@Cchrist: Christ, I'm going to be having nightmares about this fella tonight. Looks kind of like that absolutely terrifying creature behind the diner in Mulholland Drive. Not an image I'm keen to revisit anytime soon.

greatinsight

@tei: Amen.

Blinded220

What Blizzard did right:

[games.slashdot.org]
Truly earn loyalty from your customers: People who bought Diablo and Starcraft played for years on a service they didn't have to pay any extra for. Any other company would have turned those servers off once they weren't making money from boxed copies of the game. Blizzard kept providing it and earned a fierce loyalty from their fans where everyone else leaves their fans feeling screwed the moment the dollar signs don't add up in the short term.

tei

@SAKY: I forgot about those. That was totally EA's call ans they release new interations every year.

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with dropping these old games.

Agies

Ah, Syphon Filter... I loved that game when it came out. The co-op play and unlockable goodies worked fantastic. Until everyone stopped playing it. Hard to do co-op on your own. Thing is, support for networked games on PS2 in Europe was utter guff.

Ungruntled

twisted metal black has been shut down for a long long time and the other ps2 games probably had no one on to begin with.

Molockian

@phloog: Yeah but the years of free lagless games kind make up for them closing the servers years after the games are released

Rockwallaby

@phloog: Peer to peer gaming is not the same thing as having dedicated servers set up for a game. Most games on Live are peer to peer as well as on PSN, they won't be shut down as they use the infrastructure of the network they are on. What can be turned off are games that use company provided dedicated servers.

Kyle81

@SAKY: the psp games.

Kyle81

Watch as the xbox fanboys turn this into a xbox live rules thread.

dsmx

@Rockwallaby:
Or Socom for that matter.

cash

This is one selling point for the Microsoft strategy of having players host their own...it's also why I'm REALLY leery of buying any game that has PSN online, but no LAN option.

phloog

Oh noes, not my Twisted Metal Black: Online, which I never played save once in 02. Kudos for keeping it up this long I guess.

cash

@Agies: were not talking call of duty here

Rockwallaby

@Puzzle: lol a good job? I don't know about you, but if I got paid for owning those games, I'd certainly take it.

Ichidou

Thats the scariest fucking guy i've ever seen.

Cchrist

@Kyle81: 14

SAKY

@Agies: I know some older EA games were shut down. Anything more than 2 years old on the original XBOX. yes? However I'm not sure if this was EA's call or MS's. I would imagine that it's EA's call has they would have to support the game but that is the PC line of thinking in me.

SAKY

Damn, I wanted to play some more Omega Strain! That sucks.

Parabolee

I'm glad Star Wars Battlefront isn't on there. I use the PS3 to play it.

kylo4

@Agies: but dude you gotta realize.....i don't think anyone has been playing those games anyway! I love Amplitude but I don't even remember it having anything online!

I'm sure if there were a flourish of activity for these games, they wouldn't be shutting them down but Destruction Derby Arenas?!? Seriously!

jp182

Aw. It's a good job I don't own any of those games.

Puzzle

@Ichidou: Two games that no one ever plays, so yea there going to close down the servers.

Kyle81

This is the disadvantage of a distributed service and dedicated servers. I haven't heard of any Xbox Live games going down (except maybe PSO).

Agies

@Ryumeka:
You had that plan for sure... sigh

Garo

PSP server terminations already?

Then again, I only ever surf the interwebs with my PSP to order food online. Makes you feel like you're in the future.

Ichidou

And there goes my plan to buy every single one of those games and play them online.

Geez, thanks Sony.

Ryumeka

Oh well, it was going to happen eventually...

majiesto

aww amplitude :(. At least they aren't killing off tribes. Which never has any servers made for it online anyways.

NessD12

@greatinsight: The worst part is that i've just played condemned 1&2 back to back. All that horror and this picture is the one that actually sent shivers down my spine!

Cchrist

@jp182: Dude, People stil play the original CS. You will be surprised the amount of people that play old games.

y2julio

Dammit, they're turning off Jak X servers... that game rocks.

