do this, go to the System blade and select Network Settings, as shown in Figure 4-1.

You are then presented with five menu options, as shown in Figure 4-2 which will be covered in detail to help you to connect your Xbox 360 as easily and as quickly as possible.

-:

x

Batk, S

Select)

Figure 4-2 Network Settings If you have not yet set up your network connection, you will notice that the Network information panel at the bottom of the screen does not contain any information and has a red light next to Link, as shown in Figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3 Network Information Panel

28

Networking

Edit Settings Let’s ignore the first two options for now, you will use them shortly, and select Edit Settings, which will bring up the screen shown in Figure 4-4 to edit your Xbox 360’s network configuration. You will notice that there are two tabs, a Basic Settings tab and an Additional Settings tab.

Basic Settings Edit Settings

Figure 4-4 Basic Settings

The Basic Settings tab contains the IP address details of your Xbox 360, including the DNS information and the type of IP settings you are using — either Automatic or Manual.

29

Networking

If you are using a Wireless Network, this information is also displayed. You can highlight and select any of the groupings to amend them. Select the IP Settings group to edit it, as shown in

- Back 8

Select

Figure 4-5 Choose your IP settings

By default, the IP Settings will be set to Automatic. If you are running a DHCP service on your home network, or you receive an IP address automatically from your broadband router, then Automatic is the best option for you. This way all of the required details are entered for you, which means you won’t make a mistake and if the details change at any time they will be automatically updated for you.

30

Networking

Should you not have DHCP available, or you need or want to add the IP address details yourself, select Manual,

which brings up the Edit IP Settings screen shown in Figure 46. Edit ip Settings

Figure 4-6 Add a manual IP address From here you must enter your IP Address, Subnet Mask and Gateway Address details in order to connect to your network, as shown in Figure 4-7.

Make sure you know these details and that they are correct otherwise you will not be able to connect. You may need to ask your Internet Provider for assistance.

SI

Networking— Sa

i

tt

BS

e

Enter an (P address.

AC

LL

ELLLLMSL MRA ALLA

NLLLN

(ew Backspace

LOI HE sian eesct | :

|

Figure 4-7 Add a manual IP address When you have entered all the correct details, select Done. This will bring up a window that advises you that your network settings have changed, as shown in Figure 4-8.

From here you can choose to test the connection to the computers on your home network by selecting Test Media, or the connection to Xbox Live by selecting Test Xbox Live. If you select Cancel you are taken back to the Edit IP Settings page.

32

Networking

Your network settings have changed. Select Test Media to apply your settings and test the

connection to computers on your home network. Select Test Xbox Live to apply your settings and test your connection to Xbox Live.

Test Media Test Xbox Live Cancel

Figure 4-8 You must test your connections

At this point, the choice is yours as to which test to perform. If you have connected to your home network, choose Test Media, but if you have connected directly to a broadband router then select Test Xbox Live. Whichever option you select, you will be advised that you will be signed out in order for the testing to commence. Select Yes to begin whichever test you chose.

33

< Restat Vests

Pie

:

Back

6

ee

SelectO

Figure 4-9 Testing your Media Connection The Test Media Connection option, as shown in Figure 4-9

will check the following: e

Network Adaptor

e

Wireless Network

e

IP Address PC Selected PC Connection

If any of these checks fail, you can select the More Info button to see additional information. For troubleshooting steps, see Chapter 18.

34

Networking

If one of the tests fails, you are given some tips on what you check to before trying the tests again. From the test page you can then choose to restart the tests to see if they now pass after you have tried the troubleshooting tips by pressing the X button on your controller.

@ Xbox Dashboard

o Restart Tests

Select O

Figure 4-10 Testing your Xbox Live Connection

If you selected the Test Xbox Live Connection option, as shown in Figure 4-10, it will check the following: e

Network Adaptor

e

Wireless Network

e

IP Address

e

DNS

Networking

e

MTU

e

ICMP

e

Xbox Live

e

NAT

And again, if any of these checks fail, you can select the More Info button to see additional information. Edit DNS Settings. matic

Back

S

Setect OD

Figure 4-11 Choose your DNS settings Once these tests have successfully passed, you can move on to editing the DNS settings as shown in Figure 4-11. As with the IP address settings, you can choose to use

Automatic settings and receive all the details or Manual to enter them yourself. If you choose the Manual approach you

36

Networking

will have to enter both the Primary DNS Server settings and the Secondary DNS Server settings, as shown in Figure 4-12.

Edit ONS Settings aty DNS Server

Back >

Select:

Figure 4-12 Enter a manual DNS entry

You have both a Primary and a Secondary DNS Server entry to ensure you can still use DNS if one of the servers is unavailable for whatever reason. The last group on the Basic Settings tab is for the Wireless connection. If this group is greyed out, you do not have an Xbox 360 Wireless Adaptor connected.

37

Networking

Before selecting this option, make sure you have plugged in your Xbox 360 Wireless Adaptor and that your Wireless network is operational. The first thing that will happen is that your Xbox 360 will do a search for all available Wireless networks that are in range. You will be presented with a list, similar to that shown in Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13 Select your wireless network

If you see your Wireless Network listed, highlight it and press the A button to select it. You will be able to see the name of your network and the type of security that is protecting it.

38

Networking

If your Wireless network is using WEP for security, you will be asked to enter your WEP key, as shown in Figure 4-14. When you have entered the key select the Done button. The Xbox 360 wireless connection supports both 64-bit key and 128-bit key WEP and also WPA.

Enter your WEP key. WEP64 keys must be 5 text or 10 hex characters.

WEP128 keys must be 13 text or 25 hex characters. perenne

nm

rear

| Symbols sm

ily

t Caps | |

|

Space

fF

3

fe

lim

1¢

blgoul

: * = g Backspace

Figure 4-14 Enter your WEP key

If you have entered the correct key, your Xbox 360 should now be connected to your wireless network, and you should see something similar to Figure 4-15 at the bottom of the Network Settings or Edit Settings pages.

39

Networking

Figure 4-15 Wireless Information You will then be able to see all the information about your network settings, which may prove useful in the event you have to troubleshoot your network connection.

If your wireless network is not listed, you can try searching for it by selecting the Specify Unlisted Network option, which will ask you to enter the SSID of your wireless network. SSID stands for Service Set Identifier and is a

unique

set

of characters

that

identifies

a

wireless network.

Depending on what security you have set on your wireless network, you will have to enter either a WEP key, a WPA Passphrase or select No Security if you are not running any, as shown in Figure 4-16. If it supports it, set your Wireless Network to use WPA as it is much stronger than WEP.

40

| Networking

Edit Wireless Security Settings

WP No Security

Back ©.

SelectO

Figure 4-16 Choose your Wireless Security

It is not on your anyone network

a very good idea to have no security set Wireless Network. Without security, can gain access to your wireless and you will not be able to stop them.

Once you have entered this information, you will once again be asked to test the connection before being allowed to continue. When all the settings are entered, either manually or automatically received, and your connect has been made, you will be see a screen similar to Figure 4-17.

41

Networking

Edit Setting

Back

=

Select

Figure 4-17 Viewing your network settings

Additional Settings The other tab is Additional Settings. This contains groups for PPPoE settings and Advanced Settings, as shown in Figure 418. PPPoE stands for Point-to-Point Protocol over

Ethernet. This enables multiple users on the same Ethernet network to connect via common device, such as a shared modem.

42

a

Networking

Additional Settings ©

Figure 4-18 The Additional Settings screen If you select the PPPoE Settings group, you have the option to enter all the PPPoE details. Only add PPPoE entries if your Internet Service Provider uses PPPoE authentication. If you are not sure, contact your ISP and ask them.

‘Work through the User Name, Password and Service Name entries pages, and select Done when you are finished.

If you need to remove all the PPPoE settings, just select the Clear Settings option. The only other group is Advanced Settings, as shown in Figure 4-19.

43

Networking

Figure 4-19 The Advanced Settings screen

From here you can enter an alternate MAC address if the connection to your Internet Service Provider requires it. You can also enter a Host Name, again only if your ISP requires it. Only enter an alternate MAC address and host name if it is absolutely required.

And finally you can view your Wireless information which includes the type of device, along with its MAC address and serial number is displayed, in addition to its firmware version.

Windows Connect Now Windows Connect Now allows you to easily set up your Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adaptor by taking the settings from 44

Networking

your Windows XP computer and transferring them to your Xbox 360 using a memory stick. Your computer must be running Windows XP SP2 or later in order to use Windows Now.

Connect

The following steps must be completed on your Windows XP . SP2 computer. 1. Click on Start and select Control Panel 2. If you are using the Category View, click on Network and Internet Connections 3. Double-click on Wireless Network Setup Wizard, as shown in Figure 4-20

_»))

Wireless Network Setup Wizard

Figure 4-20 Wireless Network Setup Wizard icon in Control Panel

4. The Welcome to the Wireless Network Setup Wizard dialog is displayed, as shown in Figure 4-21. Click Next to continue.

