Microsoft Ending Support for Original Xbox Live
It's time for the original Xbox Live service to retire.
While this news isn't going to affect the majority of Xbox gamers out there – especially those playing on the Xbox 360 – but Microsoft today announced that it will discontinue supporting the original Xbox Live service on April 15, 2010.
That means that games still being played over Xbox Live, such as Halo 2 and Counter-Strike, will no longer have online functionality after the shut off date. Xbox and Xbox Originals will still work in their offline modes.
"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," wrote Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten. "Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox Live. ... Your Xbox Live community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games."
Whitten acknowledges that this will bring an end to Halo 2's amazing run on Xbox Live, but reminds gamers that there's "Halo 3," "Halo 3: ODST" and soon "Halo: Reach" on Xbox 360.
He continued, "We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process."
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damn, that asian chick is hot
damn, that asian chick is hot
Only one picture is loading for me. I just see the one with an Asian tranny in an Xbox Live top.
That sucks, a ton of my friends still play Halo 2 online...
CRAP! I bought a used xbox with tons of games for $40 just a few months ago. I was considering putting live on it for Halo 2, but I guess it's not worth it anymore.
I'm glad they're doing this, and this is what Microsoft needs to do with their IE as well. Though consoles are quite different, people should realize its time to upgrade. The only reason I still have my xBox original is because it, "Might," be modded to, oh I don't know, play games I, "Might," have gotten from certain, "Matey's."
And this is why having in game match-making sucks. You can still find Quake 1 servers to play... yet after consideration Microsoft is pulling the plug on Livefor Xbox as a whole. Sure it may not be generating additional sales, but it should be supported for far longer than they bothered to (same goes for most games who have the rug pulled out from under them).
But halo 2 is the best Halo! Guess we should move on to the PC version.
You would think that the original Xbox Live and the 360 would use the same service network, guess not.
btw... Halo & CounterStrike are best played with/against friends, otherwise why else play it? Can you still LAN play them I hope?
Wait till the Crapbox 3 comes out and you 360 fan boys get dumped several years later, your $1,000 plus investment (Console or 2 and all the games) is gone for online play. If you say it won't happen you are in denial.
Another reason to not trust MS or any of these online services. One reason PC gamers are pissed about COD MW2 and no dedicated servers and Starcraft 2 and have to use their servers. This crap happens all the time. Wait till one day Steam goes tits up. They won't give a flying rats ass about you either.
I stick with a PC for main gaming.
This kind of thing won't happen to Steam, at least not this way. The critical difference is that when you make a match, Xbox Live or an affiliate company gets to host the game, so in their view, the original Xbox oldies are taking up bandwidth and server resoures that could better be used to host X360 games. Steam, on the other hand, is merely an interface. Games are hosted by the end user, not Steam, so there's no incremental cost to them. You simply can't do that with a console though, because most console gamers out there don't even know how the non-centralized setup works, or that it even exists.
All the more reason to mod that old Xbox into something more useful, like a cheap media center.
Wait till the Crapbox 3 comes out and you 360 fan boys get dumped several years later, your $1,000 plus investment (Console or 2 and all the games) is gone for online play. If you say it won't happen you are in denial.Another reason to not trust MS or any of these online services. One reason PC gamers are pissed about COD MW2 and no dedicated servers and Starcraft 2 and have to use their servers. This crap happens all the time. Wait till one day Steam goes tits up. They won't give a flying rats ass about you either.I stick with a PC for main gaming.
The circumstances are completely different. Microsoft stopped selling the original Xbox because they signed a god awful agreement with Nvidia and were losing boatloads of money on each new console sold. That won't be a problem with this generation. Also, on the original Xbox there was no Live service, it was added on after the fact which means that in order to update Xbox Live Microsoft has to update Xbox Live for the older Xbox and the newer Xbox. Once again, a problem that they won't have with the Xbox 3 or whatever they call it.
This was a necessary move and won't effect me or anyone I know in the slightest. The original Xbox has been holding back Xbox Live features for 4 years now it is high time they cut ties and moved on with the service. I am greatly looking forward to the new features that will become of this.
