The only update I can give on what's "going on" is that the development team (in Japan, remember) is talking with Microsoft about the issue, and we (not me, but people higher up here at our Cali offices) are talking to Microsoft and the Japanese dev team. Ultimately it is the dev team in Japan making the decisions and doing the work. I wish I had a definitive answer to give. I wish I could promise such-and-such. I wish I could wave a magic wand and fix everyone's connections. But unfortunately I can't... I'm just a low-down-on-the-totem-pole guy in the marketing group here in California. I do my best to convey to the dev team what I think and what all you guys and gals are saying about the game, and I think you all know that. You're our fans, the ones who "pay our bills" so to speak, and we want to do everything we can to keep you guys happy. (That's where all the changes and updates to the game came from - input from you all). So I'm right beside you hoping that we can get all of you back playing Lost Planet, and I wish I could just wave a magic wand and fix everything.
To me, personally, looking at all the facts, it looks like this is what's going on:
Microsoft has its
specifications for Xbox Live, including required "ports" (88, 2074, 3074), certification of certain routers and equipment, etc. Up until now, not every game has been completely strict in looking at and requiring certain ports be forwarded, etc. With this new update for Lost Planet, it looks like the code was tightened up with regards to looking for ports, etc. This was done to make the game run smoother with (much) less lag, as people who have been playing since the update can attest to. There is a LOT of data being sent over the Internet, and having the three required ports forwarded makes sure that data gets sent in and out of your 360 at the fastest possible speed. I think there will be more games in the future that will at the least show lag if you don't have these ports configured to MS XBL spec.
Lag was a pretty big issue before, to be honest, and as anyone who played matches with invisible players can attest to it wasn't fun playing games like that. That is no longer an issue, as the online code has been overhauled to reduce lag and improve the online experience players have. That was one of the main goals of the update.
Unfortunately, for a small number of players, this stricter code means that the game isn't as "plug-and-play" friendly. The 360 is a console, but it's basically a PC designed to play games. There are other games out there, and will be more games in the future that are strict like this as well and require some router configuration tweaking as well - because as the games get more advanced there will be more data traveling between systems, and any delays in that transmission of data can cause varying degrees of lag.
Fortunately, the majority of people who have opened up and set the three ports (88, 2074, 3074) to be forwarded, no longer have problems. And forwarding these ports should improve the performance of all their online games. I remember doing something similar for WinMX (P2P) years ago, forwarding a few ports to make sure P2P connections worked and weren't dropped.
And unfortunately, there are still people who can't connect even though they've forwarded all the necessary ports. I have no idea what the problem could be there - router/firewall too strict, ISP not allowing those ports even though the router is configured to forward them, whatever.
If you're still having connection issues, please make sure you check your NAT setting (needs to be OPEN), and make sure you have all three required ports forwarded. If you have done all that and are still having problems, contact your ISP, get to a tech support person that actually knows what s/he is talking about, and find out if your ISP has any conflicts with those ports. If you have tried all this, please contact our customer service department and give all this info - you have tried the cache-clearing, you have all the ports forwarded, who your ISP is, what kind of router you have, etc. etc. so we can send that information to the dev team in Japan.-Brian
PS - Hetfield, I thought you were up and running again after configuring your ports.
