What a year - goodbye 2004..

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 3:18 am

Well as the title says, what a year we've had here! We knew this year would be big - but not as big as we had imagined.

We started without a dash of hope of having a very decent Linux / Macintosh platform - we had no experienced coders at our disposal and all development was focused on the Windows platform. Our Kai BETAs were still being rolled out in the very beginning of the year but a total rewrite was already in the books. We still had no home - we still had that damn ugly green website I made months, no years back. The ball was starting to roll, and me and Andy could feel it.

A new domain was just the beginning - within 3 days I had managed to work with Andy on agreeing with the new site layout and had it all ready to go. 1 to 2 weeks of testing and we had everything ready to roll. Development on Kai was processing very fast - we were about to readily define what it meant to be a console tunnelling service, not an XBox tunnelling service.

We were ready to launch - I was not there - we had massive mail issues - we just got slashdotted - we were dying. 5000 registrations came within the first 30 or so minutes. We were shitting ourselves - we didn't know how our Orbs would cope - people couldn't confirm their accounts. In the end it was all a frantic scramble to hide the problems from everyone. Problems with my syncing DB's with phpBB. It was a nightmare - I wanted to rewind the clock adn do it all again, but it was too late, we just had to ride the wave and that we did.

4 months later, numerous bug fixes / feature additions on, we got the breakthrough we needed - Luis. He had a massive job on his shoulders, to make Kai a reality for Linux and Mac users. While his work is still undone, together with help from others, Kai has become a reality not only on Linux and Mac, but on WRT routers - just another way to prove we're never stopping.

Then there was XBMC - boy oh boy did we have no idea this thing would kick off. runtime and ChokeManiac have both done outstanding jobs on this front - and I don't think it's quite done yet Wink

Probably our biggest milestone was breaking the 1000 user barrier - and we have gone back since. Everyday, more than 1000 people are coming on to enjoy what we and some others envisioned as an "alternative". We were always considered the underdogs, always people said we had not enough users, there was never anybody on - those who believed in us and stuck by us have seen the benefits. We hope to hit 2000 users and beyond once GT4 hits US / EU shelves and people really start to realise what an amazing place this is to game - to make new friends around the world and to enjoy the company of other people.

As for the DS and PSP, we're just going to show that whatever these console manufacturers hit at us, we will tunnel it as best we can. Look for more news on the DS in the New Year.

How about running Kai natively on yoru XBox - no PC? Wink

It's just one of countless other possibilities made viable by us here at Team XLink, and the support we've gotten. And with that, I'd / we'd just like to say a big thanks to the following:

Andy (TheDaddy) - For sharing the vision with me (then having me analyse it bit by bit haha Very Happy

)
Pete (XCondor) - For being there to keep me awake on my late nights (stupid timezones) and keep me laughing.
Lee / Dan (taz / SS-Funk) - For taking over the community gaming site weplayhere.net and managing the stuff that I couldn't be arsed to do Smile

Dave (DIE-HARD) - For taking care of support when we first started out. It was too overwhelming for me Very Happy

Luis / Luis / Luis / Luis... (^S^ / zipleen) - Isn't it obvious enough? Oh and zipleen's fish is the funniest picture it always makes me laugh Very Happy

runtime - For understanding our past is our past, and to move on we must work together - damn fine job at that.
Matthias - What a goddamn nice skin for runtime's work Very Happy

The boys from SS / XR8D - These boys pitched in to buy us the psSDK and say oreviourre (sp?) to WinPCap. Thank you lads - I still remember me lagging out your RS3 games boxo hehe Very Happy

The users (not the 12 year old Nintendo kiddies, but the real guys) - what can I say about these guys? They made Kai hit 1000 users - they're the ones spreading the news to mates, friends, on forums etc etc. There's no point continuing if nobody appreciates your work Smile

We'd also like to thank XBC, Warp Pipe and the guys from Nitro Online - you've made it clear to us how influential and how prominent our prescence is - competition is what we thrive on, it's what makes us try harder and outperform, but it's also reminded a lot of people to open up their eyes, try new things and discover truths, instead of rumours and lies.

Without further ado, I wish everyone here an enjoyable and SAFE New Year's. Only 10 hours for me to go at the time of writing so I better hurry up and get down to the bottle shop hehe Smile

WE'LL SEE YOU IN 2005!

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 3:28 am

You guys did a good job with the OS X and Linux ports. Smile

Most other free groups wouldn't even think twice.

Kai Lover Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 528

Cheers DF

Thanks to you and all of TX for an amazing year. Heres to many more years of gaming Cool

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 8:50 am

Thanks for all and to all, good luck in the new year.

Happy to be one of the new, moving you to 2000+ and on to bigggggggger and better!

Kai Enthusiast Joined: 07 Jun 2004 Posts: 285

Great post!

Again, thanks a lot to everyone who is involved with XLink in any way at all, and I'll see you next year for more gaming and whatever else Team XLink has planned for us Very Happy

Team XLink Administrator Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 3354

Yes what a year indeed.

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 12:03 pm

Just wanted to say that Kai really has made 2004 one of my all time best gaming years Smile

Well done and keep up the good work Wink

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 6:59 pm

yes this year has been crazy but somehow all of us made it through. I guess all we can dois hope for a bigger and better new year.

-kj05

(thanks for the recognition dfunked I'm glad us mods we're able to help lol. j/k man lets party till the next year comes.)

Team XLink Administrator Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 3354

Happy new year Very Happy

Kai Regular Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 189

Yes what a yr. Not the greatest in my life or my kiddies. We all look forward to 2005! It has gotten better already. Thanks to my friends and gaming friends (SS) Happy New yr XLINK and everyone else.

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:48 pm

I never knew console gaming could be so much fun.

Thanks TeamXlink!

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2005 10:30 pm

A year ago it was cool to see 30-40 people playing on Xlink/Kai. It was really cool to find a server with a great upload, say 512-1024. I served many-a-games with my piddly 256k. I had to limit the R63 games to 8 players and always had a full game. MY MY MY how things have changed. We have seen alot of evolution and development in a year and I have met many friends and I have seen groups come together to do what they can for what they consider their gaming community. Xlink is truly a great place to play, make friends, share. Thanks to all who do thier part in making this what it is. I can't imagine what the next year will bring.

Cheers to the team, cheers to the community.