you can play 360 to 360 on LAN without Live only with games that support System Link (such as Gears)

some games (like C&C3) only support XB Live multiplayer, u still need Live connectivity (and a subscription) even if u play on LAN. *that's how u guys did it at the consoul 07 event rite?

as of this moment, the only 360 to Vista game available is Shadowrun. from my understanding, PC users require a Live subscription to play with 360 players; therefore u need Live if u wanna go crossplatform multiplayer even on local network. correct me if im wrong

there's the plain Halo2 which works both on xbox1 & xbox360, and there's this new Halo2 for Vista... can multiplayer between xbox1 & 360, can't multiplayer between xbox & vista. so it's not really Live anywhere