Xbox Live Avatars

The Xbox 360 dashboard was given a facelift back in November 2008 and one of the new features is Avatars - like a "Mii", only better! I've customised my avatar which you can see right here on my blog. Microsoft have a series of pulic URLs which allow you to download pictures of your avatar (simply replace {gamer-tag} with you know what):

Full body:
http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/{gamer-tag}/avatar-body.png

Head shot:
http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/{gamer-tag}/avatarpic-l.png

Head shot (small
http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/{gamer-tag}/avatarpic-s.png)


Here are my pictures:

Full body
Head shot
Head shot (small)

alterNATe settings

Recently, I've been experiencing problems with Xbox LIVE. After talking to a few people with similar issues, I learned that the NAT settings on my router were too high. I'm sure you're asking yourslef the same question as I did; "what the fuck are NAT settings?". Anyway, I still don't know what they are but I do know there is 3 levels; strict, moderate and open. Originally, mine were set to strict which is very bad. The aim was to get them changed to open and enjoy Xbox LIVE again. By following these instructions, you too can get back online - just in time for Halo 3 :D.

These modifications are specific to the Linksys WRT54G v1.1 wireless router although they might also be suitable for other versions and/or models.

Download the latest firmware version from Linksys and follow the installation instructions.

Assign the Xbox a static IP address - this should be less than the DHCP starting IP address. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway to 192.168.1.1 (router's IP address). I'd also recommend manually setting the DNS servers - you can find these on the Status page of the router's setup website (http://192.168.1.1).

Foward the following ports to the Xbox's static IP address using the router's setup website (Applications & Gaming > Port Range Forward):

• 88 - 88 (UDP)
• 3074 - 3074 (Both)
• 2869 - 2869 (TCP)
• 10280 - 10284 (UDP)
• 1900 - 1900 (UDP)
• 10243 - 10243 (TCP)

I'd just like to finish with a small moan about Microsoft. I think it was an Xbox LIVE update in September that caused all this fuss. All I know is that everything worked a month ago and my network architecture hasn't changed. Microsoft should have informed Xbox LIVE users of the implications instead of letting them find out for themselves.

If you have a different router, click here to see whether it's compatible with Xbox LIVE.