Ashurahori

I'm an Xbox fanboy, no doubt, but I surely won't rip dedicated servers. Peer-to-peer isn't exactly butterflies and rainbows these days.

paseana

And this is why matchmaking is superior. I'll still be able to find games of Gears years from now etc.

Dioxen

I play lemmings on the PSP!

Bastards.

They really should obligate themselves to maintaining the servers of the current generation, aka PSP and PS3. When it says online play on the box, it doesn't say ANYWHERE that it's at sony's discretion.

At least XBOX Live doesn't send them down like that.

kPod

Most of the PS2 games seem to deserve it, except for maybe two. Seriously, if NO ONE IS PLAYING THE GAME, why keep the servers up? Amplitude was a game that came out around the time the network adapter was released for the phat ps2, that was some years ago, and I am sure hardly anyone still has it, let alone plays it online. I'm sorry, but two people every now and then going on the servers and seeing there's no one there to play with is not worth keeping a server farm up for.

bobeotm

I am not surprised by the PSP games shown. Who was playing lemmings exactly? Even when it came out?

bobeotm

Aw great, what the fuck am I to do with my 2 copies of EyeChat!?

Klappstuhl

NOT MY AMPLITUDE!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Mike Fahey

To me, this seems just another reason why I'm glad I pay the fees for xbox live. At least you can pick up an old game for a few bucks and know you can still play it online. Unless it's a bloody EA game that is...

shufflemoomin

Actually, the EA FIFA games have a seasonal limit. Or at least they did with the original Xbox. After that season which the game is made for is over, your online time is finito. I'd think it's the same for Madden as well, no?

Itchy (PSN: Kaizoku-ou)

@Dioxen: And years from now the host lag will still be there...

AudibleDefect

@kPod: Actually in the end user agreement you have to ok before going online, there may actually be a clause in there to eventually have the right to end service. Xbox live is also a service you pay for. I was actually surprised some of these games hadn't already gone inactive.

bobeotm

@shufflemoomin:
Really? you'll be able to pick up an old xbox game and know you can still play it online? WHO YOU GOING TO PLAY WITH?

Sure, i understand xbox's side of p2p games always going to be around and not having to worry about the online services getting shut off. But just like these games, people will stop playing the old games online, so you will have support for games that nobody are playing.

when it comes down to it, the end user will receive the same empty experience either way.

pop in an old playstation game and not see anybody online, or pop in an old xbox game and not see anybody online.

glitched

Now I want to play Jak X.

Wolfers

My Street? Let us bow are head....

VivaLaLazlow

I thought the Amplitude servers were taken offline over a year ago? Did people rally and get Sony to stay the axe until now?

Deviation59

Aww man, Amplitude. I want Harmonix to make a current-gen sequel. I know they've got Rock Band, but come on. It shouldn't be that hard to update graphics and churn out some new songs. I needs me more Freezepop.

sanyo

@Mike Fahey:

I feel your pain Mike. I know I'm gonna try and get some online play in before the servers go down forever. Let's try and remember the good times....

CaptLtrl

Did anyone ever play Twisted Metal Black online? I bought it together with a PS2 after finally accepting the Dreamcast was dead. Being used to playing online I thought it would be a nice game. I only ever saw ONE other person online! Not cool! Remember, this was years ago when the game was quite new. Never really got to like PS2 online unfortunately but that was partly EA's fault.

TrekVogel

@glitched: "Really? you'll be able to pick up an old xbox game and know you can still play it online? WHO YOU GOING TO PLAY WITH?"

Ever hear of Halo 2?

And if you and a friend are online and have the same game, you can send him a message and tell him to pop the old game in to play online.

I've thrown in Crimson Skies, and there were plenty of people online to play. There will be more players of these older games when they get released on Live Marketplace to download. And you can always be certain that the server to play that game is still up and running.

Jeez, the PSP is already having its servers shut down? Talk about lame.

