Xbox Live - The End

[Wools]

The next 24 hours will see the end for Halo 2 Hardcore, Project Gotham Racing 2 around the streets of Paris and of course, the brilliant Rainbow Six 3 Co-Op.

I was not online on the original Xbox as I was still a devout single and split screen player. Despite this I did want to go online and there were some brilliant online games released for the Xbox. Although the Dreamcast pioneered the online console, the Xbox and broadband brought it into the realms of usability and it's a real shame the service is being switched off.

Giantbomb are recoding the end of the world and NTSC-UK are actively playing the games that I can't!

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/you-say-goodbye-i-say-halo/1954/

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=102671

Is anyone else going to drop sticks and play some classics or have any fond memories of Xbox live pre-2005?

[charlesr]

I'll be on RC2 later

[Skull Commander]

I don't bother so much with Xbox games online now, but it will always be the console responsibile for getting me into online gaming properly. I spent a lot of great hours on Halo 2 and Mortal Kombat Deception.

[PeteJ]

Been on Live pretty much since launch. Although I've been playing online shooters since around '97 (Quake 2) the first time I went online with Halo2 really felt like a step forward. Coming from the days of buggy Gamespy server lists that take an age to refresh to being able to party up with folks from NTSC and jump around the world together...occasionally winning, was really quite special.

Live has been the best thing Microsoft have done in yonks in my opinion. However I'm not sorry to see it go, if it lets them improve the backend for 360 owners then that can only be a good thing. Would be nice if they could release a SDK so people who want to still play Halo2, PGR2 etc can via a PC acting as a Live server, however I guess much of the code is the same as the current version so that's unlikely to happen...

I could have joined in on the final day fun, but the Xbox is in the loft and that's far too much effort.

[Prototype]

Got live since the beginning. Got the mech assault and moto gp demo in the pack. Enjoyed Mech assault even though it was poor. PGR2 had some of the nicest folks I've met on xbox live, before Halo 2 brought in the idiots. Spy vs mercs was really good fun too. Overall apart from Halo 2 which I can play on PC, I'm not going to miss it too much as it allows MS to improve xbox live.

[teddymeow]

PGR2, Cat and Mouse.

Need I say anymore?

If the switching off of Xbox1 LIVE! means that Xbox 360 LIVE! gets better then great. By better I mean not falling over every AAA release or anticipated DLC upload. I'm looking at you Halo and Call of Duty. If it's a piss poor excuse to fling more advertising at me on some Xbox channel that uses the bandwidth these original games were played on, forget it.

[fuse]

Has there been any concrete info about lifting the 100 person cap on friends lists?

Also, banner made me lol

[Holio]

In all honesty, and I mean seriously, who needs more than 100 friends????? I spent so long playing PGR2, it was my favourite online game of all time. The whole Kudos and ranking system was great, the courses were fun, the people on it are still on my friends list. I have to agree with TeddyMeow, if it improves the service so be it, but the fact I have been paying for Live ever since I could get it, why shut the servers down. If I'm going to be bombarded with more tripe on the start up of Live, forget it.

[Ouenben]

In all honesty, and I mean seriously, who needs more than 100 friends????? .

The people that add randoms they have one or two online games with on a game then never interact with them again?

[Holio]

That's why you have a players met list, you can access that for up to 3 months or more, so you can play away that way and not fill out your friends list. I think I have about 10-15 actual real life friends on my list, then I have other forum friends, and the odd players I have met and got along with. My list is sitting around 60 odd atm, and I could probably chop a few of that.

As for concrete evidence, in the PAX EAST podcast Major Nelson did say in passing that friends lists would be expanded in a round about way. So nothing for sure just yet.

[charlesr]

It's still working here. I'm downloading some free DLC as I type.

[Holio]

Jumped on now, please stay on a little while longer now EVERYTHING seems free.

[charlesr]

It's 8am not 7am. oops.

[charlesr]

heheh comments on giant bomb about what might happen when it closes. (in halo2) "Maybe all the guns turn into dildos"

About sums up XboxLive....

[charlesr]

April fool. It's still working.