MechAssault supports head to head online gameplay for up to 8 different players via Xbox Live. Only two players per Xbox may join at any given time.

You can only have one guest account for two player split screen action in MechAssault.

To add a player to your Friends List you have two options. The first and easiest option is to go to the Players screen while in game or in the lobby, highlight their name, press the "A" button and select to SEND A FRIEND REQUEST. To find your Players screen while in the lobby press the "Y" button to pull up your Friends List and then press right on the left thumb stick or the D-Pad to pull up the Players screen. In game, press START, bring up your Friends List and then proceed in the same mananer as above. As long as you have not logged out of Live, every gamer that you have played with for that session will be listed on your Players screen.

The second option to add people to your friends list is to navigate to your Friends List in your Xbox dashboard and to manually type in the Gamertag of the person you wish to add.

The first thing you can do is boot them from your game. The only drawback to MechAssault's boot feature is that it isn't supplemented by a "BAN" feature. Any gamer that you boot is free to join right back in after the boot.

Another option is to MUTE them. You can MUTE the annoying troll and suggest that everyone else in your room does the same. That way, you'll leave him to the lonely silence of his own trolliness. You all won't be able to hear him and he won't be able to hear any of you. It won't take long after he sees that he isn't getting any attention to for him to leave of his own accord.

The final and most important option is to leave him negative feedback. Microsoft has implemented a player feedback system that allows them to take action against those who are causing problems on Live. Depending on the severity of the feedback Microsoft will take actions such as restricting the players ability to use voice (temporarily) or restricting them from Live altogether (temporarily). Though these punishments are usually only for a week o so, they do manage to teach these trolls a lesson. If nothing else, they make life suck for the offender for the time that they are banned or restricted.

To mute a nuissance, you must navigate to your Players screen while in game or in the lobby, highlight their name, press the "A" button and select to MUTE PLAYER. To find your Players screen while in the lobby press the "Y" button to pull up your Friends List and then press right on the left thumb stick or the D-Pad to pull up the Players screen. In game, press START, bring up your Friends List and then proceed in the same mananer as above.

Once muted, you will NEVER hear this gamer again until you physically select to UNMUTE PLAYER in the same manner that you muted them.

To BOOT a nuissance, you must navigate to your Players screen while in the lobby, highlight their name, press the "A" button and select to REMOVE PLAYER FROM GAME. To find your Players screen press the "Y" button to pull up your Friends List and then press right on the left thumb stick or the D-Pad to pull up the Players screen.

Unfortunately, once booted the gamer is free to join right back into the room. Another unfortunate aspect of booting is that it can only be implement in the lobby. Once in game, you're stuck playing with them until the game is over.

To send Player Feedback, you must navigate to your Players screen while in game, in the lobby, or from the main menu, highlight their name, press the "A" button and select to SEND PLAYER FEEDBACK. To find your Players screen while in the lobby press the "Y" button to pull up your Friends List and then press right on the left thumb stick or the D-Pad to pull up the Players screen. In game, press START, bring up your Friends List and then proceed in the same mananer as above. From the Main Menu go to your Friends list and follow the above procedures.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS remember to send a bad gamer negative feedback. When Microsoft gets enough negative feedback on said player they'll ban them or mute them as a punishment.

Likewise, positive feedback should always be sent to gamers you have good experiences with. Your positive feedback may be the counterweight to a negative feedback campaign waged against them by a group of trolls (like a bunch of clankids who banded together to send negative feedback to someone who took them to school).

The following downloads are currently available for MechAssault:

Hell's Kitchen: Deep in the heart of the wasteland is a vital Word of Blake pumping station. Hell's Kitchen is what they call it and it's easy to see why.

Raven: A light scout BattleMech able to get in quick and unnnoticed.

Stone Cold: An open battlefied of ice and snow; the low visibility means the enemy can come from anywhere.

Corvus: A small but fast BattleMech that's hard to hit.

Midtown Mayhem: This city is no place to be trapped in a crossfire betwen rival factions (CTF Only).

Desert Storm: A desolate wasteland of sand, rock and wind that will test the limits of every 'Mech (CTF Only).

Hellbringer: This 'Mech packs considerable firepower, including the new Flamer weapon.

Loki: A surprisingly fast BattleMech for its size; with stealth capabilities.

Demolition Town: This dense urban environment provides tight quarters for rampaging 'Mechs. Elevated bridges connect the upper city sections.

Rock Solid: This not so stable asteroid has been hotly contested for its vast wealth of minerals.

Jotenheim: Opposing forces make calculated raids across this frozen battlefield (CTF Only)

Gametypes: Enables new gametypes for existing maps.

There are currently 4 new 'Mechs available for download via Xbox Live.

The Corvus: A small but fast BattleMech that's hard to hit.

The Raven: A light scout BattleMech able to get in quick and unnnoticed.

The Hellbringer: This 'Mech packs considerable firepower, including the new Flamer weapon.

The Loki: A surprisingly fast BattleMech for its size; with stealth capabilities.

In order to unlock the Ragnarok and Ymir as selectable 'Mechs on Live you have to complete the offline single player campaign.

You're being booted by the host. Quit being such a troll! I kid! I kid!

Seriously, if you're getting the message telling you that you were removed from the game either the host doesn't like you or he is trying to save a spot for a friend. Though it would be nice of him to tell you why he's booting you, just move along and find another game to play in.

If you're getting the message telling you that you could not connect to all the players in the game you more than likely have "router connectivity issues" to one or more players already in the room. As great a game as MechAssault may be, it is notorious for having "router issues" that prevent optimum connections and cause weird things to happen in game.

