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February - Noticed in OPSM2 Magazine that if you wanted to take part in the official Sony Network Trials you had to sign up for beta testing via their official website. Anyone who gets in on the trials will receive a free copy of SOCOM: US Navy SEALS as a 'thankyou' at the end of the trials. Wow, never knew that, so scuttled on over.
Signed up, answered a load of questions via an online form about my connection type, who I was, what ISP I used, what games I liked, how much I played games, where I played them, and so on. Then I waited. And waited. And waited...
March - Banner pops up on the official Sony website advising that signups for Network Trials have now closed. The waiting continues. The nailbiting commences.
April 1st - WHOOHOOOOO! E-mail received from Sony confirming I've been chosen to take part in the Playstation 2 Network Gaming Trials. Advised to sit back and relax and wait for another e-mail from 7th April onwards advising where I can get hold of the Network Trials gaming kit which contains:
Network Adaptor (ethernet) for PS2
Network Access Disc, plus connection instructions
SOCOM: US Navy SEALS (online gaming mode only)
SOCOM USB Headset (for voice chat during gameplay)
Ethernet straight through cable (2m)
Meantime there's a huge section added to Sony's official PS2 website all about Networking, including indepth glossaries, broadband options, a list of their partners who sell compatible products, how to set up Internet Connection Sharing, Routers, Direct Connections and so on, basically a 'Dummies Guide to Home Networking'. It's very good, takes me 6 hours and a few coffees to read it and take it all in, and results in me ordering a home network kit so that I'll be able to play my PS2 online and keep the PCs connected to the internet at the same time.
April 4th - Set up home network, go into shock when I realise how easy it is to do and get everything working first time.
April 7th - E-mail arrives from Sony advising that the Network Trial gaming kits are now available to order (£41.98 including delivery) and provide a link to take you straight to their shop. So surfed over there, registered an account with their shop, where, after a few goes because the shop is inundated with people trying to order their kits as well at the same time, I manage to place an order.
Included in the e-mail is a little paragraph advising us that we'll be able to preview code of other games, which will be mailed to our home addresses, so might be getting to practice on Hardware: Online Arena and Twisted Metal Black: Online ages before anyone else.
April 8th - Confirmation e-mail arrives advising that my order for their kit has been placed and that my order is on its way.
April 8th - Two more e-mails received, one from the Playstation Broadband Team and one from the Trial Manager, both apologising for the problems most people had ordering from the shop, and advising that the shop has now been geared up to cope with the huge response.
April 9th - Noticed that my order status at the shop for the Network Gaming trial pack has now changed from 'pending' to 'shipped'. Am currently camping out by my front door awaiting delivery.
I'll update this thread for you as the trials continue, to give you some flavour of how the trials are going, the niggles we're overcoming, but most importantly how much fun it is to blow complete strangers to pieces in SOCOM: US Navy SEALS online.
Signed up, answered a load of questions via an online form about my connection type, who I was, what ISP I used, what games I liked, how much I played games, where I played them, and so on. Then I waited. And waited. And waited...
March - Banner pops up on the official Sony website advising that signups for Network Trials have now closed. The waiting continues. The nailbiting commences.
April 1st - WHOOHOOOOO! E-mail received from Sony confirming I've been chosen to take part in the Playstation 2 Network Gaming Trials. Advised to sit back and relax and wait for another e-mail from 7th April onwards advising where I can get hold of the Network Trials gaming kit which contains:
Network Adaptor (ethernet) for PS2
Network Access Disc, plus connection instructions
SOCOM: US Navy SEALS (online gaming mode only)
SOCOM USB Headset (for voice chat during gameplay)
Ethernet straight through cable (2m)
Meantime there's a huge section added to Sony's official PS2 website all about Networking, including indepth glossaries, broadband options, a list of their partners who sell compatible products, how to set up Internet Connection Sharing, Routers, Direct Connections and so on, basically a 'Dummies Guide to Home Networking'. It's very good, takes me 6 hours and a few coffees to read it and take it all in, and results in me ordering a home network kit so that I'll be able to play my PS2 online and keep the PCs connected to the internet at the same time.
