In readiness for the ultimate Xbox 360 experience I’ve done a lot of things. I’ve ordered and received a 360 pad from Canada. I have a HD TV bought awaiting it to be delivered to my house but one thing I’ve yet to experience being touted as part of the next gen revolution is online console gaming. I' ve never had a console game I wanted to play online but now have WWE SvR 2006 for PS2. I reckon I' m a bit good at this game and all my mates suck. Thus I' ve tried to get this online to prove my skill.

First things first, I bought a PS2 network adapter. For some reason they aren' t available in any shops near me. I had to buy it with Twisted Metal Black which I' ve no desire to play. At all. Ever. After reading through the manuals and such the initial stage looked straight forwards. The device screws into the back of the PS2 looking like an afterthought rather than a legitimate online experience. When I switch on the P2 the fan in the back sounds more pained than usual for a moment before settling back down. Bless.

I position my PS2 near my internet connection last night. My internet connection comes through a digital TV set top box. Plucking the Ethernet cable from my PC and placing it in my PS2 I fired up the Network Adapter instillation disk. A pretty ‘welcome to PS2 online’ video plays and oh dear, it’s telling me I need some codes and info from my PS2 now covered up by the network adapter.

After some swearing, unscrewing and screwing back I' ve got the numbers. The CD is booted up again and now I' m lost in a sea of jargon. The PS2 is doing everything itself and talk of ISP' s, STB' s, DNS' s and MAC addresses is flying over my head. One thing I do understand the words ‘connection failed’. Distraught I try it again but the same thing happens.

On to the internet, the worlds largest source of information, streamlined to me through Google. The right combination of words to search leads me here. My set top box is no good and I need a router.

Today I took a trip to my local PC shop and found such a device. Its wireless but with 4 ports on the back so when I do get my 360 at least I' ve the option of playing in my room upstairs with the PC and set top box downstairs. At the moment I have to bring my PS2 to the source. The router installed with no problems and is currently sat next to my PC tower blinking at me.

Tonight I try and connect it to my PS2. Come back later for the exciting conclusion...

Good luck with that Paul. You' ve more patience than I do

Wow... and this is why I dont complain about the $50 a year on Xbox Live.

PLug in the ethernet cable. Turn on Xbox with disk. Feel out basic info. choose a game. play.

This itteration of Playstation' s online componant has me worried about PS3' s. Sure it' s free and all, but the stress is a bit nuts it seems.

Some who had it up and running what sthe actual play like? Lag? Organization? etc etc. Ive only seen my friend on it once, he preferred paying for Live tho.

i tried setting up my girlfriends brothers PS2 for internet, never got it working though

I agree with Sharon...I would' ve gone ballistic!!!

As for the XBOX Live experience...it may be easier to connect, but to deal with all the cheaters and such is way too much to deal with for $50 a year!!!

...and M$ has yet to properly address and correct this issue...

Um... I' m not good with tech-stuff but me and my friend played Twisted Metal Black online at his place and we thought the entire setup was quite easy, networkwork adapter and all. Did you read the manualls and stuff before you begun installing?

It would have been easy if I could have stuck it into the back of my set top box. If you have an Ethernet modem I' m quite sure it' s very easy. I haven' t though. It never mentioend what to do if you have a set top box at all.

Finally I managed after some struggling to get the blasted thing working. One time through it wouldn' t connect so I checked all the wired. 2nd time it did. After a long process of registering my PS2 online I had it up and running.

Now I don' t think my internet is fast enough. I' ve played 3 matches on SvR 2006 and last all. The reason is the lag! There' s a good 1/3 of a second worth of lag before the character will move, punch, grab or anything. I think it' s my connection speed but I' m with NTL and the fastest they go is to 3mb. PC games work fine... Matrix Online, World of Warcraft and Battlefield 2 the games I' ve put through the paces on my PC.

Any tips?

While I didn' t find it too hard to connect my PS2 up and get it online, one word can describe my gameplay experience. Lag.

I have never had a lag free PS2 game. Never. I have a 12mb connection too.

PS2 online gaming is difficult and dissorganised.

I only have FIFA 2004 which I can play online.
It needs up to 5 ports forwarding.
Due to there being no central PS2 Online system, each game can use a whole load of different ports too!

