Xbox Live: Bring the pain to 'CNETUK'

By Guy Cocker on 25 May 2005, 10:50am

We signed up to Microsoft's Xbox Live service last night, specifically to show up some cocky Americans on our current racing favourite, Forza Motorsport. Predictably, we were met with a collection of souped-up Porsches and got completely 'owned' by everyone from Florida to Scotland. So we want some Crave readers to come online, give us some tips and teach us some new online cussing. Our gamertag is CNETUK, so add us to your buddy list now.

We've clocked some 15 hours on Forza Motorsport so far, but it seems you have to be a dedicated reader of Max Power magazine to stand a chance. Most of the people on there were happy to race around an oval track that required no braking, happy to show off their finely tuned car while slagging the other guys off through the Xbox headset. It's the online equivalent of a car modder's face-off -- only with Ferraris boshing round the Laguna Seca instead of Vauxhall Novas doing doughnuts in a Tesco's car park.

Xbox Live is a great service. Unlike the nightmare of our online PC experiences, the seamless interface of Live lets you press a button and be in a game with loads of other people in minutes. We'll be online at 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday 31 May looking for a fresh challenge, so come and have a go if you think you're hard enough... -GC