Is it possible to play Halo 1 over System Link/LAN between an Xbox and an Xbox 360?

Question

Is it possible to play Halo: Combat Evolved with System Link/LAN between an Xbox and an Xbox 360?

Asked by michelemarcon

Answer

Yes. You can play any backwards compatible games (which includes Halo 1) via System Link between an original Xbox and an Xbox 360. You can't just connect the two Ethernet ports together, however as the original Xbox requires a crossover cable. You can however, plug them both into the same router. You will need a disc per console, as with any System link play.

Source - See tips section

Answered by Macha

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System Link fails

Question

I recently bought a brand new xbox 360 slim and have transferred all of my data to it. It also has an xbox live account that gets played quite frenquently. My old xbox is still operable and in fact gets used by my brothers. We both have copies of Call of Duty World at War and would like to system link to play zombies with 4 people. However when we system link via direct ethernet connection or via router connection, the the joining xbox never sees the games being hosted by the host xbox.

I have tried changing which xbox is the host. I have swapped out ethernet cables to see if any are bad. I have tried several different routers to see if that changes the connection.

The weird part is whenever we system link with Halo Reach we have no problems connecting and playing together. The only thing I can think of is that the newer xbox has been updated via xbox live and is not compatible with the version of WAW or the old xbox.

Does anyone know why this is happening or how to fix it?

Answer

Chances are good this has to do with the version of CoD: WAW you're both running - since you can link up to play Halo: Reach, it's not an issue with hardware or networking. This is especially likely if you connect regularly to XBox Live on the newer XBox 360, but the older XBox 360 has not connected in a while.

Your options at this point are to clear all the software updates off both Xboxes (not recommended - you have to clear everything), or to get the older XBox to update to the newest version.

The second option is likely less inconvenient. If you go with it, you can either connect that older XBox to XBox Live using a different Gamertag (either Gold or Silver should work), or go through the following steps (using a single Gamertag):

1. Plug the older XBox into a network
2. Recover your Gamertag (make sure you've connected to XBox Live with that Gamertag recently, as you'll lose all offline achievements that haven't been submitted yet).
3. Start up Call of Duty: World at War
4. Update to the newest version when prompted
5. At this point, the two XBoxes should be able to link up
6. Recover your Gamertag on your newer XBox, so that you can continue to use it as normal

Given the time investment it's probably easier to use a Silver Gamertag - it's free, and signing up from scratch (assuming you don't have one already) is probably less time-consuming that two Gamertag Recoveries.

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Can I use 4 Xbox 360 consoles in System Link mode on the same wireless network?

Question

I was looking to have a Halo: Reach party with 16 people (4 Xbox 360s) at my house, but in talking to a friend, I became worried when he said he was not able to connect through the (Existing) wireless network to play vs other XBox 360s. Can you run 4 xBoxes off the same wireless network and have them connect to (local) network games or can this only be done with a wired hub? If so, is there any special setup I need to do first?

Answer

Wireless works fine for Xbox System Link. Microsoft's help page for system link states:

A system link cable or crossover cable for each console, an Ethernet hub or switch with enough open ports to connect the consoles together, or a wireless networking adapter for every console.

The more recent version of the Xbox 360 has a wireless adapter built-in. It's safe to assume that if you can play on Xbox Live wirelessly at home, that it has the correct hardware to play in a wireless system link setup with other Xbox 360s.

If you have a wireless network already in place where you plan to play, you'll have to configure the wireless settings on the Xbox 360s to connect to the wireless network wherever you're getting together, but otherwise no additional setup should be required. You can also mix and match using the wireless adapters on some consoles and connecting via an ethernet cable on other consoles, so long as they're all connecting to the same router/network. For instance, you might put one Xbox near the wireless router and use an ethernet cable for that one, and then have 3 others spread out in the area connecting to the router via wireless.

The Xbox 360 also supports an "ad-hoc" wireless mode where you don't need a wireless router, but in this configuration you'll only be able to play with 4 Xbox 360s if they all have wireless adapters.

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