With gamers having so many features and options on a wide range of consoles available to them today, it becomes easy to take the technological advancements that led to these for granted. One of the most impressive, yet underrated breakthroughs of gaming was the XBAND online gaming service.
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Initially available for theSNESandGenesisconsoles. This modem based hardware allowed gamers to connect online for multiplayer purposes, while it was not widespread at the time, today it is considered a milestone. Tragically there are many interesting facts most gamers don’t know about this predecessor to modern online gaming.
10Virtually Exclusive To The United States
Online gaming today is a universal phenomenon. In the days of XBAND, this was not the case. Virtually all marketing and network support was based in theUnited States. The reasons for this were market viability, with American consumers being willing to spend on new experiences and infrastructure.
This would continue to be an earlytrend in online gaming, with the US market being an experiment for what would become a driving force in gaming today.
9Pricing
Many would assume that the concentration on the US market may have been a decision based on pricing, however XBAND’s service and equipment hadunexpectedly reasonable pricing. The initial modem cost $19.95, ($35.00 adjusted for inflation), an unlimited data plan cost $9.95 ($17.00 today).
While this may seem high by today’s onlinegaming network standards, it certainly was not out of reach for most gamers in the 90’s.
8Niche Market
Despite the fact that XBAND is revered today as the forefather of online gaming, and one of the industries most important endeavors, at the time it was focused on a mere niche market. By no means could it have been considered a commercial success.
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7One On One Gaming
Today multiplayer service capabilities are massive when compared to XBAND. While in the 90’s this was considered a monumental task, the latency of XBAND could only handle one on one matches while maintaining stability and integrity. While by no means a minor feat 25+ years ago, this pales in comparison to what online gamers wanted then, andexpect now.
6Cheating
From aim-bots, in game code exploitation, to lag abuse, cheating in online gaming continues to be a amassive problem.This trend goes back far longer than many may assume. Even during the dawn of multiplayer, gamers were finding ways to cheat the system. A common way to cheat on XBAND was to simply disconnect ones phoneline if losing a match, the software would simply count the match as null and void, with neither player getting a win or a loss. The practice was so common it gained the moniker"cord-pulling".
5Real-Life Scams
The abuse of XBAND’s hardware was not only limited to in game cheating. Unscrupulous users found a way to make free long distance calls via the service, which would instead be charged to the XBAND’s parent company Catapult. This cost the company a-lot of revenue, and showed that gamers simply were not ready to utilize an online gaming service exclusively for it’s main purpose.
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3Competitive Tournaments
Today competitive gaming can be a genuine andlucrative career choice.In the 90’s this was not the case. Despite this, XBAND would still hold multiple nationwide tournaments and evenhand out prizes.Most of these tournaments focused around either theMaddenorDoomseries of games, and were a far cry from the high stakes, highly professional tournaments we see today. Nonetheless they can be considered a forerunner to the massive internet-breaking events that are held in modern times.
2Eventual Failure
While producing a cutting edge technology will in most cases be a very successful and profitable venture, sometimes it’s possible to be too ahead of the times. This was the case with XBAND, as gamers were simply not ready for online multiplayer in the 90’s.
1Legacy And Recent Revival
While the XBAND was by all accounts, a major commercial failure, it was a gaming success, and it’s legacy is massive. Without the trailblazing innovation of the 90’s online gaming service, modern day multiplayer would not have been as viable. Finally, on a positive note, XBAND games have began to receive a recent revival. Withcommunities popping upto support the online play of their favorite 90’s titles.