45

Networking

Welcome to the Wireless Network

Setup Wizard This wizard helps you set up a security-enabled wireless network in which all of your computers and devices connect through a wireless access point. (This is called a wireless infrastructure

> network)

To continue, click Next,

INS | Next > 2 ||Oe Cancel

Figure 4-21 Starting the setup process

5. Complete all the details on the Create a name for your wireless network dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-22 and click Next. Remember that WPA is stronger than WEP so if your wireless network supports it, select it!

46

Create a name for your wireless network.

Give your network a name, using up to 32 characters. Network name (SSID);

© Automatically assign a network key (recommended)

To prevent outsiders From accessing your network, Windows will automatically assign a secure key (also called a WEP or WPA key) to your network,

©) Manually assign a network key Use this option if you would prefer to create your own key, or add a new device to your existing wireless networking using an old key,

[ ]Use WPA encryption instead of WEP (WPA is stronger than WEP but not all devices are compatible with WPA)

Figure 4-22 Set up your wireless network 6.

Ensure

selected,

the Use

a USB

as shown

flash drive

in Figure 4-23.

radio

button

is

Click Next

to

continue.

7. Plug your memory stick / flash drive into a spare USB port on your computer.

47

Networking

Sa

a

a

Wireless Network Setup Wizard) 5

ioe

‘

How do you want to set up your network?

This wizard provides two methods for creating a wireless network, Lising a flash drive is easier and more secure. prea:t SA aN

AARON

EEAIRHMO

My

ie

©) Use a USB flash drive (recommended)

i

Using this method, you create network settings once

;

and save them to your flash drive, Then, you use the

|

flash drive to add more devices and computers to your network,

:

i

Spenana nani aestaennsceaninorrmanennesnnscwnnnsanemnened! prervieteeisanienceeioiesiredanceeeet

H

m4 §

{

i \ i

:

©) Set up a network manually :

Using this method, You must set up each computer or

device separately,

4

Figure 4-23 Choose the USB option 8. Select the drive letter of the flash drive from the dropdown list as shown in Figure 4-24. Click Next to copy the settings to the drive. 9. You can now remove the drive and place it in a spare USB port on your Xbox 360 (most likely one of the front ones if you have the Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adaptor attached.

48

Networking

Wireless Network Setup Wizard

us

eee

cat

Save settings to your flash drive.

Plug your flash drive into any USB port on this computer, and wait for the drive letter to appear below.

Use this drive letter or choose a different one. Flash drive:

{4

The wizard will save your network settings to the flash drive. This could take up to 30 seconds

< Back

Next > |

Cancel

Figure 4-24 Select the drive letter of your USB flash drive 10. Select Windows Connect Now from the menu options. 11. The settings are then copied from the drive and a message is displayed asking you to test the new settings, as shown in Figure 4-25. 12. If all the settings were correct, and the tests are successful — that’s it — you are connected.

49

Networking VEO

BRON

rs = 2S

ee

EE EE EEE

EE EE EE

SS

=

ROLLY

Pak

Sead

Windows

OESOER TUR RPE E ERE NS

hla SARA ea

Connect

SAMENESS

RS SR lal

wW settin 9S

es have been found. These wireless settings will be applied to your current network configuration While saving these settings,

please do not disconnect your wireless adapter

Test Media Test Xbox Live

Cancel

Figure 4-25 Applying the settings

Restore to Factory Defaults This option will restore your Xbox 360 back to its defaults which will overwrite whatever network configuration you have entered. This could be useful if you are having problems with your network connection and you want to start from a clean point.

Summary So now you have set up and configured your Xbox 360 for networking, it’s time to have a look at some of the other settings.

50

The System Blade

5 The System Blade

The System Blade is the place to go if you want to make any configuration changes, examine various settings, or set-up your network, amongst numerous other things. System eee sole Settings

Vee SosinOur

got

eC ee

et

GC. - Select ©

Figure 5-1 The System Blade

51

The System Blade

This chapter will look at the options for memory, computers and also Xbox Live Vision. The Console, Family and Network settings are covered in other chapters as they warrant more detail.

Memory This option is not to be confused with the actual memory your Xbox 360 has. It is actually referring to the space on any storage devices you have connected, such as the Xbox 360 Hard Drive or a memory unit, as shown in Figure 5-2. The storage devices contain any of your saved games, profiles, downloads and more.

© Device Options ea Oe

: .

:

Figure 5-2 Available Storage Devices

52

‘Back > Setect*O

The System Blade

As you can see, I only have a Hard Drive attached. It currently has 13 GB free, so for now I have quite a lot of spare capacity. The more you download from the Xbox Live Marketplace, the quicker this spare capacity will be used. Some of the downloads are quite large!

If you want to see the options available for a device, highlight one and press the Y button to see the options, as shown in Figure 5-3.

Back @

Select®

Figure 5-3 Device Options and Summary

You will be presented with a device summary which includes the capacity of the device, and also the amount of free space.

x3

The System Blade

You can also choose to rename the device if you wish, or even format it. Choosing to format a device delete its contents (including saved games if they are on make sure you really want selecting it.

will permanently your profiles and that device) — so to do this before

If you select one of the storage devices, such as the Hard

Drive, you are presented with a list of content type headings, as shown in Figure 5-4.

Figure 5-4 Hard Drive contents headings

This actually makes life easier for you to search through and delete or move content, dependent on what it is. For example,

54

The System Blade

if you wanted to delete some of the video files, just select Videos to see the list of video content, as shown in Figure 5-5.

yj Incomplete

Game Video

Figure 5-5 Videos on your hard drive From here you can highlight and select an item which then gives you the ability to copy or move it to another device or even delete it if you no longer want it. If you plan on copying or moving content to another

device,

make

sure

the

device

is

available and has enough storage space for you to use.

If you plan on replacing your Xbox 360, or you want to play on someone else’s Xbox 360 and you want to use your Gamer Profile, you must move your profile to a memory unit. To do

55

The System Blade

this, select Gamer Profiles from the menu, and then select your profile from the list, as shown in Figure 5-6.

Aedney Gamer Profile

Back Select D

Figure 5-6 Available Gamer Profiles You can then select Move from the options. If you are currently signed in to the profile you want to move or delete, you will need to sign out before you can continue. If you choose to delete a profile, you will be asked if you want to delete just the profile or all the items associated with that profile (such as saved games and achievements). If you want to keep the content, select just the profile. You will notice that one of the menu options is called

Music.

56

The System Blade

If you select this option you will see the screen shown in Figure 5-7. Detete Music et

Don't Delete Ali Music

Figure 5-7 Do you want to delete your music?

Basically, this will delete ALL music stored on your Xbox 360. If you want to delete specific music, you can do so from the Music menu on the Media blade. As usual, make sure you really want to delete what you have selected as once it’s gone, it’s gone!

The last point to mention downloads. Live

is the removal

of incomplete

When you are downloading content from the Xbox Marketplace and you stop the download part way

aM|

The System Blade

through, whatever has been downloaded up to that point remains on your storage device. This is so that if you decide later on to continue the download you don’t have to download the whole file again.

However, if you decide not to bother to finish the download, or you decide you did not actually want it after all, then the file appears as Incomplete, as shown in Figure 5-8.

Figure 5-8 An Incomplete Download This takes up valuable storage space, as you can see, and so you really want to delete these incomplete files as soon as possible.

To do this, just select the incomplete file and choose the Delete option to remove it. As usual you will be asked to confirm that you want to permanently delete it — just select Yes.

You should go through and delete any old, unused or incomplete content on a regular basis to ensure you always have free space available.

Computers If you are connected to either a Windows XP computer for streaming media content, or a Windows Media Center PC, you

58

The System Blade

can see whether or not you are connected to by selecting the Computers menu option, as shown in Figure 5-9. Computers ows-based PC

Beck Select)

|

Figure 5-9 What computers are you connected to?

_ As you can see, you have the choice between Windows-based PCs and Windows Media Center. If either, or both of the menu items are greyed out, then you are not connected to anything. If you want to connect to a computer you can do

so from the Media blade. If you highlight the Windows-based PC option you can see the name of the computer you are connected to. If you then select it, you have the option to Disconnect from it.

59

The System Blade

Xbox Live Vision The Xbox Live Vision Camera is a new add-on for the Xbox 360 which enables you to have video conversations with your friends on Xbox Live, and also to play camera-enabled games. There are even games where you can map your face to that of the hero — if that is something that interests you.

This menu option allows you to set up your Xbox Live Vision Camera, if you have one. You will then see the image from the camera, as shown in Figure 5-10.

