Now that V1 is ready I thought I would show one of the best features of XBMC. The online gaming support. With this you can play any system-link game over the net! If you have ever used Xlink (or xbconnect) before you'll be right at home. XBMC support XLink kai 3 version. This system is still in beta (beta 0006c to be exact), that means there ARE bugs and you MAY exsperiance problems. Fortunatly the next release (0007) will be public and forced upgrade. (Meaning lots of people will then be online)

You will need:
1) a pc
2) a xbox
3) a home network with both the pc and xbox on it
4) a internet connection

Create a Kai3 Account:
First lets create an account on kai 3...
follow this link and create it with your own username and password:
http://www.xboxlink.co.uk/signup.php

Now lets download the XLink Kai tunnel program for your computer. This program will sit and tunnel all the network traffic from the xbox around to your playing partners. It must be running on your PC while you are playing or viewing games in the browser.

Kai0006c Download available here:
http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/?go=download

Extract the downloaded file to the location of your choice. Install the included WinPCap first (You may need to reboot to complete the install) Then run 'launcher.exe'

Now select 'Start Kai Engine' Dont worry about any port settings in the advanced tab for the time being.

Now select 'Launch Kai' and log in

Congratulations! Kai is up and running!

You can now use the pc to browse the different game rooms, after you have selected a game room just go to your xbox and select system link game and play away.

Thats great and all but who wants to browse the game rooms on your pc? Lets set up XBMC with your username and password.

Open up your XboxMediaCenter.xml files and find the lines that say...


VIEW THE CODE in the FORUM POST HERE:
http://xbox-hq.com/html/postt1567.html

And its pretty self explanitory what to do there. Match up the information exactly with the account you created.

Now xbmc should be ready to go! Transfer your XboxMediaCenter.xml back to the xbox.

To be sure that everything is working, log into kai on your pc so that you are able to browse the different game arenas. Now start up your xbox and go into XBMC. If kai is able to find your xbox, the XLink kai window will go away and the only evidence that the kai engine is running will be a icon in your system tray. This is good.! :)

(Note : after you are sure that everything is working, you do not need to 'lauch kai' it will still work if you only just 'start kai engine')


FYI:
I use the Project Mayhem skin. It can be had at http://www.critikill.net/ and is updated quite often.

Now in XBMC go down to the big X on the bottom right (In project mayhem skin) If you are using the default skin I BELIEVE its in the top left but am unsure. You'll have to find it yourself.

Now you should be able to browse the different 'games', 'areans' and 'friends'. You'll catch on quick. After you have found an arena (for example 'first person shooter/halo/ntsc/' go and run the game and go to system link and you should see the games there! And if you start your own game there, others will be able to join as well!

And yes it is compatable with games on your harddrive! Just use the back button and use (if you have xbmc setup properly) the 'my programs' tab or use the 'my files' tab to locate the games default.xbe file.

Now some people are bitching about how many people are on kai3. Kai3 is still in beta and is not a forced upgrade yet. Therefor you wont be able to connect to anyone using xlink RC2. (The current public version) So don't be disapointed when you dont see many people online. The more people like you that start using it the better it gets! And who can beat a intigrated browser like this? Soon everyone using RC2 will be required to upgrade to Kai3 and there will be more than enough people online.

Goodbye live, hello free xlink!