Xbox Live service for Xbox 1 games to be discontinued on Apr. 15

...Asumming they're doing this to up the friends limit.

If you have any free space on your friends list you should use it for Algebra Cow.

OMG, they might have the abilliity to tag/organize your friends now! Sweet! No more "HAI GUYS I CHANGED MUH NAME 2 Drk2WizAcexXx" and you're like, who the hell was that in the first place? I could have

Dname "Dan"
Vname "Tom"
- RL
- Kname "Chris"
- Xname "Fred"
- MW2 Clanmembers
- blah blah'
- blah blah

I think you get it.

Can you still buy the games right now?
Imagine buying an xbox original on April 14 for like 20$ or whatever it is. Waking up on the 15th to play it and suddenly your not allowed!

Thats such a load of crap. (not that I bought any xbox originals)

Just realized that this is only for the ONLINE play for those games...
my bad!

Why can't you delete a comment?

"Why can't you delete a comment?"

It's Joystiq's unofficial homage to the ages-old, family-friendly pastime of stoning.

Kinda seems like a slap in the face for anyone who bought the Xbox Originals

It would sure piss me off if I just bought an XBox 1 game online that is focused on MP, say Halo 1 or 2, and then learned shortly after that the servers were going offline. I can understand the need to make changes - but shutting down any service for XBox Original versions is really a crappy thing to do.

I know, it's really been one of my favorite gaming experiences... Polar Base, Club House, Aquarius... Now it's gonna end. Somewhere, somehow that game will live again. It's too good to die!

let's just hope conviction has some form of multiplayer that isn't as dumbed down as double agent.

THIS!

I'm sad to see the support pulled. Some friends and I occasionally break out the MP/Co-op from Chaos Theory...now I'm just a sad panda. And yeah, I'm also hoping Conviction's MP/Co-op isn't as dumbed-down as that turd known as Double Agent.

Halo 2 is gonna break records around April 15th. I'm gonna go track down my copy now...

Yes!! And it's almost as amazing as the PC original.

Banana, that's exactly what I came in here to say. I think CS is one of the few FPs's that I wouldn't even TRY without a mouse and KB.

Either way, if people really do still play it, I feel bad their servers are going down. Cheer up though - any modern computer - hell, probably even netbook - can play the original CS. My GF's $300 Compaq laptop can even manage playable CS:Source with the settings kicked down a bit.

I played CS on the family (non-gaming) computer way back when it first came out and it ran fine. I can't imagine why anyone would want to play it with a controller, without mods, and over Xbox Live (without dedicated servers I'm assuming) when almost any PC can do a better job of it.

Nope, not even on the new one coming out this year :'(

First, Microsoft need to cut out the XBox original to give the 360 users more flexibility, like...more than 100 contacts.

Second...maybe you didn't know, but...how can I say this to you...I know its hard tho hear this, but...Bill Gates is not the CEO anymore...I know, it breaks my heart to give you such outdated news, but someone had to do this.

not the CEO but still on the board....he still makes decisions...just not HUGE ones....Although I'm fairly certain he will come out to unveil the next Xbox in a couple years at E3.....

I for one am GLAD they are going to be able to add more friends....I have a Zune as well and having 100 contacts shared between the 2 is just ridiculous.

Why couldn't they just have a seperate live system for 360?

THAT den-69 is the million dollar question. You would think they'd find some way for you to continue to play XBOX 1 games, but still raise the cap of friends over 100. But apparently no brain on the planet can feasable answer that one.

"more than 100 contacts"

Anyone that has more than 100 contacts on that thing needs more to do in life. Branch out. Do something else.

Or at least tell me you are earning money somehow per contact added.

hurr durr

Who in the heck has more than 100 friends on Xbox Live? Actual friends?

you know bill gates is donating 10 billion for vaccines in third world countries over the next decade.

I'm sure he has a nice hot tub, but seriously stop trying to make him look like a greedy s.o.b.

I can see how people can end up having more than 100 contacts, considering that they might want to game with people they've joined forces with previously on their own time frame. For instance, none of your actual real-world friends may be online (let's say anywhere from 15-50 friends on the list), but there are at least 25 other people you've met online who are playing that same game. Having a larger friends list increases the chance that you'll be able to game online with someone you've enjoyed gaming with previously.

Why'd everyone downvote Dovey? I mean come on, it was slightly amusing. Presumably it also costs money to run the Xbox infrastructure which you can save (or divert to new users) if you chuck that support.

I'm sure it's true that they need to change the protocol in ways the original xbox wouldn't support, but it is also true that - if they spent money on development - they would be capable of implementing it as a parallel system, so depending on system type (360 or original), it automatically would deliver the service that system expects. In that sense, yes, this is certainly about money.

I think it's completely reasonable to shut online service down a couple years after a system is no longer sold, though. Maybe some people haven't realised yet but any online service for a game or game system that depends on company-run servers will not last forever.

@Sam

I can still put Quake III Arena in my Dreamcast and play online. I can still play Sega Saturn Netlink games, for heavens sake.

I have very mixed feelings about this announcement.

I think in general it's unrealistic for a consumer to assume that any proprietary service dependent on upkeep from a corporation will last forever...
HOWEVER,
I think that it has always been understood that XBL and the fees associated with it make the service immune, as it were, from this 'real world' inevitability, even if no one at Microsoft expressly said so.

I also, coming from the IT and networking world, can see the benefit (to the service) to unshackle yourself from the burdens and limitations inherent with incorporating older systems for backwards compatibility's sake. But as others have said, why they couldn't take the fees for XBL and allow that older network run parallel to the newer baffles me.
I can see the challenges of doing so, but it IS possible, and I think the benefit would outweigh the costs. The benefit of customer loyalty and expectation is nearly immeasurable. I can't see this as being the best move on their part.

I could get on board if a rocky period would be required in order to separate the networks from each other on a technical level, if the end result is that you are no longer limited by the legacy system's limitations while still allowing the system to exist... but giving up all together seems like a unforgiving approach to a problem with a calculable solution.

I also fear that this may set a bad precedent. Let's say they prepare better this time. Lets say the current system is expandable up to 3 generations... what happens then? Do we go through this again? Like others said, for something that's really, at it's heart, nothing more than a glorified p2p matching service, it seems unacceptable that another solution couldn't be found. Patch the games to allow clients to find and host eachother outside the purview of the original service, if you must. But don't leave these gamers and their games out in the cold.

I haven't said this in a very long time, but...I agree with Cody on this.

Phew. I did it. I said it out loud. I have never wanted to have that many people on my friends list online. I would forget who the majority of them are I am betting.

It was just a joke guys I'm not that much of a dick to actually say that they are greedy a-holes

In my opinion they have done everything that I can think of to make the Live system work and I think that it's the best today as I have tried them all and still stick with my 360 over anything

Thanks sam for noticing the humor and not taking everything serious :D

This wouldn't be a problem if ubi kept the same mp formula for double agent/conviction

Its not the same though, its really not the same :.(

Best. Site. Ever.

Get the PC version

someone else posted that site a few weeks ago and I bookmarked it for occasions like this...

and I would buy it on PC RIGHT NOW if it were on Steam!! or even Games for Windows Live

Seriously: Halo and Halo 2 are nowhere to be found as a download. WTF, Microsoft? That makes absolutely no sense - they're to ones who are pushing downloadable content the most!

AMAZON or hey EBAY. You can get it cheap rather than Microsoft charging you. I have it so no lost there.

Seriously, I think I'll have to pop it back in and play a few more online games. I sure am gonna miss some of those maps though.

Do you know how shitty halo 2 pc is? it lags like hell