Anyone who games often knows the importance of good communication. You could be coordinating to steal the flag, plant the bomb or flank the enemy position. But the key to victory is instant communication; typing commands or even hot-key orders just won’t do the job. So we turn our attention to voice chat. More and more games incorporate voice chat and there are a number of third party programs to allow chatting for gamers. Today I will be looking at Xfire, a very popular program and online community that combines instant messaging, voice communication, and gaming in a total package for the gamer at heart. So for this week’s FreewareFrenzy, let’s see if Xfire is indeed everything a gamer needs to connect with their comrades.
Installation is quick and painless. When it is finished Xfire looks very similar to AOL Instant Messenger. Since I was a new user, I clicked on Registration. I simply chose a username, supplied an e-mail address, and a password and I was ready to play. When you’ve joined, Xfire shows you five steps to fully enjoy what it has to offer. 1. Download and Install. 2. Login, Add Friends. 3. Invite Friends via E-Mail. 4. Take Xfire Tour. This is very well done, showing step by step pictorials for adding friends, various chat methods, game setup, downloading patches and demos and finding servers. Finally,
5. Setup Xfire Profile Page. This is a webpage on the Xfire site so that friends can view statistics, screenshots, favorite servers, and leave messages. There is even a miniprofile you can add to your own website.
So now that we are all setup, let’s try it out. When I logged in for the first time, Xfire automatically updated itself and launched a webpage with release notes. Xfire automatically finds all the supported games you have installed. Xfire supports over 500 titles, so your favorite will most likely be there. The Xfire window has three main tabs; a friends list, server list and file list. You can launch games right from Xfire if the program menu is too far away, add skins and color themes and customize a number of extra settings.
My first order of business was to add some friends. Under Tools> Add Friend you can search by username or send an email. When you find a friend, you send them a request. If they accept the request, their name shows up on your friends list. Adding a friend means that you also add that person’s friends. These folks show up as “Friends of Friends”. In short, you’ll quickly rack up a list of gamers. So whenever you feel the need to frag, you’ll never be alone. The first time I messaged a friend there was a very loud and annoying beep. It accompanied every sent and received message that was typed. Luckily this is removable, as it would be very distracting for chatting in and out of games. Xfire also allows you to receive messages inside a game, without the need for Alt+Tab to minimize the game. The window pops up at the bottom of the game screen and you can bind keys to use to respond to your friends.
Under the server tab, you can view a list of servers for any and all of your installed games. You can add favorite servers, view friend’s favorites and your recently visited servers. When you list all active servers for a game, Xfire will list every server it can find, and there is no way to stop it. I thought that choosing from 1200 servers was nice, but I didn’t need to wait 10 minutes for all of them to load. A few hundred would have been plenty. A minor bug in my opinion, but it can distract you from the action if you’re in a hurry to game.
The Files tab lets you manage a host of data related to your games. You can look for demos, manuals, updates, patches, and screenshots. The actual management is all done through the Xfire client, with a side panel that slides out for selecting and downloading. Xfire automatically downloads patches for your games, and it thoughtfully disables this feature if you are already in a game to prevent lag.
So there you have it. After spending some time with Xfire, I do think it is an excellent tool for gamers. As a package for chatting, joining games, downloading files and being a part of an online community, it succeeds admirably. Not only does it pack in plenty of features, but it does it for free. And that is unbeatable. So if you are a gamer who’s tired of juggling AIM, IRC, and multiple games, give Xfire a try. You’ll be glad you did.
