Post by Zangief on Feb 13, 2009 10:41:01 GMT -8
Xfire - A quick overview for you PC Gamers
Again, this is targeted at the house four guys if you don't know about Xfire. Xfire is a great tool keeping in touch and keeping track of your pc gaming buddies and a necessary tool for BFME2 clan wars. You will find it the best way to contact other BFME2 players to set up clan wars matches.
Set Up Instructions
Step 1: Download the Xfire installer. This link also contains the same instructions I am giving.
Step 2: Install and Join Xfire. Once downloading is complete, double-click the Xfire installer icon and follow the instructions to finish installation and create a free Xfire account.
Step 3: Connect with friends. Add Xfire users to your friends list, invite friends to join Xfire, view your auto-generated gamer profile.
Overview
Xfire is a freeware instant messaging service targeted at gamers, that also serves as a game server browser and has various other features.
Game detection
Xfire features the ability to detect the video game a particular contact is running. By analyzing running processes, Xfire can detect active games and send that information to Xfire clients with the current player as a friend. For many games, it can also detect which server people are playing on, the level which is running and ping times. Some games may be joined instantly. Xfire logs what games users are playing, how many hours they have played them, and saves other information (such as scores) from game servers. This information can be converted into a PNG image by the server via PHP for every user to use as a signature.
Instant messages
Xfire also includes the support for sending and receiving instant messages from inside a game in fullscreen mode, eliminating the need to minimize the game window. Users can also send in-game messages to other players without joining the game. Users are also able to see what games their friends are playing.
Voice chat
With version 1.43, released August 2005, Xfire, Inc. added a beta voice chat feature using Voice over IP technology, similar to, among others, TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, GameStreet Talk, etc.
Screenshots and videos
Xfire has the ability to take screenshots in game and save them to a specified folder, though this only works with Xfire In-Game-supported games, unlike Fraps. A user can take as many in-game screen shots as they want. Once the user exits their game, Xfire will load all of their screenshots in a window, where the user can then select all of the screen shots that they want to upload to their Xfire profile page. Users can also give each screenshot a caption. However, there are some games that are not compatible with Xfire In-Game.
Xfire has the ability to record video in-game. However, it has a significant impact on performance.
Clan and guild system
In version 1.63, Xfire released a beta clan system. This allowed users to create clans or guilds on the Xfire website and invite members (recruits can also ask to join). Many other features were also associated with this such as setting up ranks, favorite games and the number of hours everyone has been playing. With version 1.85, the Clans & Guilds system was officially released.
Live Video (Broadcasting)
Xfire added a video streaming feature in version 1.97. This feature is still in the Alpha phase, and a broadcast must be viewed using a web browser plugin, unfortunately only supporting Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox at the present time. It lets anyone watch a live feed of a user's screen while they are playing a game. When a user begins a stream, it opens up a chatroom which anyone who is watching your live feed can join.
