EA Shutting Down Video Game Servers Prematurely 341
Spacezilla writes "EA is dropping the bomb on a number of their video game servers, shutting down the online fun for many of their Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 games. Not only is the inclusion of PS3 and Xbox 360 titles odd, the date the games were released is even more surprising. Yes, Madden 07 and 08 are included in the shutdown... but Madden 09 on all consoles as well?"
What Happened? (Score:5, Informative)
I remember back in the early eighties EA used to release some great games.
Anyone remember Skyfox, Pinball Construction Set, The Bard's Tale series and Racing Destruction Set?
All they seem to do now is publish endless sports titles and I imagine the licensing fees must be huge.
Maybe it is a "Good Thing" they are shutting down the services for these titles - one less reason to buy them.
The decision seems to be mainly the Sports Division of EA hopefully this decision won't start affecting other games genres.
Games affected:
February 2, 2010 Online Service Shutdown
* UEFA Champions League 07 PC and x360
* Facebreaker x360 and PS3
* Fantasy Football 09 x360 and PS3
* FIFA 07 PSP, PS2, PC
* Fight Night Round 3 PS2
* Madden 08 Wii
* Madden 08 PC
* Madden 09 Xbox1
* Madden 09 Wii and PSP
* March Madness 07 x360
* NBA 07 PSP, x360
* NBA 08 PS2, PSP, Wii
* NBA 09 Wii - Europe only
* NBA Street (2007) PS3 and x360
* NCAA Football 08 PS2
* NCAA Football 09 PS2
* NASCAR 08 PS2
* NASCAR 09 PS2
* NASCAR 09 PS3 and x360 - Europe Only
* NFL Tour PS3 and x360
* NHL 07 PSP and x360
* NHL 08 PC
* Tiger Woods 07 PC
* Madden 09 x360 and PS3
* Madden 07 Xbox 360
Gamestop (Score:5, Informative)
Re:And this is why... (Score:3, Informative)
Madden '07 sold 2 million copies the first week it was available [videogamesblogger.com]. Microsoft claimed to have logged 228 years worth of game time played on their servers in the same time frame.
Box (Score:5, Informative)
The back of the box clearly states(in small print) that the online service is only provided for 1 year from release date. The fact that they've lasted this long is just a bonus. I could understand if people were bitching and there was no warning, but there is.
Re:Direct multiplayer? (Score:2, Informative)
For most games on Xbox Live microsoft hosts the matchmaking servers and the friends thing as well. It means that you should be able to play the game online forever until microsoft shuts down the server.
I know of one non-EA exception which only shut down part of the online component to a mech game that needed a special controller (very niche), and it was for the original xbox.
EA forces online games to use their servers for matchmaking rather than the general ones. It means that at any time EA can stop providing them and you can no longer play those games online (such as all the ones with 20XX in the name) possibly forcing you to upgrade.
The players on consoles are the servers in that they host the actual gameplay related stuff like this person shoots here, this person jumps, etc. The status info (so and so is playing Game X) on the consoles is still handled by microsoft/sony/nintendo.
The whole part of EA being able to stop online play on old games is why I don't buy from them. I could understand taking off old games that were for the original xbox for example but nothing from the last couple years.
Re:Direct multiplayer? (Score:5, Informative)
From what I understand, I thought each of these games on consoles, that one of the players will be the 'server' - and that the role of the EA server is matchmaking etc, but clarification would be cool.
I'm pretty certain that in all cases none of the consoles involved is acting as a server. If one was than that player could have a significant advantage due to relative latency issues. Also having a console act as a server means having to deal with NAT, firewalls and other routing/network issues - the only guaranteed way for all the consoles to see the server being if the server is public (i.e. not on a console on someone's home ISP connection) or for a public server to act as a relay for those that can't connect directly.
you are wrong, most console games don't have dedicated servers, and you can host even if you are behind a nat, they probably use something like udp hole punching
you probably missed the rage of pc call of duty players that now have to use the same matchmaking system(iwnet) as console players without dedicated servers
Re:Blizzard didn't cooperate (Score:3, Informative)
If that were true, then the bnetd devs were essentially asking for details on the CD key creation algorithm. In order to validate a CD key derived from a 1-way hash, you need the creation algorithm. In order to validate a CD key derived from 2-way encryption, you would need only the decryption algorithm but providing that is a big help for brute force cracking of the encryption algorithm. With either type of CD key, you'd be defeating your own anti-piracy scheme. I side with Blizzard on that decision.
Re:Blizzard didn't cooperate (Score:3, Informative)
There is only 1 way to verify the key. Check it against the database of released keys (and only Blizzard has that database, obviously).
The key checking algorhythm can easily be reversed via a debugger and a couple of well placed break points.
Re:The only people who have anything to whine abou (Score:3, Informative)
Oh why are you so irate about the rootkits?
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it."
--quote [arstechnica.com] Thomas Hesse, President Sony Global Digital Business, concerning the Sony Rootkit fuckup.
Sadly, he's right. Most don't know, don't care and only see what they want to see. Sure, they'll cry afterwards when the whole thing blows up in their face and blame Sony, the world and of course those evil pirates for it, but they don't care, don't listen and most of all, don't want to know.