Wireless Online Gaming

When we were 11 years old or so, we each got an Atari gaming system. We spent the entire summer indoors playing Pitfall Harry, and our mothers were constantly screaming at us to go outside and play like normal kids. In the years since, much has changed. The game systems are out of this world. You can play against people from all over the world, so after you whip everyone in your neighborhood, you can find some dude in Vancouver (or wherever) to play against. Our wives have stepped in for our moms and now they scream at us to turn that darn thing off. Good times.

This section walks you through the setup of an online gaming system. Our weapon of choice here is the Microsoft Xbox, which is easy to set up and use online. The online service from Microsoft is called Xbox Live. This system allows you to play one on one against a specific person or join an “open” game to play with or against other people. Some games also allow team play so that several people can cooperatively play the same game. Another feature of this system is audio chat, which allows you to speak live (via voice chat) with the other players during the game to strategize or talk smack (whatever the situation calls for). This feature uses VoIP chat technology. For a further discussion on VoIP, pick up a copy of Internet Phone Services Simplified (Cisco Press, 2006).