XB∀ND

XB∀ND

Going online in November of 1994, Catapult's XB∀ND was at first only available for the Sega Genesis. The system was very basic in concept and required nothing more than a Genesis and standard telephone line for play. The XB∀ND unit itself retailed for an amazingly low $19.95, which made it very attractive for gamers looking for new gadgets for their console. No game modification was needed, since the unit came equipped with a "smart chip" that essentially modified execution of the game's program to make it playable online. You simply placed the unit into your system with a game inserted (similar to Galoob's Game Genie), plugged your phone line into the back of the XB∀ND unit, and powered up. Once connected, you arrived at the home page, which gave you several options. If you wanted to jump right into the action, you could use the "auto match" feature to find someone online instantly. This instructed Catapult's server to find an opponent of the same skill level as you anywhere in the U.S. who wanted to play the same game at the same time (Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam were quite popular). The server then directed one of the two modems to call the other. $4.95 got you fifty connections (the amount of times the network connected you to an opponent) a month, while $9.95 gave you unlimited local connections, with the first month of play free. For $3.95 an hour, you could play long distance anywhere in the continental United States. Perhaps this wasn't the most practical setup, as more than a couple of hours of play would have been too expensive. However, if you had a decent local scene, you could conceivably spend an endless amount of time playing head-to-head matches with more opponents than you'd ever need. There are rumours that some games were playable in 2-on-2 matches but this has not been confirmed.

An interesting footnote is that the service gave you an icon and game name to maintain privacy. This is basically the same as Xbox Live's "gamertag."

The XB∀ND wasn't only for simple one-on-one matches though. There was actually something of a service to go along with the match connecting. The modem included a ROM-based operating system, which offered a simplified interface and even email (called "Xmail"). Moreover, every time you connected, two online newspapers (called "bandwidth") with the latest info were downloaded for you to read. The server also kept track of stats, ranked players, offered game tips and firmware upgrades, and informed users of competitions and updates on other players. After matches, you could "chat" with your opponent, using an interface similar to that used for the email. Amazingly enough, XB∀ND even had a call-waiting feature!

To control kids from spending half a day playing someone clear across the country and thereby leaving their parents in bankruptcy, Catapult implemented a parental control feature which automatically made the unit only able to call locally unless specified otherwise. Parents could also control just how long their kids would play on the network. These controls could be updated at any time.

For such an early attempt at online gaming, the system was surprisingly stable. According to Catapult:

XB∀ND communication latency is low enough (<50 milliseconds) that the response delay in even a coast-to-coast video game is barely perceptible by an expert human game player (New York to Los Angeles latency is about 35 milliseconds through copper or fiber optics). For comparison, Internet latency ranges from 200 milliseconds to more than one second, so Internet games such as NetTrek need to allow for arbitrary delays. Online services connect through x.25 packet-data networks that have latencies between 250 milli-seconds and 1.5 seconds.

Droppers

In beta testing, the bottom-feeding scum known as "droppers" reared their ugly heads. At first, sore losers would simply hit the reset button on their consoles to save themselves from gaining a loss to their stats. This would make the game freeze, causing the system to realize the connection had been lost and then restart. When the dropper and his opponent reconnected, the service would offer its best guess as to what went wrong.

Those who hit reset were very comfy at the beginning of the service. The network essentially downloaded a patch to the unit to make each game playable online and early ones were sometimes unstable. This caused games to occasionally lock up, making it necessary to reset the system. Though later patches were more stable and attempts were made to identify abuse, it was impossible to catch every dropper. Most games, however, were successful in avoiding this abuse by automatically penalizing the dropper with a loss and giving a win to their opponent. This depended on the last scores sent to the server by the unit before the connection was cut.

Droppers were quite sneaky, using one of three despicable methods to save their precious stats. They could simply call themselves (if you had call waiting), hit reset, or simply disconnect the phone cord from the unit itself. Unfortunately for those with call waiting, the service detected this and either restarted the game completely over or from the beginning of the last period played (e.g. the end of the previous quarter in Madden or NBA JAM). Some droppers called themselves over and over, causing their opponent to either be outscored or to just quit in frustration. If they were behind when they quit, they would get the loss and would receive nothing if they were winning.

Once the option to reset the console was no longer available, droppers tried their last option: disconnecting the phone cord. Once they reconnected, the reset detector sent them an email detailing what happened and how it affected their stats. This lead to a deluge of customer service calls offering all kinds of excuses as to why the cord had been disconnected. "My little brother tripped on the line" and "the lights went out" were common pleas. Not even attempts to monitor power levels on the telephone line were effective in combating this, however, so opponents were awarded wins to keep them happy while droppers were not penalized in order to keep them from complaining. This hurt the service in the long run by scaring off potentially honest gamers, much the same way current droppers have scared off many players from games like Capcom vs. SNK 2 on Xbox Live.

Catapult Slings the XB∀ND to Retailers

Even with the problem of droppers, the service was initially a smash success in its five-city test run (San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles). Catapult intended to capitalize on this momentum and announced on August 10, 1995, that it was teaming up with Blockbuster Video to expand their XB∀ND sell-through program. It was one of the most successful national rollouts in Blockbuster history, increasing the number of retailers selling XB∀NDs to 4500. Blockbuster employees were trained in the use of the service and its features, while four feet of display space with headers and four shelves of space were allotted for the product - not too shabby for a concept most people considered to be unfeasible on consoles. Additionally, Catapult created a two-minute video about the service that could be rented from Blockbuster for free. By 1995, XB∀ND also supported the SNES, offering gamers on both consoles such hits as Killer Instinct, Madden '95, Weapon Lord, NBA Jam, Super Mario Kart, and Super Street Fighter II. At its height, the service boasted that gamers spent 20 hours a month online, playing about a million games and sending or receiving around 80 messages.

The service was subsequently expanded to PCs, using the RAPID (Reduced-latency And Predictable Internet Delivery) system, which combined both a proprietary IP service and an ATM backbone to route gamers. On July 16th 1996, Catapult announced a partnership with game publisher Accolade to bring Star Control 3 online through the XB∀ND system. The game CD included software to connect to the network and allowed gamers to play against each other in Hyper Melee, a space combat feature. This was part of Accolade's attempt to include online play with its games on the PC.

1996 also saw the XB∀ND support the Sega Saturn. It used a 14400 bps modem and allowed for several titles, such as Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally, Daytona USA, and World Series Baseball to be played in one-on-one matches using a media card that was inserted into the modem. An optional keyboard was also made available. The system was released in Japan as well as America but floundered.

From Xciting to Xtinct

Reaching its peak in mid-1995, the service saw its user base begin to taper off by the middle of the next year. Catapult eventually discontinued the XB∀ND and the servers were shut down on April 30th, 1997. A lack of new interest in the service, as well as the demise of 16-bit systems were cited as the reasons behind the XB∀ND's failure. It is most likely though, that what ended its run is ironically the very thing it tried to bring to gamers in the first place: the internet. Online PC gaming exploded in the late '90s, offering gamers many more options of play and a multitude of titles not even remotely possible on the XB∀ND. Even with the power offered by the next generation of consoles, it was simply not enough. Sega would learn this very lesson when its NetLink service crashed and burned in 1998. Catapult eventually merged with MPath and quietly disappeared from the gaming scene, thus ending the first great chapter in console online gaming.