Figure 5-10 Xbox Live Vision Camera setup

60

The System Blade

Make sure your Xbox Live Vision Camera is plugged into a spare USB port on your Xbox 360 before continuing. If you need to adjust the focus, you can do so by slowly turning the ring on the camera until you are happy.

You can also change the settings for Room, Lighting, and Fluorescent Anti-Flicker, depending on the room environment -you are currently in. For the most part, Auto (which is the default setting), should be sufficient. Table 5-1 shows the various settings that are available. Option

Settings

Room

Auto, Dark Wall, Light Wall

Lighting

Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent,

Fluorescent Anti-Flicker

Auto, On, Off

Table 5-1 Xbox Live Vision Camera

Environment Settings

You will notice that when you have the camera connected, the background on your Xbox 360 becomes that of whatever the camera is pointed at — very strange!

61

The System Blade

Did you know that your Xbox Live Vision Camera will work on your Windows XP computer?

Initial Setup There may come a time when you want to rerun the setup process that you went through the very first time you switched on your Xbox 360. If you want to do this, just select Initial Setup. You will be asked to confirm that you really want to do it — just select Yes.

Summary So now you know how to set up your Xbox Live Vision Camera, and how to manage the storage space on your device. The next chapter will look at some of the other settings available on your Xbox 360.

62

Console Settings

6 Console Settings

There are a number of individual settings that you select on your Xbox 360 to suit your preferences, ranging from the audio and display settings, to the types of themes you can have, and more.

When you select Console Settings from the System blade, you are presented with the screen shown in Figure 6-1.

Display One of the big selling points for the Xbox 360 is its ability to play games in High Definition (or HD). Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 6 months, you have probably heard of HD — most likely from all the adverts on TV for Sky’s HD service.

63

Console Settings

Figure 6-1 Console Settings

HD provides a massive improvement in picture quality, making the colours more vivid and the images more life-like. In order to experience HD, you will need an HD compatible television or monitor. Chances are you will have already configured your display settings exactly how you want them when you set up your Xbox 360 for the first time. However, you may want to change the settings if you are connected to a different TV or are using a different cable, such as a HDTV cable or if this is the first

time you want to set up your HDTV connection. If you highlight the Display item on the Console Settings menu you will be able to see your current settings. If

64

Console Settings

you select Display, depending on what your current settings are, you will see either the screen shown in Figure 6-2 which is the output with HDTV disabled, or the screen shown in Figure 6-3 which is the output with HDTV enabled.

© 366 Component HD AV Cable is currently settoTV. —

Figure 6-2 A display in If you are enabling you have reset the Component HD AC otherwise it will not

TV mode

HDTV output, make sure switch on the Xbox 360 Cable from TV to HDTV work.

As you might be able to make out from the two screenshots, the HDTV image is considerably sharper and the colours are more vivid. But don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself, you won’t believe how good it is!

65

E 0 Settings E E Console Display :

Back O Select.

Figure 6-3 A display in HDTV mode If you are select Screen Format, Normal and Widescreen.

If you

can,

invest

you can

in a widescreen

choose

between

HDTV

compatible screen, it’s so much better than a conventional monitor or TV, and you will also get the benefits in the future that HDTV programming will bring. If you are using a conventional TV you can also set the PAL Settings between PAL-60 and PAL-50. The 60 and the 50 refer to the hertz (Hz) setting that your TV can support.

66

Console Settings

By default this is set to PAL-50. Be aware though that some games required a setting of PAL-60 in order to work, so if your TV does not support PAL-60 you will not be able to play those games.

If you are connecting your Xbox 360 to a HDTV, then you may want to set a specific output resolution depending on what your HDTV can support, and also your particular preference. At the time of writing, the Xbox 360 supports 480p, 720p and 1080i.

The p stands for progressive scanning and i stands for interlaced scanning. The number before the p or i is the number of lines of vertical resolution. Progressive scanning is widely considered to be of superior quality, although there are those who disagree. Microsoft is planning to release an update that means your Xbox 360 will support 1080p — in fact, by the time you read this it might be available. Select HDTV Settings and choose the setting you want to use.

Don’t worry if you make a change that is not supported as your settings will change back automatically after 10 seconds.

67

Console Settings

Audio Now that you have your display sorted, the next important connect is your audio.

Select Audio to display the audio menu, as shown in Figure 6-4.

Back 2

Setect'O

Figure 6-4 Available Audio Options From here, select which audio output you want to configure, depending on your personal setup. If you want to use a digital output, you must use an Xbox

360 Component

HD, Advanced

SCART, S-Video, or VGA HD AV Cable.

68

Console Settings

For Analogue output, you can choose between Mono or Dolby Pro Logic II for stereo output, as shown in Figure 6-5. Analog Output Settings

:

i

Back

Select

Figure 6-5 Analogue Output Settings Options

For Digital output, you can choose between Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital with WMA Pro if you have the supported equipment, as shown in Figure 6-6. Make sure you select the correct audio output settings otherwise you might not get the full audio experience.

69

Console Settings

Figure 6-6 Digital Output Settings Options The last item in the Audio menu is Sound Effects, as shown in

Figure 6-7. This is the option you can use to turn of the beeps and other sounds you hear when exploring the dashboard and selecting items. Whether you want sound effects enabled or disabled is a personal preference.

This option only affects the Xbox Dashboard, Guide and notifications; it does not affect anything else.

70

Console Settings

Sound, Effects able Sound Effects

Bete Day ~ Select®).

Figure 6-7 Choosing to enable or disable sound effects

Themes If you don’t like the look of your profile, you can change it using the Themes menu. “

You can select a theme that is stored on your Xbox 360, you can create your own customised theme, and you can even download themes from the Xbox Live Uy IACE as shown in Figure 6-8.

If more information on downloading themes from the Xbox Live Marketplace, see Chapter ne

71

Console Settings

Setect a theme

Customize

Xbox 360 (Default) Carbon Glass

EA GUN Halo interserv

Kameo

Figure 6-8 Selecting a theme

As you can see, the default theme is called Xbox 360, so if you make some changes and you later decide that you want to go back, just select Xbox 360 and you are back to where you began. All of the screenshots in this book are using the Xbox 360 default theme. Have a look through the available themes to see if there are any you like. You will notice that when you select a theme, it changes the colour scheme and backgrounds.

Let’s assume there is nothing that really takes your liking, and you decide you want to customise one yourself.

72

Console Settings

Select Customise from the theme list, which then allows you to choose between Dashboard Trim and the Guide Background. If you select Dashboard Trim, you can choose from the following trims: e

Default

e

Carbon

e

Glass

°

Select a trim and then press B to return to the previous menu. From the Guide Background item, you can select either a particular colour that is listed, such as Smoke or Stone, or even choose a custom colour.

If you select Custom Colour, you can then amounts of Red, Green and Blue in the colour by each one in turn until you are satisfied. Press the A apply the custom colour and then press the B button to the menu.

alter the selecting button to to return

Language This item allows you to change the language that your Xbox 360 uses.

73

Console Settings

Clock From here you can set the date and time, the actual format that the time is displayed, and also a time zone that you are in and if you want the time updated automatically during Daylight Savings (which is the US name for the clocks going back and forward), as shown in Figure 6-9. The clock is automatically updated when you are connected to Xbox Live.

Figure 6-9 Clock Settings

If you are not connected to Xbox Live, then you can adjust the Date and Time by using the controller to change the entry for each item that is displayed, as shown in Figure 6-10.

74

Console Settings

“Date and Time

Figure 6-10 Setting the date and time

The Time Format item allows you to select between displaying a 12 Hour Clock and a 24 Hour Clock. This has no effect on anything other than how you personally prefer to see the time displayed. The Time Zone item displays your current time zone setting (in my case GMT +00 London) and gives you the ‘option of changing it. This could be useful if you take your Xbox 360 abroad. The final item is Daylight Savings, and you want to set this to On if you would like the clock changed automatically for you when the clocks go either forward in the Spring or back in the Autumn.

Console Settings

Locale This setting is used to select which country you are located in. If you take your Xbox 360 abroad, for example, you can easily change the location from here. Changing the location does not have any effect on the Xbox 360’s region protection for games and DVDs.

Startup By default, if you have a game in the Xbox 360 media tray when you switch it on, the game will automatically be launched.

If you would prefer that the Xbox 360 Dashboard is always launched, no matter if you have a game in or not, you can select Xbox Dashboard.

Auto-Off The last thing you want to do 360 switched on when you are to enable Auto-Off which will you after a period of 6 hours of

is accidently leave your Xbox not using it so you can choose switch off your Xbox 360 for inactivity.

Unfortunately this setting is not configurable, hours will have to be sufficient.

