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Microsoft has never issued a fully satisfying answer about why Xbox Live, almost four years after the launch of Xbox 360, cannot support more than 100 friends. The company has blamed it on technical obstacles related to the original Xbox Live architecture. It's simpler than that. The real reason you can't have more than 100 friends on Xbox Live is because of Bungie. Specifically, Halo 2.
The continued community support behind Halo 2 is the only reason Microsoft hasn't ditched the lingering ancient Xbox Live architecture, a high-level Microsoft source confirmed to me late last week.
The original Xbox Live was not designed to support more than 100 friends. That's no problem for the Xbox 360 incarnation. Allowing players to add more than 100 friends on Xbox 360 is not a real technical challenge for Microsoft, but it requires ending support for the still-popular shooter. It's not as simple as issuing a patch for Halo 2, or else Microsoft would have released one ages ago.
Looking at Major Nelson's weekly Xbox Live activity lists, the Halo 2 connection should have been obvious a long time ago. Halo 2 is always the most played original Xbox title, suggesting a healthy community still enjoying Master Chief's second adventure online, despite the existence of Halo 3 on Xbox 360. What's keeping them playing? It doesn't matter, it only matters that they are.
My source said Microsoft still does not know when it will disable support for the original Xbox Live, thus ending Halo 2's reign on the charts. It could happen after the release of Halo 3: ODST, since that would give Halo players two new Halo games to move over to on the new Xbox Live. If you want Microsoft to move in that direction, however, it requires your voiced opinion.
Microsoft will be reading this and comments elsewhere. If there's real vocal support for finally moving on from Halo 2, it could very well happen in the near future, I'm told.
But at least we know the hold up. It's a technical issue, but it's really not. It's about a community doing nothing more than enjoying their favorite game, while the rest of the world is prevented a seemingly simple interface feature. When to call it quits is a challenging issue for online games, but really, it's almost out of Microsoft's hands. Gamers have to make the decision.
I've contacted Microsoft for official comment. I'll update you if I hear anything.
What do you want Microsoft to do?
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Comments
Displaying 1–20 of 149
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refl3x
Fix the damn friends list cap... 100 friends for millions of players world wide.. it just doesnt make sense. I find my self constantly having to remove players to add new players, and now ive gotten to the point where i cant delete anyone cause everyone on my friends list i play with. Its truely a pain. MICROSOFT NEEDS TO FIX THIS ASAP.
Danny73914
I personally think that they shouldnt shut down the original 1st xbox live but i have made this post way too late. im only 12 and i got my xbox when it was waaaaaaaaay opselite. so i was too late to ever even experience halo 2 online. :-( i have only watched what its like on youtube and red vs blue series. i might play it by myself or splitscrenn with my brother sometimes but thats about it. the old xbox live was shut down a LONG time ago. we should all make a group to support the reactivation of the old xbox live so we can play our beloved halo 2 in the good old time's harmony. WHOS WITH ME! if your in then message me at Danny73914@gmail.com
Pit_Stains
obviously not ture...
theplayer1
your lucky because you all can play halo 2......... i never played halo 2 before because i don't know how to download it................ im soooooooo saddddddd :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((
theplayer1
i am very sad that microsoft is shutting down halo 2 :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((
evovenom
HALO 2 WILL NOT GO DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT I PROMISE YOU THIS!!!
evovenom
Hello, - I know i am getting into this late and it's in 8 page most likely no one will get a chance to read this however to all of you saying "drop it" you people are the ones who obviously do not play this game because if you are like us you wouldn't say drop it. you either suck or do not understand what BR really means. In my life of halo 2 i've gottan cheated so many times over and over but i adapted. I bridged, when you cheat a cheater in other words when you are bridgeing for host only and end up with a modder those days are to be enjoy and only day you will truely enjoy halo 2 and see it for what it is. i won of course i had best setup i would bridge my brother and my sister and myself same circle so it's 3 hosts vs 1 modder and on top we can freze him in possition for 1-2 seconds which is called standby but we like to call it our connection sucks. I have been playing halo2 and just 2 days ago i found no one to play halo 2 i searched and only found 1 game in team traninin i assume it was dying but out of a reason new halo games are being realease if it goes out like that fine i will be more then happy but drop it for a reason such as unable to add more fiends is beyond me no one truely needs more then 100. hells 100 is even too much at times. halo 2 made fans and made bungie money microsoft wants to drop it to add other things as facebook and other things that windows allready has. people who say drop it do not like halo, they suck, they cannot hang in it, they say "they got halo 3" not we have halo 3. clealy they don't play halo games don't drop support instead bring it to xbox live arcade. you allready dropped support from our first xbox yes you remember right? it's black? i have 3 of them, what am i to do with them? sell? to who? no online support but fine i rolled with it and bought an xbox 360 to play... ready? to hear it? to play.... yes.......yes... HALO 2 not halo 3 or new halo games i guess what i am trying to say if dont drop true loyal fans for babys who want to add 101 friends instead of 100 if they saw halo for what we do man so many drifferent opinions we would hear. you cut it, i cut you. i drop halo 3 and to play ps3 with what ps3 users say "sony is true" as they didnt drop support for ps2 its still going strong....
