XBAND - WikiHQ

XBAND (stylized as XBⱯND) was one of the first competitive online console gaming networks and was available for the Genesis and Super NES. It was produced by Catapult Entertainment in Cupertino, California. It is the only modem released in America to have been officially licensed by Nintendo. It debuted in various areas of the United States between November 1994 and June 1995 and was later released nationwide between October 2 and 8, 1995.

History

The Genesis version of the XBAND was released in November 1994, with the Super NES version following in June 1995, and the Super Famicom version in April 1996. The Genesis version also works with the Genesis Nomad. In Brazil the Mega Drive service was released as the Mega Net 2, named after the Sega Meganet.

In 1995, Catapult Entertainment signed a deal with General Instrument, producers of the Sega Channel, which stipulated that the XBAND modem would henceforth be built into new Sega Channel adapters, and that the top 5 to 10 games offered by Sega Channel each month would be playable over XBAND.

Initially, Catapult Entertainment had a limited staff and virtually no advertising. By January 1997, XBAND network playability had reached practically every metropolitan area and several rural areas in the U.S. The actual XBAND modems were carried by a few software and video rental chains across the United States. Internationally, the XBAND had some limited growth in the Japanese market, and Catapult was working on PC and Sega Saturn support, though it merged with Mpath Interactive. The focus shifted to the online PC gaming service Mplayer.com which was taken offline and integrated into GameSpy Arcade in 2001, after being acquired by GameSpy in December 2000.

Service

frame|XBAND for the [[Sega Genesis and the Super NES]]

The concept of playing online was fairly new at the time. Arcades were still quite popular, and online gaming was not yet a household idea.

The XBAND modem was widely available at Blockbuster Video for , with additional charges based on usage. Two pricing plans were available. One had a monthly fee of $4.95 and allowed the user to connect to the service up to 50 times a month with each additional connection costing 15 cents. The other had a monthly fee of $9.95 with unlimited connections. player-to-player connections inside their local calling area were free.

The XBand operating system was designed to ensure that connections are not lost due to phone activity; in the case of call waiting, the system would alert the user to the call and allow the game to be resumed.

XBAND had an official website to check other players' statistics, along with other information and updates that were not viewable on consoles.

At its height, XBAND had 15,000 subscribers.

When connecting to play, unless specifying a particular user from the friend list, players were matched with a random player elsewhere in the country (or the player's local area code depending on preference) who was also connecting to play the same game. The server would attempt to match players of like skill levels, using the Elo rating system. When the network matched two players up, the newly-connected player's XBAND modem would disconnect from the server and dial the other player, whose own XBAND modem would answer.

XBAND had announced in its previous monthly newsletter that it was shutting down. According to Next Generation, XBAND "never turned a significant profit". Unlike the SNES/Super Famicom and Genesis versions of XBAND, it did not require an XBAND-specific modem, instead utilizing Sega's own Sega NetLink device (which included a 14,400 bit/s modem in Japan and a 28,800 bit/s modem in North America). Neither the Saturn XBAND nor an expansion into the PC market succeeded, because developers frequently opted to include their own network linking rather than deal with Catapult's subscription-based service.

Service issues

A major issue for the XBAND service was free long-distance phone calls. It was discovered that a user could record the tones sent from an XBAND modem and then receive the long-distance service number, the authentication code, and phone number of the player you were connecting to. This information allowed anyone to access long-distance phone calls that were charged to Catapult.

Paging company SkyTel faced similar problems from both XBAND users and their own customers. XBAND users performed brute-force attacks against SkyTel's mobile paging system in order to discover voicemail boxes using the same number as the login and password, using these to extend their communication with each other. Most messages consisted simply of shout-outs with music playing in the background.

A common complaint was that if a player was losing a match, they could simply pull their phone cord out or reset their system. This tactic, known as "cord-pulling" among XBAND users, prevented the XBAND service from crediting either player with the win or loss. In response to complaints, the company developed a program which would detect such forced disconnections and assign a loss to the perpetrator and a win to the victim.

Publishing statistics

Though lacking market success, the XBAND team did manage some publicity gains when they joined forces with a number of gaming magazines, starting on the web with Game Zero magazine and later in Tips & Tricks Magazine. Daily stats were accessible via XBAND News on the modem, although they were not visible to the general public. Publishing stats added a "cool" factor to brag about in the early forefront of online gaming. The top-ranked gamers of the previous month were published starting in January 1996 in Game Zero and, starting in early 1996, in Tips & Tricks magazine.

Supported games

The following games have been analyzed, and online compatibility provided, by XBAND.  A hidden maze game can be unlocked in the SNES version by inserting a The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past cartridge.

References

External links

Xband (fan) facebook page
Some archived pages of Catapult's "XBAND XClusive" on GameZero.com
A write-up of the service from Sega-16
Gamer's Graveyard Article
Popular "Blog of the Day " entry on 1up.com about one gamer's look back on his XBand obsession