Geoff Holden

In my time off before school starts, I’ve taken to playing Halo 2 online again. I play online using XLink Kai, a program that lets you play pretty much any system-link game online, for free. Adding the Communicator can really make the experience good, you can talk to the other players to suggest the game type/rules, and you can talk in game (to direct teammates, or taunt opponents). There’s a pretty big Halo 2 community on Kai (bigger than any other game) and the skill level varies (but they’re almost all better than me… for now at least).

I only have a couple of problems with the game online:

1. The battle rifle is not the only gun in the game. Far too many games are set up to be battle rifles only, am I the only one who don’t like that gun?
2. Even though you have a microphone, you’re not required to talk constantly. There’s no real need to carry on a conversation in the middle of a game, you’re only adding to the lag. See this classic Penny Arcade.
3. People complaining about lag in games. First, the lag is generally much better in private arenas, because there are less broadcast packets to be sent around. Second, if you’re hosting in a private arena put a limit on the number of players (in Kai, not the game itself). Most people can only host a 6 player game reasonably, unless you know you can do better cap it off at 6, if the room fills up and people are not in the game, kick them from the room. The last part of this is to stop complaining–if the lag’s bad, find another arena.

Other than those issues, it’s been pretty good. I’ve got Angus playing, and hope to get Brian in on the action soon. If you get on Kai, add CnslCwby to your buddy list.