76

so 6

Console Settings

Screen Saver Just like on a computer, you can set a screensaver to come on

after a period of 10 minutes of inactivity, in order to protect your screen from the image burning into it, which is especially important with Plasma TVs. The screensaver itself is very simple and just dims the screen for you. Unfortunately, you cannot set anything else to be the screensaver, but this should be sufficient.

Remote Control This item enables you to choose which remote control can be used with your Xbox 360. The two options are All Channels which enables you to use the Xbox 360 Media Remote and also a Windows Media Center Remote, or the other option is Xbox 360 Media Remote to only use that one If you choose All Channels and the Xbox 360 and your Media Center PC are in the same room, you might find that you inadvertently change things on either your Xbox 360 or Media Center PC by mistake.

8)

Console Settings

System Info The final menu item displays information about your system — specifically the console serial number and ID It is worth making a note of both of these in case you need them at any time in the future — use the last page in this book for that very purpose.

Summary In this chapter you learnt about all the various console settings that are available to change. In the next chapter, you will learn about the Guide Button, and what it can do for you.

78

Family Settings

7 Family Settings

If you will be sharing your Xbox 360 with other members of your family, or you want to make sure that your children cannot do certain things without your knowledge and permission, you will want to make some changes to the Family Settings. When you select Family Settings, you will see a submenu of controls for the Console itself and also for Xbox Live.

Console Controls If you select Console Controls, you will see the screen shown in Figure 7-1.

79

Family Settings

Figure 7-1 The Console Controls menu As you can see, from here you can set a number of different options, depending on what you feel you need.

Game Ratings Game Ratings appear on the boxes of all computer games sold in the United Kingdom. There are designed to help you decide whether or not the games content is suitable for a particular age, in exactly the same way the ratings at the cinema and on videos and DVDs work. This option enables you to allow only the games with specified ratings to be played, as shown in Figure 7-2. This is accomplished by your Xbox 360 reading the game rating information from the disc.

80

Family Settings

Game Ratings ay

Figure 7-2 Choosing allowed Games Ratings

Scroll through the list and select the rating that matches what you want to allow. When you select a rating, that rating, and any rating that is lower is allowed. For example, if you select BBFC 15, that and anything lower, such as BBFC PG will be able to be played. If you are content to allow any game to be played, regardless of the rating, select Allow All Games.

DVD Movie Ratings For the United Kingdom, this option is greyed out because

according to the Xbox 360, DVD

movie ratings are not

enforced in this locale.

81

Family Settings

Access to Xbox Live

This option is used to either allow your Xbox 360 to connect to Xbox Live in order to play online games, download content and communicate with other players around the world, or to block it, as shown in Figure 7-3.

Figure 7-3 Choosing Access to Xbox Live

Xbox Live Membership Creation This option is used to control the creation of new Xbox Live memberships, as shown in Figure 7-4.

82

Family Settings

Xbox Live Membership Création

Figure 7-4 Allowing Xbox Live Membership creation

If you are planning on creating an Xbox Live account, do not set this to Blocked until you have actually created it otherwise you will not be able to continue the account creation process.

Set Pass Code If you set the Game Ratings to Allow All Games, then this

option will be greyed out.

|

If however you chose any other setting, you have the option of creating a pass code which will protect your Family Settings from being changed without your approval.

Family Settings

The last thing you want to is set up your Xbox 360 to only allow PG content and then have someone else change that to 18 content! The pass code is also used to override any game and movie ratings that might be set — which means you won’t have to change the ratings if you want to allow the occasional higher rating. When you select Set Pass Code, you will see the screen shown

in Figure 7-5.

Figure 7-5 Do you want to set a pass code? Select Pass Code and then enter a code.

You will need to set a 4-button pass code, using any combination of the Y and X buttons, the triggers and bumpers,

84

Family Settings

and even the directional pad. You will be asked to verify the pass code once you have entered it. Should you forget your pass code and you need it reset, you can set a reset question by selecting a question from the available list, as shown in Figure 7-6. Bass Code Reset Question

—

Figure 7-6 Deciding on a pass code reset question

You must then also set the reset answer by entering text into the entry box provided. Don’t make the answer too easy otherwise someone will be able to guess it and change the settings without your approval.

85

Family Settings

The next time you Controls menu, you code to gain entry. pass code you can reset question.

try to access the Console will need to enter the pass If you have forgotten the reset it by answering the

When you have set all the options, select Done to go back to the Console Controls menu.

Turn Off Family Settings If you decide to remove the Family Settings, select the Turn Off Family Settings to do this.

You will be asked to confirm that you want to reset and remove your existing settings. If you are sure, select Yes, reset Family Settings. When you highlight the Done button at the bottom of the Console Controls screen, as shown in Figure 7-7, you will

see the summary of all the settings displayed in the right-hand window. Select Done if you are happy with those settings, otherwise make any other changes you want.

If you have set any of the Family Settings then you must protect them with a pass code. If you have not set a pass code you will be asked to either create a pass code or discard any of the changes to the Family Settings you have made.

86

Family Settings

“Console Controls.

Figure 7-7 Console Controls Summary

If you have made any changes, you will be asked to save them before continuing; make sure you do this otherwise your changes will be lost.

Xbox Live Controls These options are designed to enable to you to control the settings that are used for your child’s Xbox Live membership, if you have one.

If you do not have an Xbox Live Child Profile setup, you will see the error shown in Figure 7-8.

Family Settings

There were tio Xbox Live child profiles found,

To use Xbox Live Family Settings, please create a child profile that has Xbox Live or insert a memory

unit with a child profile that has Xbox Live.

Figure 7-8 No Child Profiles

Found

Don’t worry, skip this section for now and create a child account, as shown in Chapter 10. Then you can come back to here and configure any settings you require by selecting Family Settings from the System blade and following the steps in the rest of this chapter. You will be asked to select the child profile you want to change, which will then be signed in. As the parent account, you will be asked to sign in with your passport details, as shown in Figure 7-9.

88

Family Settings

Passport Network Sign-In

Back =

>

Setect

Figure 7-9 Enter your passport details

You will then be presented with the Xbox Live Controls menu, as shown in Figure 7-10. You can set options for Online Gameplay, Privacy and Friends and also Content. If you highlight any of those options you will see the current settings.

Online Gameplay This menu allows you to decide whether or not your child can play Xbox 360 games online with other players.

There is also an option for allowing online play from an original Xbox console. By default this is set to blocked.

Family Settings

© Xbox Live Controls e Gameplay

e More ints o es

oe

ve a

ee

ae. Back’ * a

Select @

Figure 7-10 Choosing Xbox Live Controls This option is set to blocked because the Family Settings only apply to Xbox 360s and not the original Xboxes. This also affects playing original Xbox games on your Xbox 360.

Privacy and Friends This group of settings is very important for protecting your child’s privacy and allowing who can communicate with them.

When you select Privacy and Friends, you will see the menu shown in Figure 7-11.

90

Family Settings

© More info oe

Te

eae

.

a

0

Back SetectO-

Figure 7-11 Choosing Privacy and Friends Options The New Online Friends option enables you to approve requests from other games to add your child to their friends list. The default setting for this is Require Approval. The Communications option sets who your child can communicate with. The default setting for this is Friends Only. You can choose between Everyone, Friends Only or Blocked.

The Gamer Profile Sharing option allows you decide who can see your child’s gamer profile. The default setting for this is Blocked so that no one can see it. The choices are Everyone, Friends Only or Blocked. In contrast, the Gamer Profile Viewing option allows you decide whose profiler your child can view. Again, the

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Family Settings

default is Blocked and the choices are Everyone, Friends Only or Blocked. The final option is Online Status and is used so that other gamers can see whether or not your child is online. The default setting is Friends Only. Content When you select content, you will see that there are two options, Member Content and Downloadable Content. The default option for both is Blocked. Member content includes a gamers profile and download content is the premium content which is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Even if you block Downloadable Content, your child can still download any free content, such as trailers and demos.

Summary In this chapter you learnt all about the Family Settings that you can configure if you want to limit what other people can do with your Xbox 360.

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Part 3 — The Online World

PART 3 The Online World

The Guide Button

8 The Guide Button

Depending on what you are doing, such as playing a game or shopping in the Xbox Live Marketplace, you might want to quickly check your messages, see if friends are online, listen to some music, start a chat, or even change some of your personal settings without having to go back to the Xbox Dashboard. If controller centre of launch, as

you press the Guide Button on your Xbox 360 (that’s the silver button with the green X in the the controller) at any time, the Xbox Guide will shown in Figure 8-1.

95

The Guide Button

@amerscore i bog

Status

© Community

1G Ontine

|

te

Private Chat Personal Settings

(Select Music _ ei

Figure 8-1 The Guide From here you can see the profile you are signed in with, along with your current Gamerscore and also your Online status.

