Diary of a 360 Widow

Episode 1 - The Teachings According to 360

Hi, I’m Emma (aka Mrs Teeps) and I am an Xbox 360 widow. Since that little black box (i own an elite - Tps) entered my house I have learned several things and Teeps thought I should share them with you and so every month or so I will chose a topic and give you my thoughts. Feel free to suggest topics for me to cover, I will happily talk about Americans and why they are lovely people really, small children and the X-Box or even the fact that Westy looks a lot like Penfold. So sit back and enjoy, or scroll past this whole bit because seriously what could a girl say about XBox that could be useful?


So apart from learning my husband is a really bad loser and unbelievably competitive what has the X-Box ever done for me? Well apart from the late night occasions where I’m woken by cries of ‘FUCK!! FUCK!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WESTY?’ and the constant feeing that I’m listening into somebody elses phone conversation I have learned several things since that little black box entered my house.

The first is that it doesn’t matter that our TV has a split screen mode which would allow me to watch CSI whilst Teeps plays, it would be stupid and inconsiderate for me to ask my game addict husband to sacrifice even the smallest amount of the 32” inch screen. This means I have to REALLY want to watch something and has resulted in me NOT watching Big Brother, X factor, I’m a Celebrity or any other reality TV which possibly won’t be repeated should I miss an episode. So the Xbox has cured me of reality TV.

The second thing I have learnt since the 360 appeared under our telly is that Microsoft are clever bastards. Not only do they come up with games people feel or think they want but Xbox live means that if you want to socialise with your virtual mates then you not only WANT to buy the latest games but you HAVE to buy them or risk being a social pariah.

I have also learned NEVER TALK TO SOMEONE WEARING A HEADSET! The reason is simply because he’s not listening. He is either concentrating on killing people, coming up with some witty insult like "i'd rather eat my own face than play with you again" or is more interested in what his team is up to.

Lastly for this blog I have learned that my husband tells stupid lies like ‘I live in Texas’ and he can’t do any accent other than a Bolton one. In fact I don’t like him very much when he plays. He’s a bad bad man. (she doesn't mean that...she loves me...loves me lots! - tps)

These are all observations from watching my other half over the top of my ds. In my next offering I will be writing about tea-break and toilet etiquette as observed by the non-gamer.

Love and cuddles

Mrs Teeps
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Xleague.tv GOW League

Happy returns to everyone this is just a quick update to tell everyone BKB will be entering season 3 of the Gears Of War league as soon as the details are announced. This doesn't mean we won't be needing new players if interested please contact the email address on the right hand side. Thanks Read more on "Xleague.tv GOW League"!

XBOX Live back up

It's seems xbox live has been fixed and we can all get on with our lives again, don't know what the problem was but it's all good now. Still nothing from Microsoft though, it would have been nice to have been told. Oh well!!!! Read more on "XBOX Live back up"!

XBOX Live down!!!

Well i have just got home from work and decided to turn on my xbox to find xbox live is not working, of course at first my concerns were that my router was playing up (or i had been banned because of a stupid yank!) . After turning on my mac and checking the xbox live forums it seems most people have been down since last night and according to posts Microsoft are aware of the error and are fixing it. Lets all hope we get an extra day to our subscription, YEAH WE WISH!!!

It's at times like these i wished i had a PS3 like xMASTERPIECEx and then we could play top online games together, oh yeah we could play Motorstorm together my bad. I could always join Westy on the couch to watch the proclaimers in concert and even better i could go to Teep's and watch the Mighty Boosh. I think i would choose the latter.

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Sneakers

Here you can see a pair of trainers (or SNEAKERS as he likes to call them) young xMASTERPIECEx of BKB has had specially commissioned.

Made especially to accomodate his size 17 feet these 'sneakers' are the only pair of GOW footware in existance (as far as we know).

But will they make him any good at the game? Jury is still out on that one.

Please note...thre may be quit a few fibs in the above post...prize of a fictional pair of trainers to anyone who can guess what they are.

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Member update.

This is just a reminder that we are currently recruiting, if you are interested please email britsknowbest@btinternet.com

Thanks.

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Return console for Sega?

Rumour has it that Sega corparation has filed an application to protect the 'Dreamcast' name sparking a debate that they are to release a new console. The application contained protection against games consoles,controllers, memory cards and so on. Although i find this hard to believe you have to admit this news is quite exciting, the fact that we could see Shenmue 3 and house of the dead really is something. SEGA have been contacted and our supposed to have denied the rumour although this must be took with a pinch of salt. Never say never.

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Is Microsofts HD-DVD plan a secret decoy?

So with Blu-ray and HD-DVD battling it out many are wondering which will win. Rumour has it that neither will and the overall winner will be Microsoft, since bringing out downloadable HD movies it is slowly becoming evident that microsoft may not be truly interested in the HD-DVD after all. If many people begin to download these movies both disc formats will be irrelevant movie wise. The only problem is the Blu-rays capacity to store more data on game discs than normal dvd, but be warned people Microsoft are creeping up like Sam Fisher. 

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Gears still the No1 online game on 360?

So with halo 3 persistently annoying the hell out of BKB (mainly after 12am due to overseas gamers) we have decided to begin our onslaught once again on Gears of War. Not losing a match since deciding to change back to gears, it becomes clear BKB our Gears specialists and it also becomes evident that GOW is easily the best online game on 360. After 10 minutes of putting the disc in and only a 2 minute wait in the lobby we soon began, graphics looked amazing and the thrill of hiding behind a wall waiting to shoot a shotgun through someone's head can't be beaten. After this experience i cant see myself reverting back to any other game soon.

