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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
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Zathrix
The reason Halo 2 still gets played is because its matchmaking is infinitely better than Halo 3. Halo 3 only has custom content going for it; and what's to blame for that? Simple... AR starts. But regardless of whether or not people play Halo 2 still; who honestly has 100 friends that they will play with consistently on the 360? Pretty much, no one. So really it's no question; don't drop support.
CobraDelSur
It's good to hear that M$ is less about the buck and more about the support to its community. Keep in mind gamers who play Halo2 still pay for XBL like the rest of us, they still deserve the support. Now if Microsoft could remember that and finish the list of backwards compatible games with the games we want.
In the other hand: I might be talking for myself here, but I probably play with 20-30 of the friends in my list, so having a larger cap on the number of friends I can add won't make a difference on my online gaming. I barely play or talk to most of them anyways (i like to keep in touch with them though, like a weird cousin twice removed).
Now I think I'm just going to dust off my Halo2 disc, pop it in on my 360, and take it for a spin. :D
ezo15
No single gaming company (In this case bungie) should have such a monopolizing control over such a basic and simple feature withing an infistructure that so many other comapnies have attachment's to.
That means in angry nerd rage speak,|
DAMMIT BUNGIE I WANT MORE XBOXLIVE FREINDS!
RaddaRadda023
RaddaRadda023's comment is abusive and has been removed.
partyboy8967
We dont need more then 100 friends, keep the 10,000 halo 2 gamers happy and wait till halo odst. This whole 100 friends cap is being blow way out of proportion its just a friend cap wich is at a respectible cap. On the other hand tho people need to get with the times and move on to halo 3, i didnt even realize that people still even played the xbox 1? Over all end halo 2 support butstop freakin out about the level cap. Ive had xbox live for over 2 years and i have 82 friends..... that being said it is not needed
Sandrock323
100 friends is no big deal and honestly, why should we tell them they can't enjoy the game they obviously have very fond memories of? Plus, there may be a loop hole, like separating the two networks and making the original Xbox Live free as compensation.
remgoss
100 friends are hard to keep up with, especially if they change their names often. 100 max is a good number for the 360 - end Halo 2 support only when Microsoft puts out a new console or the community stops supporting the game.
Personally I would rather see all halo , and halo 2 maps remade for the 360, and Halo 3
TylerOdd
Well I understand both sides. The reason why I would like to have more than 100 friends on the list is because sometimes i don't get a new game that my friends get so i have no one to chill with in the current game I'm playing. As for why people play Halo 2 instead of 3 it's not just because of the maps, it's because of the time they've invested in it and they've become good at it. Like with how I want to get the new Star Wars MMO but yet I've already invested so much time in WoW I don't know if I really want to start all over.
smithkey08
Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST are the same game matchmaking-wise, so using that as a cut off point is moot. If anything, wait until Halo: Reach. But moving ALL the Halo 2 maps to Halo 3 wouldn't get everyone to move to Halo 3. People play Halo 2 for the maps, yes, but also the gameplay mechanics. There are a ton of people who think that Halo 2 has the better mechanics, that's why I play Halo 3 all week and Halo 2 on the weekend. I like a single grenade being able to kill someone walking over where in Halo 3, they would just keep on going,
LJbloaded
I love Halo 2 but I think it is time to move on. I am always capped on my friends list and I believe that if they can raise the cap not by another 100 because that would be a waste of time but maybe too 500 friends total online then I say end the support. I need the ability to have have folders too on my friends list. To separate friends and good friends and clan and group members. But ending the support just to add 25 -100 more friends isn't worth it.
Ernest420
THE REAL REASON Microsoft wants to cut loose XBL and go with a new Online Service is because you now have alot of Young Celebs like "Souja boy" that plays on Xbox.
And let's face it, if you are famous, 100 friends won't cut it. That's just the starting point for them.
Think about how much money Microsoft would bring in if 1 person have over 10 to 100,000 friends. Not to mention if that person throw online tournaments.
You can charge online players a fee just to enter. And look at all the sponsers that would bring in.
BUT!!! The only problem that they have is that if they drop the online connection for Halo 2, they would lose about 30% of their online customers. And that would be a serious blow.
So, what would you do in a case like this???
ChrisDuba
It seems to me that the only people who care about the 100 friend limit is the 0.01% of the LIVE community who would ever come close to such a number, mainly people who work in the games industry, the same people who write articles like this one making the 100 friend limit out to be a big deal when infact most people could not care less.
Not a personal dig at you Patrick, I just think in the grand scheme of things the number of people affected by the friends limit is relatively small. I'm sure it would be great for all you industry folk if Microsoft upped the limit, everyone else would probably never even notice the difference.
MatthewMk2
I have one question? Who the hell needs 100+ people on there friends list? Ive been playing on live for 4 years and i have 8. Microsoft, look at your data im sure there are more people playing halo 2, like myself, then there is with 100 friends. Dont stop your halo support just because a few people complained.
Tandyrunsthis
i have dozens of friends who still pop gears of war one into their disk trays, and swear off the latest from the franchise. as far as im concerned, i dont even play with 100 people on a regular basis. if i have to kee my list at that so an entire community can continue their favorite past-time, im more than willing.
BlueFlare
Microsoft is bitching!! They should improve the support system right now. Halo 2 is dead and since the release of the Xbox 360, everyone in the world has one. There shouldn't be nothing holding them back now.....right.
PushStart
It's not even that I want more than 100 people on my list, it's that I want to add someone who already has 100 friends. Celebrities get a lot of friend requests. I think it would be cool to add Major Nelson to my friends list so I could play a game with him, but I'm pretty sure his friends list is full. So stop saying "I don't know why you need more than 100 friends, delete the people you don't play with" because no amount of friend removing on my part will allow me to add someone who has a full friends list.
FrozenKing77
i think its best to do whats necessary to raise the cap on friends especially for players that play many different titles ive personally had to delete a number of friends to make room for players i met playing newer games i just think they should do what it takes to fix the cap even if it means i can't play halo 2 online anymore
ihitterdal
Don't ditch support for a whole system and plenty of games on it due to a friend cap. I still play Doom 3 online every now and then. I also want to start playing Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six 3. There's an entire library of games they'd be dropping.
TheBossRiojas
i think it time 2 move on there are gonna be so much more halo games 2 play so i say stop halo 2 support
tonymarc90
@ZaneZavin actually has a great idea also. make a new slide on ur xbox guide button just for a clan. I mean just for notification and an extended friends list. Maybe the gamerpic thing is kinda pushing it but i love the idea of a "clan" slide
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