You can also see how much battery power is left in your controller by looking at the battery meter that is shown at the top of the screen. You can also return to the Xbox Dashboard by pressing the Y button and you can even sign out by pressing the X button. If you select the box that has the Xbox 360 logo and name shown near the bottom of the guide, you will be returned to wherever you were before you pressed the Guide Button.

96

The Guide Button

You can select the box with your Gamerscore in order to bring up your profile.

Gamer Profiles are covered in Chapter 13. From the Community group, you can select to view your Messages, Friends and Players You can also initiate a private chat with someone and then choose whether to chat using voice or a video.

Personal Settings From here you can make a number of changes to settings that are personal to you, such as showing your online status, whether you want the controller to vibrate and much more. Some of these settings can be found within the System blade, but some are unique to the Xbox Guide. This section

will only look at those unique settings. When you select Personal Settings, you will be presented with a list of menu options, as shown in Figure 8-2.

97

The Guide Button

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Ontine Status Voice Vibration

Notifications Themes Active Downtoads Shut Down

Figure 8-2 Personal Settings options Online Status If you have ever used Instant Messaging on a computer, you know you can set your online status to various settings, regardless of what it actually may be (for example, Offline when you are actually Online). The same is true for players. You have the option of showing yourself as either Online, Away, Busy or to Appear Offline, as shown in Figure 8-3.

98

The Guide Button

Set how you appear to other players while online

* Online > Away ©) Busy ©) Appear Offline

Figure 8-3 Choosing your Online Status

Change these settings regularly to suit your current circumstances. For example, you may want to set Appear Offline so that you can concentrate on doing something without being interrupted by your friends. Don’t forget to change your Online Status back whenever you are finished, otherwise you will always appear to others as that setting.

99

The Guide Button

Voice

If you select Voice, you can change the volume that is used for in-game voices and for private chats, as shown in Figure 8-4. ies

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Set options for in-game voice and private chat

Volume

10

Microphone P] Mute

Voice Output *) Play Through Headset

(> Play Through Speakers C) Play Through Both

Figure 8-4 Adjusting Voice Options You can also mute your microphone from here if you only want to listen rather than speak.

You can also choose where the voice output is played from, either through the headset, the speakers or even through both.

This is a personal preference, in my case I found it easier through the headset. The best thing to do is to try all the options until you find one that suits you the best.

100

The Guide Button

Vibration Your Xbox 360 controller has the ability to vibrate. This is often used in games to enhance the gaming experience along with other uses for the vibration.

You have the option to stop the vibration from happening if you don’t want it. By default, Vibration is switched on. To stop it, select Vibration and then un-tick the Enable Vibration box as shown in Figure 8-5.

Set your contrailer's vibration settings fi Enable Vibration

Figure 8-5 Enabling Vibration on the controller

101

The Guide Button

Notifications Notifications are those little pop-up messages that appear whenever an event happens, such as a friend coming online or a download starting or finishing.

Some people find this to be a little annoying at times, and if you are one of these people, you can choose not to show notifications. To do this, select Notifications and un-tick the Show

Notifications box as shown in Figure 8-6.

Set notification options

'F Show Notifications

iY Play Sound Some system notifications are

shown regardless of your Show Notifications setting,

Figure 8-6 Enabling notification options

You can also choose whether or not to play a sound when the notifications appear.

102

The Guide Button

There are some system notifications that will appear regardless of the show notifications setting.

Shut Down If you select this option you can shut down your Xbox 360 without having to leave the comfort of your sofa.

Music You can choose to play some music in the background while you are doing other tasks, such as playing games or shopping in the Xbox Live Marketplace. Rather than playing music through Music Player found within the Media blade, you have access to all your music from this screen.

Click on the Select Music available music sources.

button to display your

From here you can choose to play all your music from these sources by pressing the Y button on your controller.

If you want to play something more specific, highlight and select one of the listed sources. This will bring up the familiar choice of albums, artists, playlists and so on, as shown in Figure 8-7, that you will remember from the Music section.

103

The Guide Button

Albums

—

Artists Saved Playlists Songs Genres

|

Figure 8-7 Selecting Music from the Hard Drive From here you can navigate through the available choices until you find a song, album or playlist you want to listen to, and then select it.

Press the X button at any time to go back to the Xbox Guide screen. When a song is playing, you can see the song title shown underneath the music controls, as shown in Figure 8-8.

104

The Guide Button

it

ix

If | Fall Figure 8-8 Music Controls and the playing song You can use the controls as before to stop, pause, forward,

change the volume and so on.

Switching Off, Shutting Down and Starting Up You can also choose to shut down either your Xbox 360 console or the wireless controller if you have one connected. To do this, just press and hold the Guide Button on the controller to display the shutdown window, as shown in Figure 8-9,

105

The Guide Button

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Turn off your wireless controtier or shut down the cansaie

Shutting down the console witt aiso turn off ali controlters

Shut Down Console Turn Off Controtier

Cancel

Figure 8-9 Shutting down your Xbox 360 Just select the option you want, or select Cancel if you have changed your mind or you got here by accident. If you want to switch on your Xbox 360 without going to the console you can do so by pressing the Guide Button.

Summary Here you have learnt how to quickly access some of the features of your Xbox 360 without having to stop whatever it was you were doing. You have also seen how to change some personal settings that are not available from the Xbox Dashboard.

106

Setting Up Xbox Live

9 Setting Up Xbox Live

Xbox Live gives you the ability to connect up your Xbox 360 to an online community in order to play games online, to communicate with other players, to download game updates, trailers, videos and much more.

Before you can connect to Xbox Live you need to set up an account and configure your settings. This chapter will guide you through this process. Your Xbox

360 must be connected

to either

your network with an onward connection to the Internet, or directly to a broadband connection in order to connect to Xbox Live.

Figure 9-1 shows the Xbox Live Blade. As you can see, if you are not signed in, you have the option of joining Xbox Live (if you have not done so already), recovering your Gamertag from

107

Setting Up Xbox Live

Xbox Live if you already are an Xbox Live player from another Xbox 360 or signing into an existing profile.

Figure 9-1 The Xbox Live Blade If you select the Join Xbox Live option, you are presented with the screen shown in Figure 9-2. It tells you all about what Xbox Live has to offer, but if you are here, you probably already know what it has to offer and you want to join up.

Select Join Xbox Live to start the process off. You will be advised that in order to connect to Xbox Live you will have to exit your current session. Select Yes to exit the session and continue.

108

Setting Up Xbox Live

Join mitiions in a world - where your gaming and

_ efitertainment experiences come alive.

Figure 9-2 What is Xbox Live? You will now be connected to Xbox Live, as shown in Figure 9-3

If this is the first time you have connected to Xbox Live any updates that are available for your Xbox 360 will be downloaded and installed automatically for you. This is very useful and ensures that whenever you connect your Xbox 360 to Xbox Live you will always be up to date. Depending on the speed of your Xbox Live connection, these updates should be relatively quick.

109

Setting Up Xbox Live

Figure 9-3 Connecting to Xbox Live These updates include new features for your Xbox 360 as well as system improvements. Some of the updates to the Xbox 360 that were included in the last update, which was Spring 2006, included: A download manager for the Xbox Live Marketplace Separate settings for Game and User volume controls Online status set to “Away” becomes active

when the screensaver

Numerous DVD player improvements Numerous Music Player improvements A huge number of general system improvements.

110

Setting Up Xbox Live

If you want to see the complete list, go to http://www.xbox.com/enUS/community/news/2006/0605-springreleasefeatures. htm. When you are connected, you Xbox Live screen, as shown in create your Xbox Live account to either an MSN, Hotmail Account. s

will then see the Welcome to Figure 9-4. From here you will and Gamertag, and then link it or other Passport Network

Welcome ta Xbox Live

Figure 9-4 Welcome to Xbox Live

Select the Continue button to get the signup process started.

You will then be asked to enter your Gamertag, which is used to identify you and which can be up to 15 characters in length, as shown in Figure 9-5.

111

Setting Up Xbox Live

Your Gamertag must be unique, so try not to pick something that is likely to have gone already! Don’t worry though, as the availability will be checked for you in a moment. Click the Done button when you have finished.

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Figure 9-5 Enter a Gamertag The Gamertag you entered will then be checked against all those already registered on Xbox Live. If by chance the Gamertag you entered has already in use, you have the option of creating a new one, recovering it if it happens to be yours from another Xbox 360, or even being shown a list of possible Gamertags that you could use.

12

Setting Up Xbox Live

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Figure 9-6 List of suggested Gamertags

As you can see from Figure 9-6, you are presented with a list of possible Gamertags based on whatever you entered. You can choose one of those, or you can try creating another one yourself. If you already have a Gamertag, you can choose the Recover Gamertag option. You will be asked to enter your Email address and password for your Passport account to verify that the Gamertag does indeed belong to you. Let’s now assume you have created a Gamertag that is unique. You will now have to link your newly created Gamertag with a Passport Network Account, as shown in Figure 9-7.