Rectangle

The XBox Live can't have "dedicated servers blankouts" because don't have dedicated servers. Thats like some poor poor countrys lack of sweet water, If you don't have water at all... Be happy about XBox Live shielded against dedicated lost is wrong.

tei

Regardless of this news, I still support dedicated servers 100%. Plus, I don't own a single title in the list.

flashtut

@nox: Wait, I thought a while ago EA shut down some of their servers for xbox live games. So it still happens even when you pay. I remember Timesplitters Future Perfect being one of them and I was pissed.

Trog13

Ah this is quite funny because the other day I bought a copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2 for the Xbox.

I own it on the PS2 but I ain't got that hooked up to a decent TV at the moment and I didn't have a network adapter for my PS2, So no online play.

I played it on 360 and I was happy to see servers still up with people still actually playing the game. Its also good since the Xbox one had better graphics.

But I'm happy since those servers won't go down. Thats the problem with companys that host they're lobby servers. EA for example I look at Burnout and CnC now and I know that those servers will probably go down and I love those games online.

flukielukie

This is why you pay MS for Live.

nox

NOOO not My Street! WHY, TAKE ME INSTEAD DAMMIT!

pandafresh

@Trog13: ea didn't use xbox live. there has been a lot of noise about this over the years.

StratfordX

yes, i'm sure years from now when halo 5 is out you're going to just be itching to whip out halo 2 and play it on 3 gen ago graphics :rolleyes:

xbots are funny...not funny haha, funny sad

goalielax

lol at all the people saying xbox live is better. Dedicated Servers >>>>>>>>>> p2p. Learn that. Host lag will always be a push away factor. And how about this: You're paying $50 a year to use YOUR OWN 360 as a server, you know, the one you bought. You're giving them money so you can use it as a "server" type connection. That, to me, would be like paying to play on Battle.net since they do the same thing there. They shut these servers down since no one plays the games and so there is no reason to keep them up. If people played them, they wouldn't shut them down.

L

Killzone still golden, good to know the first one is still successful enough to stay alive.

RaepGoblin

@goalielax: It was just an example of an XBox game that is still played regularly online.

Keep convincing yourself that it is a great thing that Sony shuts these servers down so that you can never play the game online again.

Rectangle

"Sony aren't a charity, folks. They're not going to go paying..."

Names of companies use singular verbs, not plural. And companies are entities, not persons:

"Sony ISN'T a charity, folks. IT'S not going to go paying...."

Sorry for the nitpicking but if writers aren't going to care about grammar, who is?

sebast

@L: But there /are/ dedicated communities that get shafted by moves like this. It happened when the PSO servers went down, it happened with the "Resident Evil: Outbreak" servers and I'm pretty sure one or two of those (in my case it would be "Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain") had groups that would play regularly that will have to hope they get some sort of online support from their PS2 emulators now.

I do like Xbox live because while not everyone is playing something, there is the freedom to still do so. I recently called up some friends and threw in "Mechassault 2" and had a day of just messing around on the galactic conquest mode. I've gotten people together for some old school "Ghost Recon", we've "Halo 2"'ed once or twice (before "Halo 3" totally disappointed and left a bad taste in our collective mouths) and considering I've now got about 60 or so Xbox 1 games thanks to all of the older game sells via places like Blockbuster, Gamestop and larger retailers looking to free up some shelf space, as long as the emulation on my X360 supports it, I've got plenty of gems I can give a shot online. I do know that the "Battlefield 2: MC" community on Live is going decently enough.

Parsifal

@bobeotm: me it was the only thing on sale!

Jagzthebest

They are shutting servers off that don't get traffic, so you guys can drop your lame "Live is better" trolling.

RaepGoblin

man, Amplitude kicked ass. I thought they axed the servers over a year ago.

Sweet Tooth

@sebast: HINTL If you're going to nitpick, go to the trouble of picking up the grammatical differences between British and American grammar.

Luke Plunkett

NOT LEMMINGS!!!

Yithian

@Luke Plunkett: The Economist Style Guide isn't British enough for you?

"A government, a party, a company (whether Tesco or Marks and Spencer) and a partnership (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) are all it and take a singular verb."

[www.economist.com]

sebast

The US Amplitude servers have been down for a long time, I guess it's referring to the PAL servers.

Smok3y