Reminiscing about XBConnect

What is XBConnect? It was an online gaming service for the original Xbox.  This was before Xbox Live was popular.  XBConnect used the system link mode built into many Xbox games, basically hijacking the network traffic and rerouting over the internet.  XBC stayed relevant through the years due to two factors: 1. it was free and 2. it was compatible with the “new” xbox 360 which used the same system link as the original xbox.

XBConnect was a great service for broke college kids who had access to non-dial-up internet.   After writing several help guides, I was invited to be a moderator and eventually an admin of the forums from 2004 – 2014.  You can still find some of the guides I wrote, hosted here:

• http://westaby.net/xbchelp
• http://westaby.net/wireless.html
• http://westaby.net/getting_started.htm

As of last year, XBConnect went offline for good, and it’s sad.  The downfall started when the software was abandoned by the original author, leaving only a copyrighted closed source to the remaining team to keep the servers running.  They had permission to add new games to the gamelist, but no new features or bug fixes were possible.

What’s left? There are some cool people that still know what XBConnect was on facebook, and run a fan page.
facebook.com/XBConnect

Other than that, is not much.  The website is gone, the servers turned off.  You have to scrounge the internet wayback machine to find any mention of XBC.
XBConnect doesn’t even appear in the english wikipedia, here is a finnish one: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBConnect

Final forum post count: 5,298