Pour a Little off the top for a dying friend: As of April 15, support for Live on the original Xbox is being shut down. According to Microsoft's Marc Whitten:
"On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community."
As more shared universes become outmoded, this kind of thing will come up more and more often: Whole worlds die. People's shared fantasies cease to exist. The "place" where thousands of people spent millions of hours having fun no longer will exist.
Is this sad, but inevitable? Or should Microsoft keep Live running for old timers who have yet to move on?
Source: Gamerscore
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namsterdamus
I don't know how keeping Xbox Live players connect would add to the cost of the service, I think the discontinuance is probably because they want to force some of these old Xbox owners to upgrade to the Xbox 360 but I agree it's going to alienate a huge professional gaming community which still plays Halo 2. Isn't Halo 2 still the primary competitive game at most gaming leagues like MLG and WSCG? Not only would it affect the live gamers but could have a ripple effect across all of competitive gaming as Halo 2 players begin to drop off. http://www.baduku.com/topics/m icrosoft-xbox-360-console-syst em
ahasz150
i am still playing with my pet rock whats a xbox live
scoobythebeast
ok sorry again, it keeps ending up with a space, just make sure you delete the space in the word "projects"
scoobythebeast
Sorry, that link has a space in it. Here it is fixed:
http://www.bungie.net/Projec ts/Halo2/default.aspx
scoobythebeast
Yes you can still play dreamcast games online on the Dreamcast, but has sega made a Dreamcast 2 to take the place of the Dreamcast? and do they have a newer verzion of the online service that is being limited ny the original online service? That comparison made no sense. I agree that my VHS comparison didn't fit exactly but it gets the same point across. At some point the old has make room for the new and 8 years is a good run for something that had a new version 3 years later. This was going to happen eventually, it was just a matter of time. This will let Microsoft to enhance Live on the 360. Now, I agree if the only thing that can be changed is the friend cap then i will agree with you but I'm sure that there's more they can do starting April 15th.
And that amount on bungie.net is not an estimate,its the exact number of unique players in the last 24 hours and games logged in 24 hours. Here's the numbers from the site.
Halo 2 on Xbox Live
Players Online:655 Unique Players (Last 24 Hours):4,365 Matches Logged (Last 24 Hours):6,691
and heres the link
http://www.bungie.net/Projec ts/Halo2/default.aspx
Tman88
Halo 2 is still played quite a bit on Xbox Live. It has its own following. I guess when Microsoft said that it'l provide the greatest benefit to Xbox live, they were likely referring to the friend cap. They've been talking about wanting to increase the friend cap, however I just don't think shutting down online support for original Xbox games is the right way to go about it. Maybe the friend cap is a more complicated process than what it seems, or maybe Microsoft wants to make people move on to the 360, who knows. It's sort of sad to see great games that bring back some good online memories getting left at the alter, much like the situation that happened when Microsoft stopped production of original Xbox systems and games. In my opinion, I think original Xbox support should stay because it could also further maximize the service that many people pay for like the original Xbox titles have been doing for quite some time.
z26mb4027
Guess my Halo and Halo 2 are collectors items now. Never to see the disk tray again.
scoobythebeast
Well if you go to bungie.net, theres less then 10,000 people a day playing Halo 2 online (when i last checked). Now compare that with the over 1,000,000 people playing Halo 3 online a day and the over 95,000 people playing ODST online in an average day. It makes total financial sense for Microsoft to do this. I know most people play their Halo 2 on a 360, but i'm sure there's still those with an original xbox. When the service is disabled, probably about half of them are going to upgrade to the 360, and about half of that 10,000 will upgrade to Halo 3 or Halo Reach in the fall which means money for Microsoft. Microsoft is a business and business' jobs are to make money. Ad to those saying how its bad customer support to shut it down. They kept the original xbox online for 5 years after their new console and upgraded xbox live, they delivered pretty well on the customer support in that aspect. I mean we dont blame the movie industry for not releasing movies on VHS any more do we? No VHS is old, outdated, and a majority of customers have moved on, which is also the case with live on the original Xbox.
Drink_Just_Six
Yeah, it's sad, but just like I told myself with the local movie rental store closing, it's time to move on.
Zathrix
I'm pretty sure there is more to taking down the old servers other than this 100 friends bussiness. It wouldn't make sense otherwise, must have some major drawbacks to keeping the old LIVE around, either financialy or potentialy impeding further server improvements.
Flintlockwood
This is pretty sad. I am one of those that also loves to play me some Halo 2 because it is the more superior Halo. I just started playing it again and it is my fav throwback game!! This is rough timing and i hope M$ has a plan for all the loyal Halo 2 players like a digital release or a strictly Halo 2 MP concept like a Battlefield game. Heres to dreaming! Guess i need to start crammin me in some halo sessions... Im glad we need over 100 friends to finally feel special
SonicATL
Xbox originals are like wounded deer: they have to die sometime.
Bulbachar
It's sad, yes. But they have to do this in order to release that stupid 100 max for the friends list. This might mean we could see Halo 2 released on XBLA. I feel bad that we're seeing the end of it though.
BladeofOnyx
Read the fine print, people. They can do whatever they want.
BertSaxby
IMHO they should release the server software under some sort of modified GPL so that diehards can build their own 'Live' network. Probably will happen anyway and MS could get some good press.
KnightswordX
I think they have allowed the original xbox to live a long happy life but this is a business and business means progress. I feel bad for those still on the original but the current consoles have been out a while now and with current console prices, it may be time to upgrade. Halo Reach will be out soon which means many Halo 3 players will be shifting over. So I bet Microsoft is expecting the numbers on Halo 2 to drop even lower. This is the nature of things... Personally, I don't know anyone still playing online on their original xbox. I know there are some, but unfortunately not enough to justify keeping that service going. On the other hand, this could free up space for improvements to Live on the 360 which I think is great already.
JkRJake
IS THIS FOR REAL?
Halo 2 has a heavier following than alot of filler Xbox 360 games. I can't imagine not being able to just say "Hey wanna go play Halo 2" for a change anymore.
Adampro123
i never had live for the original xbox so im wondering what happens to the people (though few) who might have bought a years wirth of xbox live for there original xbox?
WestDaniel
This comes as a mix, a blessing and a burden at the same time. The audiences for the original xbox live titles are minute compared to the audiences playing more current iterations of games. It will bring added benefits, however, as the result of discarding an antiquated online structure will allow resources to be pulled in a new direction for better use, rather than keeping an outdated structure alive.
The only other thing is that if you are a halo 2 player, take hope in that halo reach is supposed to be a much better game than halo 3 turned out to be. Not that halo 3 isn't great, but it just wasn't the same as its predecessors, but Reach is so far promising to be the same dark, gritty, challenging game we got from halo 2. We will know more during the open public beta, and that time is coming soon, but do not let this disuade you.
jedimasterchief9
So even games that say they can be played on xbl and downloaded from xbl won't work? That seems a little counter intuitive. Why would they disable features in a game they are still selling? Microsoft needs to make a patch or something for games like Halo 2 and the others they are selling on xbl. It does not seem fair. Yet Microsoft has never been fair.
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