evovenom
Hello,- I know i am getting into this late and it's in 8 page most likely no one will get a chance to read this however to all of you saying "drop it" you people are the ones who obviously do not play this game because if you are like us you wouldn't say drop it. you either suck or do not understand what BR really means. In my life of halo 2 i've gottan cheated so many times over and over but i adapted. I bridged, when you cheat a cheater in other words when you are bridgeing for host only and end up with a modder those days are to be enjoy and only day you will truely enjoy halo 2 and see it for what it is. i won of course i had best setup i would bridge my brother and my sister and myself same circle so it's 3 hosts vs 1 modder and on top we can freze him in possition for 1-2 seconds which is called standby but we like to call it our connection sucks. I have been playing halo2 and just 2 days ago i found no one to play halo 2 i searched and only found 1 game in team traninin i assume it was dying but out of a reason new halo games are being realease if it goes out like that fine i will be more then happy but drop it for a reason such as unable to add more fiends is beyond me no one truely needs more then 100. hells 100 is even too much at times. halo 2 made fans and made bungie money microsoft wants to drop it to add other things as facebook and other things that windows allready has. people who say drop it do not like halo, they suck, they cannot hang in it, they say "they got halo 3" not we have halo 3. clealy they don't play halo games don't drop support instead bring it to xbox live arcade. you allready dropped support from our first xbox yes you remember right? it's black? i have 3 of them, what am i to do with them? sell? to who? no online support but fine i rolled with it and bought an xbox 360 to play... ready? to hear it? to play.... yes.......yes... HALO 2 not halo 3 or new halo games i guess what i am trying to say if dont drop true loyal fans for babys who want to add 101 friends instead of 100 if they saw halo for what we do man so many drifferent opinions we would hear. you cut it, i cut you. i drop halo 3 and to play ps3 with what ps3 users say "sony is true" as they didnt drop support for ps2 its still going strong....
thatrandomdude
Personally, I only have around 40 friends, and I only talk to the ones I know in real life, which is about 15-20. So I don't care about having more than 100. I'd rather have Microsoft continue support for Halo 2, becuase my friends and I occasionally go back to our olden days.
Cob_i_boc
wait wait wait , you are telling me that a multi million o sorry billion dollar company doesn't have the time to fix this. They update the dashboard every six months to make it look pretty and stuff. they add new cloths to your avatar everyday and add new updates everyday with movies and music videos. They have made older games than halo 2 available to people. This doesn't make any sense to me i loved halo 2 the maps were just plain better for competitive gaming. they should either filter the friends list or make it available for download in 360 dashboard. I have a better idea why don't they add halo 2 maps to halo3 like they have been trying to do but failing at.
i am all up for more then 100 friends i play halo 3 competitively and halo 2 competitively i attend mlg events that are close to were i live. They have time they are just to lazy.
Kraynium
This is absolute garbage.
My brother bought Halo 2 when it came out, and I was so young at the time I could just sit and watch him play for hours. When I got an Xbox of my own I sat with my friends and played. For 5 years now I've been playing Halo 2. 4 years of those 5 weren't even on and off. There was a time when you could ask, "Do you have Xbox?" and people wouldn't reply simply, "Yeah, why?" Halo 2 was so dominant that the simple question would actually imply, "Do you own an Xbox and Halo 2, what's your gamertag?"
I've developed personal relationships I've met over people on Halo 2. I could sit and play 1 game on 1 map against 1 person for 4 hours and not get bored, and as a matter of fact I have. Even the pregame lobby alone added up more fun on video games than on all other games combined: Battlefield, all Call of Duty's, Halo 3, Gears of War, you name it. Not only did it introduce new relationships, it gave us new ones. I solidified friendships over the 3 prime years of Halo 2 with people from school, and met new people as well.
Halo 2 wasn't just a video game I played to kill time. Sure, I did it in my spare time, but I would seriously consider Halo 2 to be a part of my life. And if you were around in the golden ages: glitching with your friends in custom games, 1v1 Lockout for hours on end, MLG FFA, launching stickies, and MLG 4's, it would be a part of yours too. I could spend 6 hours at a party, have a blast, and go home and play Halo 2 until 3 in the morning and have just as much fun. This game, in its prime, was special. No game has affected me like Halo 2 did, and no game ever will.