April 4th - Set up home network, go into shock when I realise how easy it is to do and get everything working first time.
April 7th - E-mail arrives from Sony advising that the Network Trial gaming kits are now available to order (£41.98 including delivery) and provide a link to take you straight to their shop. So surfed over there, registered an account with their shop, where, after a few goes because the shop is inundated with people trying to order their kits as well at the same time, I manage to place an order.
Included in the e-mail is a little paragraph advising us that we'll be able to preview code of other games, which will be mailed to our home addresses, so might be getting to practice on Hardware: Online Arena and Twisted Metal Black: Online ages before anyone else.
April 8th - Confirmation e-mail arrives advising that my order for their kit has been placed and that my order is on its way.
April 8th - Two more e-mails received, one from the Playstation Broadband Team and one from the Trial Manager, both apologising for the problems most people had ordering from the shop, and advising that the shop has now been geared up to cope with the huge response.
April 9th - Noticed that my order status at the shop for the Network Gaming trial pack has now changed from 'pending' to 'shipped'. Am currently camping out by my front door awaiting delivery.
I'll update this thread for you as the trials continue, to give you some flavour of how the trials are going, the niggles we're overcoming, but most importantly how much fun it is to blow complete strangers to pieces in SOCOM: US Navy SEALS online.
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Mmm.. ordered it today. Heres hoping it comes by Wednesday.
Please ..
Please ..
Do you talk to each other before hand and discuss tactics? Like, "You go this way, wait for a minute for me to catch up, and when bob starts to fire we'll charge forward"? And how many is it per team? Are there any leagues? How do you decide who is captain? :)
Good point there FM, with a 'free chat' it's basically like talking on the phone to a bunch of strangers. Who're getting shot all over the place and losing missions so are bound to lose their tempers.
I doubt many parents would like their kids to be doing that.
A 16+ age limit seems fair enough to me. Or have "Under XXX" sections so the young'uns can still play.
Still having fun?
I doubt many parents would like their kids to be doing that.
A 16+ age limit seems fair enough to me. Or have "Under XXX" sections so the young'uns can still play.
Still having fun?
It must be good if you're up until 4am playing it!!
You're actually changing my mind regarding Socom, although I'm not keen on playing with a bunch of 12 year olds.
That could be taken the wrong way.
*Burns his Michael Jackson CD*
You're actually changing my mind regarding Socom, although I'm not keen on playing with a bunch of 12 year olds.
That could be taken the wrong way.
*Burns his Michael Jackson CD*
FinalFantasyFanatic wrote:
> Are there decent people on there? No annoying little gimps saying
> "I'm a poo" in your ear?
> Surely this info isn't too sensitive.
At present, no :)
Because of the way SOCOM uses voice chat, there's two teams of up to 8 players, and you can only communicate with your own team members, not your opponents, so it's in your interests to be nice. Everyone so far that I've teamed up with has had a very mature attitude to everything to do with the trials, they're not just there for the free gaming, they're there on the most part to make sure that when the rest of the PS2 community goes online it'll be a very smooth experience.
When it goes UK-wide though, I expect many games with 3+ age ratings will eventually include live chat, and 12-year old mentalities are 12-year old mentalities wherever they are, so eventually you will get annoying brats in your ear in other games. You can get around this by simply joining a 'mature' clan that has a required age entry requirement or just teaming up with people who you know.
Personally, from experience, I'd make being 16 years old a compulsory requirement to play ANY online game be it console or PC if that game involves written or verbal communication directly with other players. Simply because online they're not as 'protected' as they would be in regular situations. E.g. how many parents would allow their 12 year old kids into a room full of hundreds of strangers without seriously monitoring what is said to them?
I've just finished another 8 hour stint on SOCOM btw, it's THAT much fun :)
> Are there decent people on there? No annoying little gimps saying
> "I'm a poo" in your ear?
> Surely this info isn't too sensitive.
At present, no :)
Because of the way SOCOM uses voice chat, there's two teams of up to 8 players, and you can only communicate with your own team members, not your opponents, so it's in your interests to be nice. Everyone so far that I've teamed up with has had a very mature attitude to everything to do with the trials, they're not just there for the free gaming, they're there on the most part to make sure that when the rest of the PS2 community goes online it'll be a very smooth experience.