I tried to set it up again a few months ago. I failed and I simply couldn' t be bothered fiddling with Windows Internet Connection Sharing until it worked.

Has the FIFA 2004 server been stopped? After all - FIFA 2006 is now available. Maybe if Sony had a central system, I could find out!

I think Sony needs to wake up and see what an excellent job XBox has done with XBox Live.

I wouldn' t be complaining about 1/3 of a second of lag to much.. I remember trying to play an online baseball game for DC WSK2k1 i believe it was. You' d wait to see the pitcher throw the ball, then you go get a sandwich or something, then come back and hit the button and hope you hit the blasted thing.

I remember getting online with my dreamcast. Day 2 9/10/99 I decided to set it up for the internet. Call my ISP get dns info or whatever as I follow the step by step process. Connect to the internet and browse the web. Was quite easy.

Then a while later Chu Chu Rocket, the first online dreamcast game comes out. I buy it and play it. Some games lag a little, other games are pretty good.

Then a while later they launch SegaNet. I still use my normal IP but I get to play NFL 2k1 online. No lag at all. Quake 3 Arena, no lag at all. StarLancer, no lag at all. I had quite a few online games that rarely lagged. And I just had your average dial-up internet.

Maybe the PS2 games that lag just have horrible network coding or maybe the online system blows goats for quarters.

I only played Phantasy Star Online and Chu-Chu Rocket... this was through dial up and I don' t remember any lag. PSO was especially fun.

I had the network adapter for a short while, got connected, played need for speed for 10 minutes, a week later sold it. The ps2 network adapter sucks! It' s so dull, Hell it even put me off sony for a while.

PS2 Online: Buy newtork adaptor which may come with a useless game. Read complicated instructions and screw to the back of your PS2. Connect the thing to a modem or router via an eathernet cable and input serial number of PS2 (remembering to have it written down before youbolt the adaptor on). Fill in some personal details then play... with muuuchos lag.

360 Online: Buy wireless network adaport which clips to the side of 360 and plugs into USB port. Want it wired? Connect an eathernet cable to your modem or router. Finally input personal details. Thats it.

Does it surprise you that the Xbox and Xbox360 are better online consoles than PS2? I mean, Microsofts goal was to get as many people as possible online. The whole idea of online gaming is what they have been working on the most.
Sony on the other hand, wasn' t as interested in online gaming as MS, especially since it wasn' t as popular when the PS2 was released as when the Xbox was released. So it' s kind of natural that online play might suck on the PS2, although I haven' t had any bigger problems. But now that Sony has seen the potential of online play, I hope the PS3 will work much better online than the PS2. But I doubt they will be able to compete with XboxLive.

Exactly. As hyped as I am for the PS3, Sony' s lack of commitment when it comes to online gaming is slightly worrying. Microsoft have hit the nail on the head with the 360 and it' s online features. Correct me if I' m wrong but isn' t the 360 the first console able to connect online fully from day one? I know the Dreamcast could get online but there were no online games for a while...

..... what exactly is Sony' s online strategy for the PS3?.. ... are they really not taking it seriously?? ...

... how can they be so dumb??? ...if they don' t make a serious attempt at online gaming they could end up IN SERIOUS TROUBLE .... 360 is looking to be much stronger than the original Xbox .... and if they are similarly matched, what could Sony offer that is more attractive to gamers than a sophisticated online experience?...

..what about Nintendo? will Revolution be online??....

Honestly I think Nintendo (the very company who was against online play for so long) have a better online strategy than Sony. Sony' s " we' ll leave it up to someone else" attitude isn' t a winning formula - and it' s going to bite them in the ass sooner or later.

Actually, after playing Mario Kart DS online, if Nintendo goes the same way with the Revolution they can count me in.

Yeah I heard that nintendo will go online...but still everything about sony is all rumors. And again I heard that they weren' t really interrested in online gaming. I don' t really get it but...all the better for M$ and nintendo.

Sony' s " we' ll leave it up to someone else" attitude isn' t a winning formula - and it' s going to bite them in the ass sooner or later.

Exactly! It really annoys me that they aren' t taking it seriously while the 360 has actually won me over because of it' s simple yet engaging online features.