Setting Up Xbox Live

If you already have a Passport Network account, such as a Hotmail or MSN account, or even an Xbox.com account select the Yes, I do button to continue.

tmail account * MSN account — }+ Xbox.com account

—

If you don't have a Pas account, you'll need

Figure 9-7 Do you have a passport network account?

If you do not yet have a Passport Network Account you can easily create one. For the steps on how to do this, see Chapter 10 Creating a New Passport Account. But make sure that after you have created the new account you come back here to continue!

From here you will have to enter your E-mail address and password for your existing Passport Network Account, as shown in Figure 9-8.

114

Setting Up Xbox Live

Select the Sign In button to continue.

Figure 9-8 Enter existing passport information

You can only link your Passport Network account to one Xbox Live membership. If the Passport you are using is already linked to an account you must choose another Passport to link instead.

The Account Information screen will then be displayed and from here you can change the language that is used if you want to, otherwise just select Next to continue | From here you can change information. Select Next to continue.

;

any

of the displayed

115

Setting Up Xbox Live

You will then be asked to read and accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Statement.

Figure 9-9 Choosing your Xbox Live Membership You will then be presented with the available Xbox Live Membership options, as shown in Figure 9-9. If you have a prepaid code, select Redeem Prepaid Code and enter that code on the screen when prompted.

If you don’t have a Prepaid Code you must select one of the subscription options. There are four options to choose from, and each one has a different price, as shown in Table 9-1.

116

Setting Up Xbox Live

The prices are correct at the time of going to press, check the Xbox Live Membership page for the latest prices in case they have changed.

Current Membership Option

Price

Monthly Gold Membership

£4.99

3 Month Gold Membership

£14.99

12 Month Gold Membership

£39.99

Silver Membership

FREE

Table 9-1 Xbox Live Membership options You can also buy membership cards (which contain those prepaid codes) from a number of different places. For example, at the time of writing Amazon.co.uk were selling a 3 Month Gold Membership Card for £12.99 and a 12 Month Gold Membership Card for £34.99, which could save you a few pounds. This is also a great gift for someone who already has an Xbox 360 as you can give the Membership cards to anyone. There is a difference in what you get for the Silver and Gold memberships. Silver membership gives you the ability to:

e

Have a unique Gamer Profile

e

Use text and voice messaging

117

Setting Up Xbox Live

e

Access the Xbox Live Marketplace

Gold membership gives you the same as Silver, plus the ability to:

e

Group your friends together

e

Give feedback on other gamers

e

Play multiplayer games online

e

Use TrueSkill matchmaking players at your skill level

to play against

other

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from

Live

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exclusive

content

the

Xbox

Marketplace TrueSkill is a skill-based ranking system used in all online games to help match players with similar skills. If you select Silver Membership, you are offered the chance to change to Gold. It’s entirely up to you what you go for, but if you are going to use the Xbox Live service a lot, or you want to specifically play multiplayer online games, then I would suggest you go for Gold Membership. If you have never used Xbox Live before, you are given an Xbox Live 1 month Gold Membership Free Trial, as shown in Figure 9-10. This comes free with your Xbox 360 Premium Pack. This is really a great thing that Microsoft have done as it gives people the chance to really experience what Xbox Live has to offer without having to spend any money.

118

Setting Up Xbox Live

Figure 9-10 Selecting your free trial membership At the end of the 1 month Gold trial you will automatically be switched to Silver membership at no charge. If you have already used your free 1 month trial or you decide to take out a membership to Xbox Live, once you have selected which membership option you want you are presented with a Credit Card entry screen.

Enter all the details here by selecting each of the empty boxes in turn. When you are happy that the entries are correct, select Next to continue on to the Contact Address screen.

}

|

119

Setting Up Xbox Live

Enter your Contact Address, including your Post Code by selecting each of the empty boxes in turn and selecting Next when you are happy that the details you have entered are correct.

_ You will then be given the option to change your Time Zone and whether or not to use Daylight Savings.

Select Continue to complete the process and modify your Xbox.com account, as shown in Figure 9-11. Do not turn off your Xbox 360 or remove the storage device while the modifications are being made.

Figure 9-11 Modifying your Xbox.com account

120

Setting Up Xbox Live

Congratutations!

Figure 9-12 Completing the process

Well done! You have now completed the account creation process, as shown in Figure 9-12. You will also receive an E-mail confirmation sent to the address you entered during the setup process.

From here you can select Done to finish, or you can edit your profile. Your profile is also known as your Gamer Card which will be covered in detail in the next chapter.

}

121

Setting Up Xbox Live

Account Management You can access the Account Management area by first selecting Xbox Live Marketplace from the Xbox Live blade, and then by selecting Account Management from the presented menu once you have connected to the Xbox Live Marketplace, as shown in Figure 9-13.

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Figure 9-13 The Xbox Live Marketplace

All other areas of the Xbox Live Marketplace will be covered in Chapter 11.

You will now be presented with the Account Management screen, as shown in Figure 9-14. From here you can access information on your membership, change contact information, set a pass code, and more.

122

Setting Up Xbox Live

yo Management

Figure 9-14 Account Management options

Memberships When you select Memberships from the menu, you will be shown what service you are currently subscribed to, as shown in Figure 9-15.

As you can see, the only membership I currently have is the Xbox Live 1 month Gold Membership Free Trail that I activated earlier.

123

Setting Up Xbox Live

mbershios

Figure 9-15 Listing your memberships

If you select something from the list, you can see additional information, as shown in Figure 9-16. .

As you can see, this information includes your membership level, the month you joined and the month your current membership will expire. You can also see if you have any renewals set (in this case as it’s only a | month trial the renewal is not set). You would also see how much the renewal cost was and how you were paying for it, if you had this set.

124

Setting Up Xbox Live

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Figure 9-16 Detailed information on your membership

You can choose to modify your membership by selecting Modify Membership which will enable you to change your current membership option, as shown in Figure 9-17. You can also change how you pay by selecting Payment Options which will then enable you to either redeem a prepaid membership card, or add a credit card to be used for future purchase, if one is not on file.

125

Setting Up Xbox Live

Based on your current membership type, the following

membership options are available:

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Figure 9-17 Membership options Contact Information If you change any of your contact information, such as your address if you move house, or your phone number or email address, you can update it by selecting the Contact Information button on the menu.

You will be asked to sign in to your passport account, and once you have successfully signed in you will be presented with your Contact Information screen, as shown in Figure 9-18.

126

Setting Up Xbox Live

Contectiinfarmatan

Figure 9-18 Enter your contact information

All you have to do is select the entry you want to change and just modify it. When you have made all the changes you want, select the Done button to go back to the Account Management menu.

Passport Network Password _ This menu option allows you to change your Passport Network Password if you feel that it might have been compromised. You will be asked to enter your current password, as shown in Figure 9-19, and then enter and confirm the new password.

When you have done this, select the Change Now button to change your password.

127

Setting Up Xbox Live

Re ee

Figure 9-19 Enter your passport information

Xbox Live Pass Code If you want to set a pass code that must be entered each time you access your Xbox Live account, this is where you would set it. Or if you already have a pass code, here is where you could either change it or clear it if you no longer want it. As you can see from Figure 9-20, you must enter a 4box pass code using only those controller options listed:

128

e

The Y button

e

The X button

e

The Left Trigger

e

The Right Trigger

Setting Up Xbox Live

e

The Left Button

e

The Right Button

e

The Directional Pad rea ; ‘ Se

eee a ee

ene ee ee

-®BQ@anse Please set your Xbox Live pass code. To clear your pass code, press A

Figure 9-20 Set your pass code Once you have entered your new pass code, you will be asked to confirm it. Should you enter the wrong code, you will be told that the pass codes do not match. Try entering the code again.

If you decide at a later date to remove your pass code, all you have to do is press the A button to clear it. You will be asked to confirm that you want to clear it, just in case you pressed the A button by mistake.

8)

Setting Up Xbox Live

Do not forget your pass code or you will not be able to access Xbox Live. If you need it reset then you will have to contact Xbox Customer Support and ask them to do it for you. If you have set a pass code, next time you switch on your Xbox 360, you will notice that you are still signed in, only this time you are signed in offline. This way you can still see your scores but you won’t automatically connect to Xbox Live. In order to connect to Xbox Live now, you need to select the Connect to Xbox Live button, and then enter your pass code when asked, as shown in Figure 9-21.

aedney Enter pass code,

Figure 9-21 Enter your pass code to continue

130

Setting Up Xbox Live

Download History If you ever wanted to know exactly what you have downloaded, or if you want to check what someone else might have download, you can review the downloads by selecting the Download History option, as shown in Figure 9-22.

