Sony aren't a charity, folks. They're not going to go paying for online support for a bunch of old games that none of you play anymore. So they've announced that on June 30, they'll be killing off the American British servers for a range of older titles on both the PS2 and PSP. Most notable are probably Twisted Metal: Black Online and Amplitude, while if any of you say that shutting down World Tour Soccer 2's PSP servers affects you you've gotta stop talking so much shit.
The total list of closures is as follows:
PlayStation 2
* Amplitude
* Destruction Derby Arenas
* Everybody's Golf
* EyeToy Chat
* F1 '04
* Jak X
* Lemmings PS2
* My Street
* Syphon Filter Omega Strain
* This is Football 2004
* This is Football 2005
* Twisted Metal: Black Online
PlayStation Portable
* Lemmings
* World Tour Soccer 2
Sony US to shut down some servers [Eurogamer] [Pic]">Pic]











Comments
aww amplitude :(. At least they aren't killing off tribes. Which never has any servers made for it online anyways.
Oh well, it was going to happen eventually...
And there goes my plan to buy every single one of those games and play them online.
Geez, thanks Sony.
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.
@Ryumeka:
You had that plan for sure... sigh
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).
@Ichidou: Two games that no one ever plays, so yea there going to close down the servers.
Aw. It's a good job I don't own any of those games.
@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!
I'm glad Star Wars Battlefront isn't on there. I use the PS3 to play it.
Damn, I wanted to play some more Omega Strain! That sucks.
@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.
@Kyle81: 14
Thats the scariest fucking guy i've ever seen.
@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.
@Agies: were not talking call of duty here
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.
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.
@Rockwallaby:
Or Socom for that matter.
Watch as the xbox fanboys turn this into a xbox live rules thread.
@SAKY: the psp games.
@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.
@phloog: Yeah but the years of free lagless games kind make up for them closing the servers years after the games are released
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.
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.
@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.
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: Amen.
@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.
@jp182: Dude, People stil play the original CS. You will be surprised the amount of people that play old games.
@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!
Dammit, they're turning off Jak X servers... that game rocks.
And this is why matchmaking is superior. I'll still be able to find games of Gears years from now etc.
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.
I am not surprised by the PSP games shown. Who was playing lemmings exactly? Even when it came out?
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.
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: 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.
@Dioxen: And years from now the host lag will still be there...
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?
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...
NOT MY AMPLITUDE!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!
Aw great, what the fuck am I to do with my 2 copies of EyeChat!?
@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.
I thought the Amplitude servers were taken offline over a year ago? Did people rally and get Sony to stay the axe until now?
My Street? Let us bow are head....
Now I want to play Jak X.
@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....
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.
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.
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.
@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.
Regardless of this news, I still support dedicated servers 100%. Plus, I don't own a single title in the list.
This is why you pay MS for Live.
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.
@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: ea didn't use xbox live. there has been a lot of noise about this over the years.
NOOO not My Street! WHY, TAKE ME INSTEAD DAMMIT!
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.
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: 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.