The Death of a Game and the Triumph of the Human Spirit

Mmorpg gamers know that when a company shuts down its servers a game dies. The ending of Microsoft Live support for the original Xbox has brought this reality home to fans of other types of online game including the once all powerful Halo 2.

The servers were officially closed on 15th April but any game that was currently online was allowed to keep playing. In a move that sends shivers of admiration down my spine a small group of dedicated Halo 2 gamers have refused to turn off their Xboxes. As long as they keep online and playing the game lives on. Microsoft pulled the plug on April 15th but now nearly two weeks later the die-hards are still holding out and still playing. Unfortunately dodgy internet connections and console overheating are working a steady battle of attrition, as of today only 13 gamers remain online.

Forget about the politics of this for the moment. Forget about loss of dedicated servers, PC versus Console, always online drm schemes and loss of gaming heritage. This is just an epic story of human persistence in the face of adversity. I salute those 13 gamers.

Comments

Thallian said…

/salute!

4:22 pm

Tesh said…

Very well done, methinketh. Too bad players can't connect to those intrepid souls' machines and expand the numbers.

5:50 pm

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