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Halo 2 Online Preservation Effort Ends

Posted by Soulskill on from the good-show dept.

A couple weeks ago, we discussed news that some dedicated Halo 2 fans were keeping the game's multiplayer alive after support for online play was dropped. Now, a few days shy of a month after support ended, the last users have been knocked off the server. "[A user named] Apache N4SIR outlasted everyone. 'May 11th @ 0158hrs I was FORCEFULLY REMOVED!!' he wrote on the forums at Bungie.net. 'I thought I'd be the one turning off the lights but that was done for me. Good night everyone, my Elite needs a rest.' His last comrade in arms, Agent Windex, was still signed on, as spotted by Kotaku at 4 p.m. US Pacific Time on May 10, but their adventure, which began on April 15, ended after Windex announced 21 minutes later that he had been removed from play and Apache N4SIR suffered a similar fate hours later, as he described in his post."

6 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And nothing of value was lost.

    1. Re:and... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Monopoly, Risk, Axis & Allies, Diplomacy (50 years old).

      Yea-- hard to believe ANYONE would want to play a game 7 years after it was published.

      Games Workshop is getting bad about this (as is Magic the Gathering).

      Sure- you can play on your own, but convention play requires the current figures and rules. Which are arbitrarily changed about every 24-36 months.

      Business wants you to RENT everything- no ownership.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    2. Re:and... by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Informative

      And let us say, just for the sake of argument, that all the major game companies decided to be pricks and got together and quit making new PC games tomorrow. How many of you actually have ALL the good PC games, hmmm? Hell I'm still finding great new mods for Freelancer and that game came out 7 years ago!

      If the game company acts like a prick, don't buy from them. Instead vote with your dollars and buy from somebody that treats you decent like good old games that don't fill your PC with DRM or make you phone home just to play. This is one of the reasons I refuse to give up PC gaming and mess with consoles. If MSFT, or Ubisoft, or any other game company acts like a total douche I can take my business elsewhere, and there is plenty of products to choose from, but if for example I'd have went with PS3 and wanted to keep my OtherOS and still game? Tough shit, buy another console.

      With consoles ONE company owns the keys to the kingdom, and it is their way or nothing. With the PC I can buy big games or indy, new or classics, and have a wealth of places to shop at. EA killing online multiplayer on the consoles when the sequel comes out is just a glimpse of the console's future. It will be pay and pay and pay some more if you actually want to get the full on and off line gameplay. Finally with DLC I'm predicting the PHBs at the major game companies will pretty much destroy new games on both consoles and PC, by chopping them into pieces and nickel and diming the player to death to "maximize profit potential" so a new game will end up costing you $100+ just to get to play the whole thing.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Meanwhile on the PC by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 5, Informative

    People are still playing everything from Quake's Team Fortress to Tribes 2, with their own dedicated servers and authentication systems.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    1. Re:Meanwhile on the PC by ani23 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Counterstrike. I seriously doubt it will decommision in my lifetime

    2. Re:Meanwhile on the PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is because of the way Valve thinks about CS. It started out as a third-party mod, and Valve was all "wow, the fans are having way more fun with this mod than they are with the main game - we should find a way to get in on this action!" So they adopted it, and the rest is history. At one point it actually accounted for more internet traffic than the nation of Italy (admittedly, before broadband penetration was quite so high, and in no small part because of sloppy network algorithms). Given the thinking behind why Valve picked up Counterstrike as an official product, I would be absolutely dumbstruck if they don't keep milking it for as long as the fans are interested in it.

      In related news: the lack of LAN play in Starcraft II means that it is going to horizon eventually, while Starcraft will always be around. Go figure.

      But seriously, game producers - an established fan base is extremely valuable even if they've already paid for the game. If you can't figure out how to sell them something else on the basis of their existing fandom, you need a new job. If you can't figure out that it's good marketing to find a way to continue supporting a game that still has fans and would rather spend the money on another television commercial, you need a new job.