When it goes UK-wide though, I expect many games with 3+ age ratings will eventually include live chat, and 12-year old mentalities are 12-year old mentalities wherever they are, so eventually you will get annoying brats in your ear in other games. You can get around this by simply joining a 'mature' clan that has a required age entry requirement or just teaming up with people who you know.
Personally, from experience, I'd make being 16 years old a compulsory requirement to play ANY online game be it console or PC if that game involves written or verbal communication directly with other players. Simply because online they're not as 'protected' as they would be in regular situations. E.g. how many parents would allow their 12 year old kids into a room full of hundreds of strangers without seriously monitoring what is said to them?
I've just finished another 8 hour stint on SOCOM btw, it's THAT much fun :)
If it's anything like Xbox Live, as soon as the kit becomes freely available to the public - you'll be in for a nice session while people shout in your ear and use sentances such as "You are gay" when coming from the voice of a 12ish year old. While also doing as much as they can to make the game completely unplayable and unfun as possible.
Look forward to it!
Look forward to it!
OK, just don't tell us any of that then.
*Stops*
Wait a minute .......
YeY FM.
Are there decent people on there? No annoying little gimps saying "I'm a poo" in your ear?
Surely this info isn't too sensitive.
*Stops*
Wait a minute .......
YeY FM.
Are there decent people on there? No annoying little gimps saying "I'm a poo" in your ear?
Surely this info isn't too sensitive.
Last post on this thread I'm afraid. Sony have reminded all beta testers that information about the beta trials is commercially sensitive so I'm not allowed to tell you how excellent it was to play SOCOM online from 10am this morning until now. Or how much fun it was. Or how much I was laughing as each team invented it's own victory celebration (ours was emptying a full clip into the last terrorist/SEAL that we'd killed and then jumping up and down and around shooting our guns into the air until the time ran out, really cracked me up to see what are supposed to be crack troops acting so insanely). Or how bright the future looks for your PS2 if you've got broadband. Or how easy it is to get online if you take the time to read the GUIDES on the playstation.com site and the ones that will arrive with the network adaptors when they're released.
This beta testing is really tough when you can't find anything wrong. I suppose I'll just have to keep playing and playing in the hope that I'll discover a bug later on. Ah well, back to the trials, I figure I can cram in another 8 hour or so session before I need sleep :)
This beta testing is really tough when you can't find anything wrong. I suppose I'll just have to keep playing and playing in the hope that I'll discover a bug later on. Ah well, back to the trials, I figure I can cram in another 8 hour or so session before I need sleep :)
ManicMyna wrote:
> Flying Pig wrote:
> Where did you get the Kit from?
>
> weren't you invited to buy it then? oh well
> Downer is I'll probably be at work when it arrives and apparently they
> have to be signed for from what I read in the email
I think you missed what I meant: I was wondering where to get the router etc from - I know where to get the PS2 network pack etc. I'll have to wait until it's released though..... :(
> Flying Pig wrote:
> Where did you get the Kit from?
>
> weren't you invited to buy it then? oh well
> Downer is I'll probably be at work when it arrives and apparently they
> have to be signed for from what I read in the email
I think you missed what I meant: I was wondering where to get the router etc from - I know where to get the PS2 network pack etc. I'll have to wait until it's released though..... :(
ManicMyna wrote:
> Flying Pig wrote:
> Where did you get the Kit from?
>
> weren't you invited to buy it then? oh well
> Downer is I'll probably be at work when it arrives and apparently they
> have to be signed for from what I read in the email
You should be able to collect it from the Post Office Depot or Courier Co depot after work, most are open until 8pm during the week :)
Good thread idea FM.
> Flying Pig wrote:
> Where did you get the Kit from?
>
> weren't you invited to buy it then? oh well
> Downer is I'll probably be at work when it arrives and apparently they
> have to be signed for from what I read in the email
You should be able to collect it from the Post Office Depot or Courier Co depot after work, most are open until 8pm during the week :)
Good thread idea FM.
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