 |
Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows
by katykicker
In our home we are huge fans of the Xbox 360 and because of this my husband and I have a number of different games that we play and we both also own Windows phones to allow us to play Xbox Live games while we are away from home and therefore still interact with one another. Another way that we use our Xbox is with our Toshiba laptop ... (complete with Windows of course). We've owned our wireless gaming receiver for around 2 years now and I believe we paid somewhere in the region of £15.00 from Currys back in 2010. These are not so widely available now as they were back then but you can find them on eBay and also from CEX depending on your local store too, so they're definitely not completely dead in the water yet.
This wireless gaming receiver allows you to use your existing Xbox 360 controller to play games on your PC or laptop. It is very simple to use and you simply plug it in to a USB port on your laptop or computer and then load up the CD with relevant software, install this and you're ready to use it. If I remember correctly we plugged ours in and it did the majority of the work for us but when we wanted to use this on an alternative laptop last year (a temporary one) it didn't work like that and so we have had to use the CD to load the software too. It loads quite quickly in just a matter of minutes and then as long as your computer is Windows XP or above you can use this gaming receiver. Our laptop that we mainly use this on has Windows 7 and it installs and works perfectly with no delays or problems at all.
This receiver is very straight forward. It is a small device with an Xbox button that allows you to sync to other devices, such as your wireless controller, and there is a light to shine green and allow you to know that everything is working as it should be. It is nothing special to look at but its inoffensive and just lies in our 'wires box' when not in use. It is simple to sync the controller to this gaming receiver, as it usually is with Xbox products, and it takes just a few seconds.
When it comes to actually using this game, the main reason that we wanted a wireless gaming receiver was so that we could play Halo 2 on the PC. Basically we have 2 copies of Halo 2, a standard XBOX copy and we also have a 'Games for Windows' copy which we can use with our Xbox controller and this receiver. All we do is load the game and the wireless gaming receiver allows us to start playing. We were then able to play Halo 2 on the PC and unlock Xbox gamerscore points to allow us to compete with one another and our friends. You can use your existing Xbox 360 gamertag to play these games and in all it is very simple to set up and start playing your favourite games on the PC (or in our case on the laptop).
When using this gaming receiver we have had no problems with lag or with freezing issues at all. We rarely encounter these on the Xbox these days either so wouldn't expect them on our laptop but occasionally with older games it can happen of course. When I am taking shots or moving around on Halo 2 I've not had any problems with the signal from the controller not being received either and that is a huge plus point for something like this.
In all it is fair to say that both my husband and I have had a lot of use out of this. We have played other games including Fall Out 3 with this gaming receiver and a few others too. This is a great source of entertainment and it means that even though we have our own Xbox 360 consoles that we can come together and play this game together and have a real good time, also we can earn Xbox gamerscore points that our friends might not be able to earn and we are all about finding an advantage and having a higher score over our friends!
Read the complete review |
 |
Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows
by Matheson80
I own a PC. I own an XBox 360. I am told I play too much on both. This is probably true.
I actually tend to play most of my games on my PC, I guess I am a bit old-school like that. However, I love the controller for my 360, and I really wanted to use it for certain games on my computer. I just recon that it suits some games ... better than a mouse & keyboard. Basically, I had two options: first, I could have bought a new XBox 360 controller designed for PC use, or I could buy this little gizmo, a Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, and use my existing controller.
Given that this receiver costs approx. £18, and a new controller costs approx. £28 (and it's not wireless), it was a no-brainer. You can buy them from stores such as PC World or Curry's, but as usual they are cheaper online from the likes of Amazon.
This little piece of kit is a small receiver which plugs into your cumputer via a USB connection. It's cable is approx. 2m long, which I found more than sufficient, since mines sits right next to my PC tower. It came with a mini CD with driver software on it, but I am pretty sure that I simply plugged it in and Windows installed the drivers for me. It does require at least Windows XP to operate, and personally I am using it on a Vista 64 Bit version.
The receiver is pretty discreet (approx. 75x40x20mm), and doesn't stand out too much, which is perfect. It has a small green light to highlight a connection, a small button to detect any possible peripherals and an XBOX 360 logo. When I got mine, you could only get a white colour version, but you can now get a black one to match the more recent XBox versions. I probably would have got black version if I could have, since my PC, and peripherals are all black, but that a pretty minor issue.
Operation is very simple: you power up the XBox controller by pressing the logo in the middle. The receiver may take a few seconds, but it should quickly recognise the controller. From there, you can use the controller as you please. If the receiver doesn't instantly pick up the controller, you can press the small button on the receiver, and this will make it search for any possible wireless signals, and this has always worked for me. One issue I did come across was if you happen to have an Xbox in the same room as your PC/receiver, switching on the controller by default switches on the Xbox, rather than locate the receiver, so I found I had to switch my console of at the wall before I used the controller for the computer. If they happen to be in different rooms there isn't a problem
Pretty much every game I have tried that will recognise a standard hand-held controller can be played with your XBox controller, and any 'Games for Windows' branded games often have a specific set-up for this controller. I have noticed a few very old games that didn't work, but there were 10+ year old ones that I installed more out of nostalgia than anything else, so I never expected them to work anyway. There are however, ways around this, as you can install software such as Xpadder to map out keyboard settings to the controller inputs if you find some software that doesn't work as intended.
The instructions state that it has a 10m effective range to receive signals. I guess anyone that can stand 10m away from their PC and still see what's going on must have bionic eyes! My living room is approx. 5x5m, and it works from any angle in that room. Going through into the next room does unsurprisingly cause interference, but I recon the physical wall interferes with my ability to play more than a poor signal would!
Siting up close to the receiver the controller works perfectly, and I have noticed no lag or cutting of the signal. Even holding the controller under my PC desk, out of line-of-sight, doesn't prove an issue.
Another benefit of this device is that it can recognise any wireless XBox peripheral, so I was able to buy a wireless XBox headset, and use it for both the PC and console as well. This was a nice bonus. Unfortunately I found the headset doesn't seem to have such a steady signal with the receiver, and can occasionally blip on and off for a split second. However the same happens when I use the headset for the console, so it is probably an issue of the headset, not the PC receiver.
Overall, I have been very pleased with the performance of this little white box. It works perfectly to receive signals from the XBox controller, which is what I got it to do, and it saved me buying a more expensive PC dedicated controller. It also has the ability to be used for various other XBox wireless peripherals, which is also handy.
Read the complete review |
