XBOX Live and splitscreen

We've got this thing called XBOX Live, and we've got this thing called splitscreen. Some of us even have this thing called Left4Dead. All of these things work great when you merge them with this thing called an XBOX360. I believe for now I have discovered a very underrated formula that sums up the meaning of the grand total of these things:

XBOX360 + SPLITSCREEN + LEFT4DEAD + LIVE= HAPPINESS.

One confounder to this fairly simple equation is the advent of GOLD memberships, and how they suck the $$ out of any couple's finances. Although I am stating the obvious (obviously), I'll explain what I mean, specifically...


You see, when Kat and I want to play splitscreen co-op with our buddies over XBOX LIVE, then we need a headset for optimal results. The problem is, only GOLD membership allows the use of a headset in a PARTY, so that means when we play, I hear Slimonavitch and Oltman barking orders and screaming for help, and I have to relay these messages over to Brattex(1), sometimes in the heat of battle. Sometimes, even Brattex(1) needs to relay a message to one of them, while I'm in the heat of battle, and it becomes quite distressing for me to play messenger of messages, messenger of God, rescuer of downed survivors, and overall survivor saviour. It's become quite frustrating at times, that Slimonavitch has even considered buying another GOLD account just so we can overcome this, but that leads me onto my next problem; we'd still need another headset.

We've tested out a NOKIA headset, since it has the 2.5mm jack and 3 comms rings on it (stereo+mic), but for some reason, which I suspect is the mute button, it won't work on the controller. We thought we could at least hook up a stereo headset, and share one earpiece each, so my splitscreen buddy could at the very least hear the instructions - no dice so far though.

Then Slimonavitch - in all of his novice glory - figured out that if one goes to CONSOLE SETTINGS and selects PREFERENCES, there's an option under AUDIO that says output audio to HEADSET, SCREEN, or BOTH. Voila! Now at least we can survive (in the meantime) with one headset and we can have some degree of easier communication for Brattex(1) to hear what the other teammates "over yonder" are saying via the TV!