There are a few things that you can do to try and minimize your connectivity issues. There are workarounds that you can implement on your end to make sure that YOU aren't the one causing the problem.

First, check the router and modem lists at Xbox.com and make sure there aren't any known issues for either your router or DSL/Cable modem. Also, implement any workarounds or installation tips that may be listed there for your specific hardware.

Next, update the firmware on your router to the latest version.

You may also want to assign a static IP address to your Xbox. That means that instead of requesting an IP address from your DHCP server (your router) you must choose to manually assign your Xbox an IP address that it will "statically" use every time it powers on. To do this, go to your Xbox dashboard, select Xbox Live, then Network Setup, then IP Addresses. Here you will have to enter an IP address for your Xbox that is outside the range of your router's DHCP scope. For example, if your router starts assigning IP address at 10.10.10.100, make your Xbox's static IP somewhere between 10.10.10.2 and 10.10.10.99. Make sure the subnet mask is the same as the subnet mask for the rest of your network (most likely 255.255.255.0). Enter the IP address of your router as the Gateway. You'll also need to enter the IP address for your DNS servers. To find them in Windows XP, type IPCONFIG /ALL from the command prompt. (To get the command prompt click START, RUN, and type CMD then hit enter. The ipconfig command will also give you the subnet mask of your network and the IP address of your "default gateway" (router). To find them in previous versions of Windows click START then RUN and type winipconfig. Write all of that information down.

There are a couple of ports that the Xbox Live service uses that you should forward to your Xbox. This step is router specific on how you accomplish it. Read the manual or documentation for your equipment to determine the exact procedures but you should forward ports 88 TCP and 3074 TCP and UDP to the static IP address that you assigned your Xbox.

Finally, you should also enable Port Triggering if it is supported by your router. What port triggering does is it dynamically opens ports in your firewall as devices on the inside of your firewall request services on those ports. For example, when your Xbox requests services from Live through ports 88 or 3074, the router will remember that the Xbox requested those services and will automatically forward information coming in on those ports back to the Xbox.

These fixes may not be the end all fix all solution to your problems but may help to significantly reduce connection errors that you have.

Wallwalking is a cheat in the game. It is when players exploit a known and admitted glitch in the game as a tactic on the battlefield to walk their 'Mechs up walls and take them places where they weren't meant to be able to get.

The developers of MechAssault designed each 'Mech with the intent of keeping balance in the game. They intentionally made 'Mechs strong in some areas but weaker in others to balance out the strengths weaknesses and capabilities of the 'Mechs in the game. When a player exploits the wallwalking glitch to take a non-jump capable 'Mech up into an area that they normally would not be able to get or not be able to get as quickly, they throw the balance of power in the game out of whack.

Wallwalking is cheating. Plain and simple. If a host specifies no wallwalking, DON'T wallwalk OR leave the game.

"Terrain cheating" is a make believe concept coined by whiners and sore losers. "Terrain cheating" is what whiners, cheaters, and skill-less snipers like to call it when a player intelligently uses terrain to their advantage to dodge, duck and hide from incoming fire.

Cover and concealment is one of the main considerations of any military operation. Using the terrain as cover from direct and indirect fire is just smart military tactics. Deal with it.

We don't like you, so shut already! I kid! I kid!

Sometimes your microphone light may be green on your base unit but for one reason or another it actually failed to initialize. This can usually be rectified either by muting and then unmuting your mic or by unplugging your base unit and then plugging it back in.

Other times, it may actually really be because the people in the room don't like you. If you've been muted you won't be able to hear the people who muted you and they won't have to hear you. So, don't be a channel-spamming troll.

The MadCat is a very easy to use 'Mech that is also fairly powerful. In fact, some would say it is overpowered.

It has heavy armor, target jamming, and one of the most lethal weapons sets in the game. The dual PPCs, to some, seem virtually unstoppable. Once a MadCat has locked onto a target with PPCs, it is very hard for an unskilled pilot to avoid them.

In any case, these are still not good reason to have everyone complain about your choice of 'Mech. You're always going to run into sore losers, whiners, and inexperienced noobs who would rather whine, cry, and try to degrade you and your 'Mech choice because they are too unskilled to deal with it and would rather psyche you out and get you to pick a different 'Mech.

One word: LAG

Unfortunately, some players out there picked their broadband provider from the bottom of the barrel and have connections that can just barely support Live play. You'll know who they are because everyone in the room will be commenting that they are "lagging all over the place".

This can be a couple of things.

1.) The player may have checked in and then left his controller laying there as the game started.

2.) The player may actually be moving around and killing people but had connection issues that caused him to be out of synch with everyone else in the room. It will appear as if his 'Mech is standing still, but you won't be able to kill it because it's not really there. It's another one of those issues that can be attributed to "router incompatibility". Another sign that this is occuring is when a 'Mech takes off at a sprint and just keeps going, right into the sides of walls, buildings or anything else that is in their path. They don't fire or change direction; they just keep walking.

Knockdown weapons. Gotta love 'em.

The Lavagun, Autocannons, and Gauss Rifles all have the capability of knocking any 'Mech smaller than an Assault 'Mech to the ground.

The acronym "DFA" stands for Death From Above. Landing your 'Mech on top of your opponent's 'Mech will inflict damage on your enemy. This is not just limited to jump capable 'Mechs. A skilled 'Mech pilot will seize the advantage offered by cliffs and other sheer drops and launch their 'Mech off the edge to send it careening down onto the head of their enemy.