Figure 9-22 Download History list

The very first time you access Xbox Live you won’t have “actually downloaded anything. However, believe me this soon changes, as you can see from Figure 9-22, which is my downloads after a couple of hours of first being connected.

If you select a item in the list, it will give you information on it, as shown in Figure 9-23. This information includes what the item was, where it was saved, and will also

give you the option to download it again, if available. You can

Setting Up Xbox Live

also change the device where the download is saved, assuming you have more than one storage device attached.

You have downloaded this item before.

‘Wouid you like to download this

>

item again?

"Save to: Hard Ae

Orive

‘Multiplayer 4-2, HO (High Definition). Travet back in time jend fix the future for the safety of | ‘ valmankind. Try itsole

: Download Again Change Storage | Device oe : Find Your item

Figure 9-23 Download information One very nice feature is the Find Your Item option. What this enables you to do ‘is see where the item was saved, and even go directly to where the download was saved rather than you having to search through the various Xbox 360 blades and menus to find it.

About Microsoft Points From this menu item you can learn all about Microsoft Points, as shown in Figure 9-24 which simply put is the currency of Xbox Live. If you want to pay for something online in the

132

Setting Up Xbox Live

Xbox Live Marketplace, whether it’s unlocking a trial game, or downloading a picture pack, you use Microsoft Points to pay for it. About

Mitresoft

Ponts

Figure 9-24 Finding out about Microsoft Points For

more

information

on

Microsoft

Points,

including how to get them, see Chapter 11.

Policy Information If you want to view the Xbox Live Policy documents, and you probably should do so at least once, you can do so from this menu option, as shown in Figure 9-25.

;

133

Setting Up Xbox Live

Policy Documer

Figure 9-25 Reading the policies The policy documents include the terms of use, a privacy statement and also the code of conduct. The code of conduct is very important and you must follow this if you want to stay a member of Xbox Live.

Summary In this chapter you learnt how to set up your Xbox Live account, and link it to a Passport account for security purposes. Now that you are all set up, it’s time to take Xbox Live for a spin.

134

Creating a New Passport Account

10 Creating a New Passport Account

If you don’t already have a Network Passport Account, you are given the option to create one. This process can be quite time consuming and very fiddly using an Xbox 360 controller. Alternatively, if you have a computer connected to the Internet, you could create the new Network Passport Account on that and then just enter the details of the new account when prompted. As you saw in the previous chapter, when you are asked if you have a Passport Network Account (Figure 10-1), if your answer is No, you can create one by selecting No, you can begin the process of creating one by selecting No, create one.

135

Creating a New Passport Account

Figure 10-1 Do you have a Passport Network Account already? You need to complete the whole process in one go — so make sure you have enough time available or you will need to start over again.

Select the location you are in from the list. You will then be presented with the Account Information screen, as shown in Figure 10-2. Select the empty Language box to continue.

136

Creating a New Passport Account

Bunt

(formation:

Figure 10-2 The Account Information screen Depending on the location you selected, there may be various languages listed here. Highlight the language you wish to use and press the A button to select it. You will then be returned to the Account Information screen where you should select the empty Birthdate box.

nay

Creating a New Passport Account

Birthdate

Figure 10-3 Enter your birthdate Enter your birthdate in the boxes, as shown in Figure 10-3. Use the up and down on the left stick to change the numbers and the left and right on the stick to move between date, month and year. When you have entered the date correctly, press the A button to continue. If the birthday you are entering means you are under 13, a Child account is created.

Now that all the details on the Account Information are entered you can continue. If you want to change any of them, just highlight what you want to change and press the A button. If you are happy with what is shown, select the Next button to continue.

138

Creating a New Passport Account

Passport Network Account

Figure 10-4 Enter an E-mail address You must now enter an existing E-mail address in order to create the new Passport Network account, as shown in Figure 10-4. Click on the empty E-mail address box to continue. Enter the E-mail address you want to use and then select Done when you are finished.

You will then be presented with the Passport Network Account screen, as shown in Figure 10-5. From here you will need to create and confirm a password, choose a secret question in case you forget your password, and enter the secret answer.

The password needs to be between 6 and 16 characters in length.

;

139

Creating a New Passport Account

“Passport Networ Account.

—-

Figure 10-5 Create a password Try not to make your password easy to guess as

you do not want anyone else accessing your account.

You must then enter your password again to confirm it. If for some reason the passwords you have entered on those two screens do not match don’t worry, just enter the passwords again. After you have entered and confirmed your password, you need to choose a Secret Question which will be used in the event that you forget your password. Choose a question from the list shown in Figure 10-6.

140

Creating a New Passport Account

Secret Quesnanr

2:

Figure 10-6 Selecting a secret question You will then have to enter a Secret Answer to that question. _ The answer must be between 5 and 64 characters long. While you may be very tempted to add a secret answer that is 64 characters long, just remember that you are the one who has to enter it in the event that you forget your password.

If you enter an answer that is not valid, for example it is less than 5 characters long you will be asked to try again. Justay again with a different answer this time. As you can now see from Figure 10-7, all of the required information is now entered on the Passport Network Account screen. If you want to change anything, now is the

;

141

Creating a New Passport Account

time to do it. If you are happy with what you have entered, select Next to continue. The next set of required information you must enter is your name and phone number.

Click on the empty boxes for your First Name, Last Name and Phone Number in turn and enter the relevant details in the entry boxes. Make sure you enter a valid Phone Number, otherwise

you will be asked to verify the number and try again. Again, just go back and enter the phone number again.

Secret Answer: “ao

Figure 10-7 Checking your entries

And as before on the previous screens, you will then be able to check all the information is correct before continuing, as shown in Figure 10-8.

142

Creating a New Passport Account

You also have the option to review the Security Details by pressing the Y button on the controller to display the screen which advises you to read the Xbox Live Privacy Statement for more information on how Xbox Live is committed to helping protect the security of your personal information. Press the B button Information screen.

to go back

to the Account

When you are happy, select Next to continue. Account inisnnsuan

-

Figure 10-8 Checking your entries

You will then be asked to read the Terms of Use and Privacy Statement. You must then Accept or Decline it. Obviously if you Decline you cannot continue, so it is a good idea to select Accept.

'

143

Creating a New Passport Account

That’s it — you are all done, you have now created a Passport Network Account and you will automatically be taken to the Existing Passport Network Account screen in order to sign in. You can now go back to the point in the previous chapter to continue the Xbox Live joining process.

Creating a Child Account If you want to create an account that can be used by a child, you follow the same steps as shown in this chapter, however, after entering the account information, you will see a message stating that a parent or legal guardian is required to complete the Xbox Live signup process. You will then see the screen ‘shown in Figure 10-9.

Figure 10-9 Continuing the signup process

144

Creating a New Passport Account

As you can see, you have the choice of cancelling the setup or continuing. You will then be asked to provide parental consent for your child to have an Xbox Live account, as shown in Figure 10-10.

Figure 10-10 Giving parental consent

You will then need to sign in to your passport account to

- confirm your identity, as shown in Figure 10-11. Once you have confirmed your identity, the settings will be applied to the child account and you will see a message telling you that your passport account has been applied as the parent for your child account.

145

Creating a New Passport Account

You can now go and set up specific controls for that child account from the Family Settings area on the System blade. Parent's Passport Network Account.

Figure 10-11 Do you have a passport network account? ‘

Summary Now you have created your passport account you can use it to link to your Xbox Live Gamertag. You have also seen how to set up a child account as well.

146

The Xbox Live Marketplace

11 The Xbox Live Marketplace

Just think of the Xbox Live Marketplace as one big shopping centre for all of your online and gaming needs. You can download game updates, demos, trailers and much more. Some of the content is free, and some of the content

you will have to pay for with your Microsoft Points. To enter the Xbox Live Marketplace just select Xbox Live Marketplace from the Xbox Live blade, as shown in Figure 11-1. You will notice that underneath the Xbox Live Marketplace button there is a box that contains advertising content, in the case of Figure 11-1 is advertising Dead or Alive 4. This content in continually changing. If you want access the advertised content, just select it.

147

The Xbox Live Marketplace

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Figure 11-1 The Xbox Live Blade This content will also be available by selecting from the relevant area of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Once you have connected to the Xbox Live Market place, you will be presented with list of different types of content, along with some management options, as shown in Figure 11-2.

148

The Xbox Live Marketplace

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Figure 11-2 The Xbox Live Marketplace

Featured Downloads Featured Downloads are exactly what they sound like — they are downloads that are featured on the Xbox Live Marketplace. These are the downloads that also appear in the advertisement window on the Xbox Live blade. You can see the available downloads along with your membership level and your current Microsoft Points balance (in my case, a big fat zero). If you see something that interests you, select it to see more information, as shown in Figure 11-3.

