XLink Kai is a program developed by Team XLink allowing for

online play An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PC game, PCs, Console game, consoles and ...

of video games with support for LAN multiplayer modes. It enables players on the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

, and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

to play games across the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

using a network configuration that simulates a

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger ...

(LAN). It notably also allows original Xbox games to be played online again following the

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

shutdown on 21 April 2010 (similar to that of Save Nintendo Wi-Fi for the Wii) and certain

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

titles such as '' Saints Row 2'' to be played online after the GameSpy network shutdown on 31 May 2014.

Summary

The purpose of the software is to allow consoles to network with each other over the internet via the consoles' "local network play" capabilities. XLink Kai acts as tunneling software, installed to a compatible

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

, or

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

computer on the same network as the console. Upon the console initiating a game's "network play" feature, the console's requests are routed to the computer. XLink, listening for these requests, allows other consoles to be found over the internet during this search, making it appear to the player's console that these other consoles are simply connected to the local network. For modified ("modded") Xbox consoles, much of the functionality can be provided directly within the Xbox Media Center (XBMC for Xbox)

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

. The Kai client is still required to be running on a computer on the user's network, but players can control connections directly through the console. It is also possible to run the Kai client on other Linux-based devices, such as

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...

or NAS devices.

Usage

Users log onto XLink's servers using an ''XTag'' username, similar to a "Gamertag" for Xbox Live. XLink has "Arenas" for each compatible System Link game, with more popular games such as ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' ...

'' and '' SOCOM II'' having sub-arenas based on regions within them as an attempt to minimize lag. Players in these arenas will be automatically synced to each other, simulating a LAN connection and thus able to play games normally using System Link functions. In addition to Game Arenas, Kai has a general chat room and a Quarantine Arena in which moderators can isolate abusive players. XLink also lets players create their own self-moderated Private Arenas.

Features

XLink Kai supports

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

, and

LAN enabled games. It features integrated chat lobbies in which players can meet and converse prior to starting a game session. Clan, tournament and ladder lobbies are also integrated for some games. A list of compatible games can be found on th
Team-XLink website
Special considerations have been made for the Xbox 360, which is designed by Microsoft to be incompatible with this kind of software. The console will automatically drop connections if the ping is > 30 milliseconds in a system link connection. However a patch has been released to bypass this limit on modified consoles. At one point support for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

was planned, but was never completed. As of release 7.4.37 direct connection with emulators is supported, specifically

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

version 5.0-12233 and higher. XBMC for Microsoft's Xbox console has a control client for XLink Kai that allows control of the XLink Kai software program from the user's Xbox via XBMC GUI. MC360 is a skin for XBMC by Blackbolt that gives the XLink Kai client (XBMC-Live) a familiar interface resembling the

's factory dashboard and

's connectivity for friends, arenas, etc. XLink Kai was removed from XBMC builds 14099 and later.

References

External links

*{{Official website Nintendo GameCube PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Portable Tunneling software Xbox 360 Online video game services

Summary

Usage

Features

See also

References

External links