Now come release of Halo 3, a frustrating, less skillful noobfest, and Halo 2 dies into the wind except for the real fans. Sure, the population decreased, but that doesn't change that this was the greatest console multiplayer game of all time.
So now Microsoft wants to piss on Halo 2 because, apparently, 100 friends isn't enough. This is terrible. There is no realistic way people keep track and actually know or play with 100 people. They just fill up their friends list with random kids who send friend requests for having a 2-sentence polite small talk, and figure, "hey, why not? I've been playing Xbox live since early 06, and I have met many more people than your average gamer. And I think in the peak of population, I would've really only needed 50 spots. Keep in mind this was when EVERYBODY was on Halo 2, and only Halo 2. Now that people are spread across different 360 games, there's simply no reason for more spots, it's just a waste. And plus, the more you fill up your friends list, the longer it takes to run. Go ahead, fill up your 200-count friends list and find out that you only really play with 4 of them.
Microsoft wants to trash Halo 2 because they think it is holding them back, when in reality it was what really jump-started Xbox Live in the first place. I say with great certainty that had Halo 2 not existed, Xbox Live would not be a fraction as popular as it is today.
If this really happens, it is a travesty to all video games. Pissing on Halo 2 is like pissing on 3 fantastic years of my life.
I give a giant middle finger to you, Microsoft.
Qumquathedgehog
Here's an interesting patch idea.
Allow people to freely have as many people as they want on their Xbox 360 friends list. If they have over 100 friends on their Xbox 360 friends list when they start Halo 2, It will be announced to the player that "Halo 2 will not work on Xbox live with over 100 people in the friends list." At this point, The friends list will pop up so you can delete some of them. If the player lessens the number of friends to under 101, the game will run normally. If not, another message will pop up. "If you continue with over 100 friends in your friends list, Xbox Live will be disabled for the rest of your gaming session."
This way we have over 100 friends and the Xbox Live architecture remains untouched.
It's not perfect, but it's better than what we have now.
P.S. Bet Microsoft didn't think of that.
Kalator
i like and play halo 2 more than 3 simply because the maps are so much better. the graphics and gameplay are admittedly better in halo 3, but you can't beat playing on ascension, turf, and sanctuary. and if that means that i can't have more than 100 friends then i don't have a problem with that. i don't know anyone who has 100 friends that they always play with. when i used to add people i met on halo i would only play with about 10% of them and that was only about half the time i was on.
foilchewer
couldent xbox re release halo 2 on the marketplace with a patch that will fix it ??
Frostdaddy
If there's anything we've learned about Microsoft, it's that they just don't listen. Don't expect them to read much, or anything at all.
I highly disagree with dropping Halo 2. It's probably the best game in the Halo series. Plus, no one in the world needs over 100 friends. No one ever complains about needing more anyway.
Why suddenly decide to add more if it requires dropping one of the best Xbox games ever?
mmengel6
"My source said Microsoft still does not know when it will disable support for the original Xbox Live, thus ending Halo 2's reign on the charts. It could happen after the release of Halo 3: ODST, since that would give Halo players two new Halo games to move over to on the new Xbox Live."
Your source at Microsoft does realize that the online multiplayer boxed with Halo 3:ODST is nothing more than the Halo 3 multiplayer with 3 new maps right?
Saying we will have two new Halo games is a little bit over board, in my opinion. Yes, we get a new campaign story and firefight mode in ODST, but the multi-experience is still the same as Halo 3. Most people still play Halo 2 online because they hate the competitiveness that has arisen in Halo 3. We need Halo 2 to get away from the trash-talkers, team killers, and cheaters that have become so prevalent in Halo 3.
Who really needs more than 100 friends on their friends list, honestly? Halo 2 will not go down without a fight.
Sp0nY
I think Halo 2 support should end Nov. 9th, 2009. 5 Years after Halo 2's original release date. It's time to move on. If you really wanna play Halo 2 play it via lan. That was always Halo 2's greatest way to play in my opinion anyways.
LilKilla2100
one on hand we can expand the friends list for everyone to enjoy but thousands of players wont bable to play one of there favorite games online, on the other hand we keep the friends list at 100 and and those thousands of players keep one of there favorite games its a tough decision for microsoft so i guess its up to the gamers to decide for them in that case id vote for losin halo 2 after ODST so that they would move on to halo 3 and they could release a patch along with ODST to change it so everyone would be happy :)
themexicanguy
ya theres whole of peaple still playing halo even halo 1, maybe the new realese of halo3 odst and halo reach might give them a break from online play but i doubt theyll ever stop playing halo....its just to fun.
DahlKen
Definitely time for M$ to stop supporting a crap game and let XBL be used to it's full potential. After all HALO has sucked from day one, so why keep making those of us that could care less about Master Chef suffer?
Displaying 1–20 of 149
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