Xbox v1 games, systems no longer Live; Microsoft's pulling the plug April 15

It's been no secret that original Xbox games and systems have been the vestigial limb holding back much wanted XBL features including raising the limit on our friends list to over 100 or mobile tie-ins, and on April 15 Live access for all of them comes to an end. Even those Xbox Originals downloaded to the 360 or played via backwards compatibility will be cut off from online play, so we'd suggest getting those last few rounds of Halo 2 in now or at least look into an alternative solution like XBConnect. Affected users should keep an eye on their inbox, Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten has promised "details and opportunities" to come for you as partners in this process -- we're figuring a coupon or two or an extended XBL subscription as the lights are turned out is the least they can do. For the rest of us already living in the future? The timing of this announcement mere days before the X10 event in San Francisco February 11 can't be coincidental, we should find out what comes next by then.

[sonyforlife Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:31AM]

this year should be PS2 last year to, psp2 coming next year and ps4 coming the year after that

[Jakob Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:42AM]

@drw35 Agree but be nice :)

[malexandria1 Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:03AM]

Wait, I don't understand this Post. Are you saying if someone PURCHASED the game they won't be able to play them anymore? That's BS and another reason why Digital Downloads is a joke. If I purchased one of these games, I would be spitting mad right now and it's another reason why I've gone back to purchasing all hard copies of games, movies, cds, etc. I can't trust these companies to live up to their end of the agreement.

[sandmanfvr Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:24AM]

@malexandria1 Good question and if this is so, I hope people sue MS. I see why the Xbox1 stuff needs to go, but don't screw over digital downloads.

[strommsarnac Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:29AM]

@malexandria1
No. They're saying that xBox games (either disc or softcopy) will no longer have access to ONLINE play through the xBox Live service. So, any xBox game will no longer allow you to play against/with friends over the Internet.

[malexandria1 Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:45AM]

@strommsarnac Thanks for the clarification, I would still be upset at them yanking the Online part which would be why people purchase games like Halo and Halo 2, etc. For other types of Xbox originals this probably isn't that a big of deal since Online wasn't a huge component I'm thinking games like Fables.

[Rakielis Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:50AM]

@malexandria1 halo 1 didn't have online. at this moment, halo 2 has less than 70 players online. in the last 24 hours, a mere 3600 have played it at all. for comparison, halo 3 has nearly 500,00 people online in the last 24 hours. and nearly a million matches played in just the last 24 hours.

the 3600 who play halo 2 feel like this sucks...the 500,00 that play halo 3 will be happy that their friends list can be longer.

[biohazard43 Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:37AM]

While I did not purchase an original Xbox title from LIVE I am still pissed by this decision. Xbox LIVE subscribers are the only gamers who pay for their online experience. We can justify paying based on the amazing online game play and features that do not exist on the other platforms. To simply shut down all of the original games is a HUGE mistake. I think Microsoft has two options. 1. Reimburse any account who had purchased an original XBOX game over XBOX LIVE. 2. Get sued by someone to make that happen.

[mhunterjr Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:48AM]

I honestly don't understand the complaints. Servers get shutdown all the time... How is this any different? Xbox1 titles make up a tiny fraction of LIVE users, so I understand MS cutting it off in favor of new (potentially profitable) opportunities. And if you bought an xbox original over LIVE, you must like getting screwed over anyway.

[PBB Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:11AM]

Something is not adding up here. Backwards compatibility for halo1 & 2 is built in, while for other originals you have to download an update. At the same time, they killed the backwards compatibility program almost 2 years ago. So, are they just killing of the updates or pushing out an update that will Kill ALL backwards compatibility.

Need clarification because that's 2 completely different issues all together

[Canizorro Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:28AM]

Gees. Judging by all the comments on here, this article wasn't clear at all. You will still be able to play your games you purchased online or hard copy wise. You just will not be able to use the xbox live service to play online. And the reasons for this was not because of the 100 friend limit. That was a comment made by the writer. This is just the normal life cycle of games. When the cost of keeping older titles online gets to a point where its not profitable anymore and where the user base gets to a low enough point, you shut down the servers. It's not some slap in the face as this article is making it look like.

[RichardLawler Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:37AM]

@Canizorro Click the links to the articles on Joystiq. Microsoft has been very clear that Xbox 1 was the thing holding back friends lists. The post Xbox 1 titles will be cut off from Xbox Live access, no matter how you play them, disc or download.

[Canizorro Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:06AM]

@RichardLawler

I looked at the article links and although I can gather that they are making changes that are incompatible to v1 games while adding more than 100 friends to this update, it's not been clearly written out. But I am not saying that it wasn't holding back the 100 friends limit. What I was saying is that the friend limit is not the major reason for the shutdown of the servers, They clearly said that they wanted the servers to be put for better use on newer games and that the life cycle of those games are coming to an end. Which goes back to my comment on the life cycle of older games. Not sure about your last comment because I stated the same thing in my comment. So I agree with that. But from the comments here some people are thinking that you will not be able to play the games at all, which is not true

[Delta14 Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:29AM]

Can't say I've played halo 2 in over 2 years... now it seems its all I want to do.

While it seems that this is the logical next step, it's hard to see how they wouldnt be able to find an easy workaround. They probably just don't find it worthwhile, and want to get those last few halo 2 games (and anyone else without a 360) to upgrade.

[MrJamesBrown Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:16AM]

WHattttttttttt!!!

[wunch Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:42AM]

I haven't used my Xbox1 in years, but is XLink Kai still around?

[cosmicinglewood Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:01AM]

Good, time to move on. I wonder how long they will support the 360 once the 720 drops? Classic X-Box and the games have their place (in history) and online support for those has too high of a cost to benefit ratio; how many people playing old x-box games were actually still using the Live service....? Microsoft makes strange choices for sure, but I agree with this one... onward to new things~ And like others said, you can still play the old x-box and x-box games, just not online--- boo hoo

[Guardians13jm Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:48AM]

As long as this doesn't affect GFWL I don't really care.

[d14racer24 Posted Feb 5th 2010 12:49PM]

On my birthday? Worst birthday present ever...what am I going to do now?

[majg Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:04PM]

Wow, that was a great run. Let's see what MS has in store for us for the near future.

I'm doubtful that something will be mentioned at X10... I'm thinking more MIX, behind closed doors at MicrosoftGameFest.com, GDC or E3, but X10 is Fable III time, baby!

[A F 1 G 3 Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:13PM]

R.I.P Halo 2

[theweeklymancast dave Posted Feb 5th 2010 3:58PM]

Anyone else notice the videos auto-playing on the dashboard?

[sporkinum Posted Feb 7th 2010 12:58PM]

One big reason why PC gaming will never die. I can jump into old QuakeII servers for a match if I wish. Battlefield 1942? You bet!