Dedicated Halo 2 Fans Keep Multiplayer Alive 239
On April 15th, Microsoft terminated Xbox Live support for the original Xbox console, marking the end of online multiplayer for many older games. However, a group of Halo 2 players have refused to give up online play by leaving their consoles on and connected since then. Overheating consoles and dropped connections have taken their toll, but at present, 13 players are still going strong.
Unofficial route.. (Score:3, Informative)
Or you could go the unofficial route and play these games online using xlink kai (http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/)...
Pity they clamped down on this with the 360, so once support for the 360 is turned off users will be screwed.
Re:Unofficial route.. (Score:1, Informative)
Question. Would Hamachi [logmein.com] work too?
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
You mean you couldn't care less. Sorry, grammar nazi mode from all those Xbox's.
Re:This is why I love PC (Score:2, Informative)
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
You can still play multiplayer in Halo 2 on your Xbox over a local network, same as how you have to play Doom II or Quake 1. You just can't browse for & play online games, same as will happen when they yank the Quake III master server.
(Yes, you can manually connect to servers over the Internet by IP once that happens, but you can do that with your Xbox too [xbconnect.com].)
Re:Isn't this what the fanboys said was impossible (Score:1, Informative)
Microsoft never said they would do anything like that. Anyone who trusted MS to open up their games before shutting down never had any basis to stand on to begin with.
However, Valve (who runs Steam) is on record saying they've got a method set up (and tested to work) to deactivate their (already rather lenient) DRM should they ever go under. And Valve has consistently proven themselves to be a hell of a lot more trustworthy than Microsoft - CEO Gabe Newell gave a speech at GDC about how intrusive/customer-harming DRM is a terrible failure of a business model, and Valve's development teams (especially the team behind Team Fortress 2) have always been very benevolent with free additional content and reaching out to their community.
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
He's probably alluding to the snafu at Danger (an MS subsidiary), were a botched disk upgrade + botched backups lost pretty much all of Sidekick's clients data.
Danger was seen as a trailblazer in cloud-based stuff, BTW. We've been warned :-p
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
The GP mentions that SystemLink is still available. Doesn't that mean that people can play multiplayer games via a tunneling solution? Have somebody throw together a frontend/matchmaking service for that and you've got exactly what you're asking for.
I don't know what the state of it is right now, but I remember using XBConnect to play the original Halo online. The downside of if was that it didn't have Matchmaking or in game voice communication like XBlive does. I remember having to use a computer to join a chat room to find someone to play with, and only being able to communicate through chat. I don't know anything about where this stands now, but it seems to me that it would be workable.
Of course, the OP's point (which after reflection I agree with) is that the End User shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get it to work. MS ought to make this known and available to players before they end their support.
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, when you buy a copy of Halo 2, you aren't automatically entitled to a lifetime of free XBox Live access. From the release of the game, you had to pay an extra montly subscription in order to access online multiplayer via XBox Live. Microsoft is no longer charging that monthly fee because the service is discontinued. Microsoft didn't take away the ability to play via system link, split screen, or single player. That's what a customer purchasing Halo 2 "legally paid for."
Re:MS should... (Score:4, Informative)
Please investigate the situations of individual titles before suggesting blanket solutions.
Halo 2 is being end-of-lifed in no small part because it relies on an outmoded Xbox 1 Live server ecosystem. This has limited the Xbox 360 to a specific number of friends on their friends list, older types of interactions with people online, etc. There are a lot of people asking for upgrades to the Xbox that have been blocked for this one particular game, which Microsoft has kept alive for 4 years after the original console (that didn't sell that well anyway) went away.
All of this relies upon Xbox Live. The game expects friend requests, chat requests, server pings, score update connections, DLC purchases, etc. All of these things are signed and protected to prevent A: online cheating, B: griefers, C: penis spam. Further, they have legal commitments to their partners to keep Xbox Live a secure system. This doesn't apply to most individual PC titles, as they are essentially standalone.
For Microsoft to release official software that allowed people to play Xbox 1 games like Halo 2 online, they'd have to release large chunks of Xbox Live. Then they'd need to do things like strip out any dedicated IP's, Oracle database calls, other copyrighted code, etc that might be floating around in there. What would people get? An impenetrable mess that, at best, would still require a fake NAT and a server farm to work.
Halo 2 fans, currently by comparison, can use SSH tunneling to create a fake LAN, and enjoy the game that way. This is a much more sane solution.
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
Not to mention that Microsoft really wants to upgrade Xbox Live. The reason they can't is because ONE GAME is preventing them from doing it. Yes, that game is Halo 2, which on the rankings is basically the #1 original Xbox game that was played on live by a huge margin. Even so, I think there were only something like 10,000 odd players at most, though I've seen reports saying that at its peak, it's only between 1000-2000 players worldwide.
Given how many millions use Xbox Live (Gold), and how few actually play the one game that's holding it back architecturally, it's a sound choice I think. Plus, there's been two other multiplayer Halo FPS games since then (Halo 3 and Halo ODST).
The only real question is Halo 2 for Vista (which works fine on Win7), since its Live client is updated independently of the game itself and has the potential for continuation of service (hell, multiplayer on that has long been free once Microsoft dropped the Games for Windows Live subscription requirement). Halo 2 fanatics can have their hand at that if they really, really, really hate gaming with Halo 3.
360s aren't too expensive these days - I've seen many retailers do half-price discounting of the Arcade models ($100 brand new!), and add in a hard disk, or with the latest firmware, any USB mass storage, and you've upgraded. Halo 3's pretty cheap these days used or new. Or go Halo ODST and get Halo 3 multiplayer with it.
Re:MS should... (Score:3, Informative)
"Microsoft didn't take away the ability to play via system link, split screen, or single player. That's what a customer purchasing Halo 2 "legally paid for.""
No it's not, as multiplayer is specifically advertised on the game packaging.
Oops, I don't have multiplayer access.
And the game is still being sold in stores.
False advertising.