There is only one thing that I don't understand:
Why not have 2 different versions of xbox live?
Keep the old one for Xbox and the new one for the users that have Xbox360 and want to update...
greeedy
when you buy something you don't want another company to have any control, since xbox games are forced into xbox live, when the company decided you are no longer profitable enough, you lose your investment. (unlike PC games)
with more and more games focusing more on online play, when the xbox 360 is no longer insanely profitable, you will lose xbox live support for it also and your games will be mostly useless
I'm glad they're doing this, and this is what Microsoft needs to do with their IE as well. Though consoles are quite different, people should realize its time to upgrade. The only reason I still have my xBox original is because it, "Might," be modded to, oh I don't know, play games I, "Might," have gotten from certain, "Matey's."
Buying an expensive new console and buying new games for it isn't the same as upgrading a free browser because for security benefits. I hope the old service was free because it makes Xbox Live even shittier if you pay for a service and they shut it down. I really don't understand what they'd accomplish by ending support other than trying to force people to upgrade because it can't take a lot of resources. It's not like they're hosting dedicated servers for games.
You don't need Xbox Live if you use XLink Kai for tunneling.
Only one picture is loading for me. I just see the one with an Asian tranny in an Xbox Live top.
+1. If I had a yard full of wieners I wouldn't even let her look over the wall. And I'm a GIRL.
You don't need Xbox Live if you use XLink Kai for tunneling.
True that, used to use XLink a lot.
That said a 7 year run for the live service isn't bad at all, I'd say I got my moneys worth out of the original Xbox games I had.
Why not just open it up so users of the original xbox live can host their own servers? It costs them very little and, while many of their users don't have the know-how to use it, many of their users will benefit from it. Thousands of people still play counterstrike on steam and I doubt most of them know how to run a server. They just know how to log on to one that someone else set up. Consoles and private, centralized networks suck.
A seven year run for the original? WOW!
Wait till the Crapbox 3 comes out and you 360 fan boys get dumped several years later, your $1,000 plus investment (Console or 2 and all the games) is gone for online play. If you say it won't happen you are in denial.Another reason to not trust MS or any of these online services. One reason PC gamers are pissed about COD MW2 and no dedicated servers and Starcraft 2 and have to use their servers. This crap happens all the time. Wait till one day Steam goes tits up. They won't give a flying rats ass about you either.I stick with a PC for main gaming.
... Okay, I'm a PC gamer, and you're an idiot. You've never heard of a company discontinuing its servers? Especially for MMOs?
... Okay, I'm a PC gamer, and you're an idiot. You've never heard of a company discontinuing its servers? Especially for MMOs?
I'm talking playing online without special servers you idiot fanboy or services like Crapbox Live.
now now play nice
If - I mean when - this happens for the 360, alot of games will be rendered useless. Think about Call of Duty 4, 5, or MW2 without any online component.....
Hmmm, well the crapbox 360 is now 5 years old, so using the logic of some of the guys here ...wow you've got a whole 2 years until your support ends... can't beleive how good microsoft are to you guys.. imagine supporting something for 7 years wow.
Hmmm, well the crapbox 360 is now 5 years old, so using the logic of some of the guys here ...wow you've got a whole 2 years until your support ends... can't beleive how good microsoft are to you guys.. imagine supporting something for 7 years wow.
+1. If I had a yard full of wieners I wouldn't even let her look over the wall. And I'm a GIRL.
Trolling on your own site? You are funny.
Yet another reason why the PC is the superior platform for gaming. Excuses me while I go fire up some Quake.
Trolling on your own site? You are funny.
It's not trolling. I was just agreeing!
Running servers takes money...this is a business decision by MS. MS doesn't run Xbox Live servers out of the goodness of their corporate hearts. I've played some ancient and unpopular games like BF2142 on a free demo server. Chopper Girl's Airwar anyone? This was after playing the total POS COD:MWF. Man I hate that game so much, what a dissappointment. Anyway if you want to play ancient games like quake 1, buy a pc and the host for all you other troglodytes still playing.
So this means we won't even be able to play Halo 2 on the 360? Lame. I like 2 more than 3.