During the summer vacation of 2000 preceding the 12th grade for the senior members of what would later be initially known as the "XBAND Klan", Diablo II was released on PC. The new name for their group was made known in an online game for the first time by adding the "<XBK>" tag to their character names. Madvin had just purchased a new Windows 98 PC to replace his Win 3.1 PC for just this occasion. For a while, McFoxx had to settle with just chatting in the Diablo II BattleNet lobby and listening to the soundtrack CD that came with his copy of the Collector's Edition, as his Windows 95 PC did not meet the system requirement of 32MB of RAM. In a shocking move, rather than just doubling his RAM for the opportunity to play, McFoxx was able to convince his father to go in on a new Windows Millennium Edition PC. At this time Snoogans was not yet able to join the fray in "XBAND Klan's" new post-Catapult presence as a gaming guild, but that would soon change with the ringing in of the first New Year of the new millennium.

Contrary to what Wikipedia would have you believe, it was actually Tuesday, January 23rd 2001 that saw Phantasy Star Online drop for the Sega Dreamcast. Madvin and McFoxx can attest to this, as they actually had to make two trips to pick up the game in an era where pre-orders were not as common. The first trip ended in failure at a local Target that has since ceased to exist and is replaced by a Wal-Mart. The clerk in the electronics section advised that they had actually not received any copies of the game in their last shipment, but that they would be receiving another batch late that evening/early the next morning and to try our luck then. Thus, it was on that fateful Wednesday that McFoxx's mother was gracious enough to drive her son and his neighbor back to Target to finally have the highly coveted game within their grasp. So anticipated was this title that Madvin broke his Nintendo tradition by making the Dreamcast the very first Sega console he would buy just to play this one game. Alas, no one knew that it would be the last Sega console he or anyone else would buy again. This would be the first time that Snoogans, Madvin, and McFoxx played online together. The "official" XBAND Klan" hangout was on Block 13 of the Umnbriel ship.

Maddox and Travice were at the forefront of Super Smash Bros Melee when it dropped like a hydrogen bomb on the Nintendo Gamecube. It was at this time that Jubei and his cousin Tali would also become multiplayer regulars. Since everyone was walking distance from each other, there was always a Smash session being hosted at any one of their homes on the weekends (and eventually weekdays).

With the untimely death of the Dreamcast, the majority of the X-crew migrated to Gamecube for their Phantasy Star Online fix (the double-whammy fees of both a Hunter's License and XBOX Live Gold played a big part). It was here that Doodekins took part in helping to clear PSO's Challenge Mode for the S-Rank Weapons via couch co-op. McFoxx ran a 50-ft CAT5 cable from Elara's internet router to the Gamecube to get it online-capable just in time for the release of PSO Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution.

In February of 2003 Doodekins was the first of the gang to branch out into the world of Everquest Online Adventures. Despite his resentment and borderline hatred of Sony at this time for their role in killing the Dreamcast, McFoxx took the plunge and acquired a Playstation 2 to get in on the fun. Madvin and Maddox followed suit. Having built-in guild functionality, this was the first time that an actual "XBAND" guild was made in a game (the "Klan" part was dropped for reasons). In the summer of that same year, it was just another day when Maddox exclaimed that a package had just been received from Sony Online Entertainment. Opening the package with rabid fervor, the brothers were shocked to find that they had been mailed a disc to enter the Open Beta to the expansion EQOA: Frontiers.

During the same summer that visits were being made to Mr. Buff in the EQOA Frontiers open beta, Elara introduced the squad to a whole new world of adventure: pen & paper RPGs. Acting as DM, this introduction came by way of the 3.5 Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It was not long before Elara had to enact a ban on the use of the Intimidate skill that was deployed liberally between the resident Barbarian and Monk of the party (Travice and Madvin, respectively). The knowledge of the D&D mechanics gained from the pen & paper experience exponentially increased the enjoyment of the hot streak of D&D licensed games from Bioware at this time.

The end of this era was marked by the complete playthrough of X-Men Legends II, the apex of which was McFoxx, Maddox, and Travice rapping on the bedroom window of Madvin at 3:30am on a Friday that was met with a shout of "WHAT THE FUCK?!?" from within. The group were soon on their way to McFoxx's home to continue their progress in defeating En Sabah Nur.