Also after discussions with all members you may soon be seeing BKB on xleague.tv soon battling out with the best in the GOW league season 3. Hoping to beat the reigning champions Team VVV and prove ourselves to the gaming world. Watch this space!!!

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Christmas bargains at Gamestation

If you are looking for a bargain check out Gamestation, they are doing a different deal each day. I have just bought Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for £19.99. I also noticed that PGR4 and Kane & Lynch are only £22.99.

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New Halo 3 maps out now on 360 MP!!!

Check out the new Halo 3 Heroic map pack, it consists of three new maps and is priced 800 MP's.

Also check out our poll on the right hand site and please vote.

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Halo 3 ranking system explanation.

What is the Trueskill system?

The Trueskill system is a player skill rating system for Xbox Live. Halo 3 uses a version of the Trueskill system in order to make the matches fairly even.

How Does Trueskill Work?

Trueskill assigns skills on a normal distribution (bell curve, Gaussian). The Trueskill system has two main variables to consider. They are your player skill level (Mu) and your uncertainty factor (Sigma).

Mu is an approximation of your skill level based upon past performance. Win games to raise Mu, and lose games to lower Mu.

Sigma is the numerical representation of the range in which your true skill could lie. Play really consistently, and you have a low Sigma. Play streakily, and you have a higher Sigma.

After a win, the Trueskill system adjusts your skill ranking based upon the Mu and Sigma of all the players in the game. We'll go deeper into how much it is adjusted later.

Trueskill systems use a conservative ranking Ranking = mu - (K * Sigma) so your skill is likely to be higher than the actual number represented in your Halo 3 highest skill level. K is a constant assigned an arbitrary value by the developers of the game.

Why don't I level up after winning X games in a row? / Why does my friend go up three levels a game and I don't?

Mu increases after a win. Always. The increase is proportional to the winner's Sigma and the Mu difference between the winner and the loser. So, if your Sigma is high, you will proceed faster through the ranking system (in BOTH directions). If your Sigma is low, you will both gain and lose rank more slowly.

So, I want a high Sigma value?

While it sounds as though a high Sigma value is desirable, it CAN be a double edged sword. A high Sigma can mean you increase by one level for every win. It also means you decrease by one level for every loss. In addition, a high Sigma means that your skill ranking will be significantly lower than your actual skill owing to the conservative nature of the Ranking = mu - (K * Sigma) ranking equation.

Also, Sigma value starts out VERY high. So, if this is your friend's first time in a particular ranked hopper, and he wins consistently, his rank will rise meteorically due to his high Sigma.

Myth Busting

Trueskill DOES NOT take into evaluation performances inside the game. The ONLY statistics that Trueskill takes from a game are the Mu and Sigma values of all the players, and how you placed.

This means that out of all of these statistics:
Getting the MVP
Having a High K/D ratio
Getting the most medals
Skill levels of those you killed / killed you
Weapons you used
Headshots
Captures, detonations, stops, ousts, etc.

NONE of them matter when calculating the Mu increase/decrease. Any link between any of these and the skill ratings are purely correlative and not causative.

For example. When I play Team Slayer with my buddies on my alternate gamertag, much of the time I end up carrying the team. I created this tag to play with my buddies, and as such, have only ever played on that party with that tag. I ranked up to the level of my friends within 20 or so games, while it had taken them 50 to 100 games to reach their level. My friends thought that it was because of my frequent MVP status and my high K/D ratio that I leveled up so fast.

Wrong. I leveled up fast because A) I initially had a very high Sigma, making my Mu more variable after each win, B) Starting out at a 1 and playing people in the mid teens gave me a considerable boost every time I won, and C) We won more frequently than they had in the past.

Summation

If you're worried that you're not getting your fair shake in the ranking system, look at the last 50 games that you've played in that hopper. (If you haven't played 50 games, play more. The system needs more data.)

Take your win/loss average. If it's 65% or above, and you've been in that playlist for a while, you've probably increased in level 2 or more times over the last 50 games (or you will in the next 20 or so). Otherwise you are going to be hovering around the same level or dropping in rank.

Addendum, Opinion, and Technical Notes

In strict Trueskill systems, Sigma only decreases. I believe the "momentum" system in Halo 3 means that Sigma can be increased through consistent winning or losing. This is total conjecture, but I think that Sigma in Halo 3 matchmaking hoppers is proportional to the absolute value of the win/loss ratio of your last X number of games. The formula probably looks a little like: Sigma = C ( | wins - losses | ) where C is an arbitrary constant. This would explain why when some people go on a win streak with two or more different parties, their skill goes up faster than their teammates' skill.

I also believe that the system is weighted so that the peak of the normal distribution is around level 20, not level 25. That means it will take more wins to level through 1-25 than it will 25-50. Which makes a bit of sense, if you don't want the highest levels too terribly crowded.

The higher the Sigma of your opponents, the less Mu you gain from beating them.

Predictable outcomes (e.g. win against a lower ranked opponent) are treated as statistically less significant. Upsets are given more weight. So, winning against lower ranked opponents doesn't do much for your Mu rating. Neither does losing against higher ranked ones. But beat a team that's 6 or more ranks above you and at least someone on your team will rank up.

Trueskill ratings have no discernable correlation from hopper to hopper. When you play on a hopper you've never played on before, you are starting with a fresh Mu and a high Sigma.

Team Mu and Team Sigma are the summation of the Mu and Sigma values of all the players on the team. When calculating the skill of an opponent in a team game, the system uses the Team Mu and Team Sigma values in calculation wherever rational.

Thanks to El Kafungus on bungie.net forums for the information.
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