To do this the only extra thing you’ll need is a Cross Cable (apparently this works with a normal ethernet cable, but i haven’t tried it)

The first thing you need to do is connect your Xbox 360 to your PC with the Cross Over Cable, and then turn the Xbox 360 and PC on. Once both are booted up go into your NetWork Connections menu.

You should see two connections in there, one is your wireless adapter (usually labled Wireless Network Connection) the second will be your wired ethernet connection. It’s easiest to rename the wired connection to something meaningful like Xbox Live.

OK, now to create a network bridge highlight both connections, right click and then click on Bridge Connections. A message box will pop-up saying Please wait while windows bridges the connections. Your networks might disconnection and reconnect during this.

Once this has finished you’ll be returned to the network connections menu and you’ll see an extra object called something like Network Bridge.

Next open up a command prompt window on your PC, to do this go to Start then Run and the type cmd and click OK. Once the black command prompt window opens type in ipconfig /all. You should se a screen similar to below:

You’ll need to now note down several pieces of information, these are:

• IP Address
• Subnet Mask
• Default Gateway
• DNS Server(s)

Once you’ve noted these reboot your Xbox 360, and go into the network settings. In there you’ll need to choose to set all options manually. Go into IP Settings and choose Manual, in here you’ll need to set the IP address as a different address on your network, basically replace the fourth value in the IP address with a higher number that is unlikely to ever e given out by your router. For example if your PCs IP Address was 192.168.1.4 set your Xbox 360 as 192.168.1.66

It’s highly unlikely to conflict with any other devices connected your network unless you have 40+ devices connected to your router at some point. Set the rest of the values (Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS Server(s) as the same as your PC. Now choose to test your Xbox Live connection. All being well you should connect fine.

If the NAT resut from your Xbox Connection comes back as moderate or strict, it might be worth while you going into your routers settings (normally accessed by putting the IP address of your router into a web browser). Here you should have an option called virtual server or port forwarding. From this option you’ll be able to specifiy TCP and UDP ports that will be mapped to a IP address on your network.

The following ports should be mapped directly to the IP Address you entered on your Xbox 360:

• UDP 88
• UDP 3074
• TCP 3074

Once this is done, reboot your router and run Xbox Live connection test again. You should hopefully see open as the NAT result.

So now you’ve bridged you Xbox 360 and PC connection, you’ll need to have you PC on to use XBox Live in this way, but it’s better than spending £50 on a USB Adapter from Microsoft.

Below are some of my favourites that i’ve come across in the last couple of years on the Xbox 360.

1. QUB3D (Grand Theft Auto 4)

This Tetris slash Columns clone can be found in various establishments throughout Liberty City, you’ll first come across it in the first bar you play pool in. The objective of the game is to prevent the grid from filling to the top by matching 4 or more coloured blocks. The difference between this and other similar games is the fact that the blocks can be manipulated in three dimensions which leads to some confusion when you first start playing.

Beating the highscore on the Xbox 360 version unlocks an achievement.

2. Geometry Wars (Project Gotham Racing 2)

This game originally appeared within Project Gotham 2 on the Xbox, the basic idea is to try and survive as long as possible. Enemies of various sizes and shapes will be thrown at you, after a while you’ll get to recognise how a particular enemy moves etc by the shape of them.

To say Geometry Wars has been a success would be an understatement, since Project Gotham 2 various incarnations of the game have appeared in Project Gotham sequels as well as on Xbox Live Arcade and even on other platforms e.g. Nintendo DS & Wii.

PC clones of the game were also released and subsequently pulled due to copyright issues.

Other versions of the game include:

• Geometry Wars Evolved (Project Gotham 3, Xbox Live arcade)
• Geometry Wars: Evolved (Mobile Devices)
• Geometry Wars: Waves (Project Gotham 4)
• Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Nintendo DS & Wii)

Video of Geometry Wars for the Xbox Live Arcade

3. Monkey Fling (Bully)

In this rather odd game you’re a monkey that has to throw poo at giant spiders that fall from the trees. To stock up your poo ammo you need to collect the bananas when they fall down from the trees, overall probably one of the better arcade games within Bully.

4. Nut Shots (Bully)

This side scroller has you fly along as a squirrel that fires nuts at the enemies, the enemies are made up of Hornets, Eagles and Bats, it’s kind of like a rubbish boring furry version of R-Type to be honest.

5. ConSumo (Bully)

I hated this game the most whilst playing Bully, mainly becuase it forms part of one of the actual Bully missions in which you have to impress some nerds. You nasically have to move your sumo wreslter around whilst avoiding Blowfish and bad food. You need to eat the good food though to make your sumo fatter. The score if measured in KG.

6. Future Street Race 2165 (Bully)

This is a top down futuristic racing game where you can shoot at your opponents and try to run over boost strips in order to get a temporary speed increase. Overal the graphics aren’t bad compared to Monkey Fling, Nut Shots and ConSumo.

7. Future Street Race 3D (Bully)

This is basically a 3D version of Future Street Race 2165, it’s fairly basic and gets boring pretty quick, however it’s easily the best looking of all the Bully arcade games and probably the most fun. Overall I think I spent the most time playing this one.