149

The Xbox Live Marketplace

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Figure 11-3 More information on the item

From here you see can what the download is, how big it is and how much the download will cost you; in this case it is Free. If you want to download it, select Confirm Download to start the download process.

If the download is chargeable, and you don’t have enough points available, you can always redeem a prepaid points card. Make sure you have enough room available to store the download. If you don’t have enough room, consider deleting some of your older content.

150

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Games If you are into Games, this is certainly the place for you. As you can see from Figure 11-4, you have a big list of options to choose from, including new releases and even the Xbox Live Arcade.

Figure 11-4 The Games menu

~ Select All Game Downloads for the complete list of available game content, as shown in Figure 11-5.

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151

The Xbox Live Marketplace

‘Downloads

=

Figure 11-5 All Game Downloads From here you can scroll through the list, which is displayed in alphabetical order, under you find what you are looking for. It can take a little while to scroll through the whole list, so you might find it easier to go back to the Games menu and select Games Downloads by Genre. You can then choose your favourite type of games and view a smaller more manageable list of games. The Played Games item shows you a list of all the games you have played. The Xbox Live Arcade is covered in Chapter 14.

192

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Game Demos, Trailers and Game Videos will be covered later

in the chapter.

Media and Entertainment From

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trailers, short films,

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Figure 11-6 The Media and Entertainment menu

The Optional iPod Support covered in Chapter 15.

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153

The Xbox Live Marketplace

If you select All Media and Entertainment, you are presented with yet another list of available options, as shown in Figure 11-7.

Figure 11-7 All Media and Entertainment content One interesting option is called Artist of the Month. Each month a different musical artist is featured and you can download some content from that artist. If you are big gaming fan, then you will definitely want to check out the Gaming Community Videos area, as shown in Figure 11-8. And if you stuck on a game, it would be worth taking a look at the Game Tips and Support Videos area to see if your game is covered.

154

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Figure 11-8 Gaming Community Videos

Demos and Game Videos _ This area is very similar to, and even includes some of the same content as the Games area.

When you select Demos and Game Videos, you will . see the options as shown in Figure 11-9. As with the previous areas, you can view all the available content, newly released content or content by genre.

Game demos tend to be playable demos of games that you can then go and buy in the shops. Sometimes these games have complete levels to give you a really good feel for the

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155

The Xbox Live Marketplace

game, and sometimes they are multiplayer levels which you can then play online with others. - Demos and Game Videos.

Figure 11-9 The Demos and Game Videos menu This is a great way of determining if a game is right for you — this way you don’t waste money on a game you might not enjoy. Game videos on the other hand are effectively trailers for games, showing off the game in the same way you might see it advertised on TV. Just browse through all the available download whatever takes your interest.

156

content

and

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Some of the demos are quite large in size so if you are using Wireless and you have an Ethernet

connection

available,

it

would

certainly be quicker to use it. See Chapter 14 on how to run the demos and watch the videos once you have downloaded them.

Themes and Gamer Pictures This is the area of the Xbox Live Marketplace where you can obtain content that either changes the way your Xbox 360 looks by downloading themes, or by changing the way your gamer profile looks by downloading gamer pictures. Figure 11-10 shows the Themes and Gamer Pictures menu. Gamer Pictures, and what you can do with them is covered in Chapter 13.

157

The Xbox Live Marketplace

‘Themes and Gamer Pictures

-

Figure 11-10 The Themes and Gamer Pictures menu If you want to browse and possibly download new themes, select All Themes to see the complete list, as shown in Figure 11-11, or select Newly Released Themes to see what has just been added. As you are probably getting used to, select what you want to download and decide if you want to use your points on it, if it is a chargeable download. Setting the theme on your Xbox 360 is covered in Chapter 6.

158

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Figure 11-11 Viewing All Themes

Redeem Code Here you can enter the 25-character code from a prepaid card or other source in order to download content. For example, when you buy the Xbox Live Vision Camera, you are given a code to download a full copy of the card game Uno, which by the way, is strangely addictive.

Active Downloads Choosing this option will provide you with a list of all of the items currently queued up and the item currently downloading, as shown in Figure 11-12.

159

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Bringing it Home: 85.95 MB

Halo Wars Trai... 13% Complete

Trial Game -Robotron 2084 18.37 MB

Pending

Rainbow Six Vegas Trailer (720p)

90.45 MB

Pending

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead . 116.51 MB

Pending

Aeon Flux (Starring Chartize Ther...

112.58 MB

Pending

Optional iPod Support 220.00 KB

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Figure 11-12 Viewing your Active Downloads You can only have a maximum of 6 items in your download queue at any one time. If you try to add a 7", you will see a warning advising you that you cannot add anything else. Either wait for a download to complete, or remove something from the queue and try adding it again. If you decide to cancel something whilst it is downloading, you will be able to continue the download at a later time by adding the download again, in the same way you added it the first time.

160

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Once the in-progress download is cancelled, whatever has been partially downloaded will remain on the storage device. If you don’t intend to finish the download then you will need to delete it from the storage device so that you don’t run out of space. You can change the order in which the items in the Active Downloads queue are downloaded. To do this, select the item you want to ‘download first and then select Download Now. This will stop your current download and move the selected download to the front of the queue.

Account Management Account Management was covered in detail in Chapter 9.

Microsoft Points Rather than having to use a credit card each time you want to pay for something, in the Xbox Live Marketplace, you use Microsoft Points. There are currently three different ways Microsoft points.

of getting

1. You can buy Microsoft points directly from the Xbox Live Marketplace by choosing the Add Microsoft Points option on any page it is displayed, as shown in Figure 11-13.

161

The Xbox Live Marketplace

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Figure 11-13 Adding Microsoft Points 2. You can buy, or be given (which is even better) an Xbox Live Microsoft Points gift card, as shown in Figure 11-14 and then you can add those points to your current balance and spend them however.you want.

Microsoft Points Gift Cards can be purchased from a number of different places, including Amazon.co.uk. A 2100 points card should cost around £16.99.

162

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Figure 11-14 A 2100 Point Xbox Live Card 3. You may receive points for some special promotions. Any points you receive as part of a special promotion will expire at a certain time — make sure you use them before that time. When you use points, Xbox Live will automatically use the points with the nearest expiration date.

Where are the downloads? Depending on what content you have downloaded will depend on exactly where the content is stored and can be accessed from.

163

The Xbox Live Marketplace

Table 11-1 shows the content and where it can be found. Content

Xbox Live Arcade demos and game videos

Location

games,

Games

Music, pictures and videos

Media

Themes

Personal Settings

Gamer pictures

Gamer Card

Table 11-1 The Location of downloaded content

Summary Now you have seen all the wonders of the Xbox Live Marketplace, and how you can pay for it with Microsoft Points. It’s a great place to find demos and other cool content. Now it’s time to find out about the Xbox Live Community and how you can be a part of it.

164

The Xbox Live Community

12 The Xbox Live Community

Connecting your Xbox 360 to Xbox Live is more than just about playing games online, it’s about being part of a community. A community of likeminded people who want to have fun and get more out of their Xbox 360s than they would have had they never connected. Like any other sort of community you can make friends, send messages, have conversions, play games and more. You may not realise it, but your Xbox 360 is also a communications device that enables you to send text messages, have voice conversations and even video chats with people.

This chapter will take a brief look at what you can do to be part of the community, and how you can make, and hopefully keep online friends.

165

The Xbox Live Community

I’ll be honest, I was a little sceptical at first. I have an “original” Xbox, and have had it since its launch, and I never

once connected to Xbox Live. Personally, I was just not that bothered about playing games with other people online, and I had heard horror stories of people online taking the gaming far too seriously and it not being fun. And besides, it was not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do to connect your Xbox up, you had to go and buy additional hardware, and it just seemed like a lot of effort for little reward. Well, that was then, and this is now.

As you have

already learnt, connecting your Xbox 360 to Xbox Live is quick, easy and painless. So I had no excuses left!

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Figure 12-1 The Xbox Live Blade

The starting point is the Xbox Live blade, as shown in Figure 12-1.

166

The Xbox Live Community

As you can see, if you have any unread messages waiting for you, a number is shown next to the Messages option to save you from having to look each time.

Messages When you select the Messages option, you are presented with your Inbox, as shown in Figure 12-2. =e

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Figure 12-2 Viewing Messages in the Inbox

All your messages, if you have any, will be listed here and any new unread messages will be in bold. You will also notice that depending on the type of message that has been sent to you, it is shown, such as a picture message or a voicemail.

167

The Xbox Live Community

A normal text message will be shown with the first few characters of the message. You will also notice that when you are signed in, and you receive a new message, a dialog box will briefly appear telling you that someone has sent you message.

Viewing and Replying to a Message If you select a normal text message, as shown in Figure 12-3, you will see the message itself, when it was received, and information on when it will expire. You will also see the senders Gamer Card.

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