EA Console titles becoming Vaporware

[Dusty668]

Linky goodness here.

EA will be shutting down servers for these titles on 2/2/10.

* UEFA Champions League 07 PC and x360
* Facebreaker x360 and PS3
* Fantasy Football 09 x360 and PS3
* FIFA 07 PSP, PS2, PC
* Fight Night Round 3 PS2
* Madden 08 Wii
* Madden 08 PC
* Madden 09 Xbox1
* Madden 09 Wii and PSP
* March Madness 07 x360
* NBA 07 PSP, x360
* NBA 08 PS2, PSP, Wii
* NBA 09 Wii – Europe only
* NBA Street (2007) PS3 and x360
* NCAA Football 08 PS2
* NCAA Football 09 PS2
* NASCAR 08 PS2
* NASCAR 09 PS2
* NASCAR 09 PS3 and x360 – Europe Only
* NFL Tour PS3 and x360
* NHL 07 PSP and x360
* NHL 08 PC
* Tiger Woods 07 PC
* Madden 09 x360 and PS3
* Madden 07 Xbox 360

Say yer goodbyes while you can. Any way you want to play indeed.

 

[Shegokigo]

I'm surprised they'd even keep up servers for older games when a new version is released.

 

[@Li3n]

I'm surprised they don't come to your house and take the old version away so you'd have to get the new one to keep playing.

 

[KCWM]

Would that really be considered "vaporware"? Maybe obsolete is a better word...unsupported...something like that.

 

[RealBigNuke]

I'm surprised they don't come to your house and take the old version away so you'd have to get the new one to keep playing.

I'm surprised they don't just rig games to explode a year after they're imprinted in anticipation of the next re-release.

 

[@Li3n]

That's stupid... what if the kid learn how to disarm it from the internet? then he'll still have the game.

 

[RealBigNuke]

That's stupid... what if the kid learn how to disarm it from the internet? then he'll still have the game.

Well the self-destruct feature would be protected by DRM that takes up as many system resources as the games themselves, of course.

 

[Jay]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

 

[AshburnerX]

This is actually standard procedure, anytime it's the Dev/Publisher that is hosting the servers. Lots of old Multi-player games on the PS2 don't have servers anymore (Resident Evil Outbreak Files 1 & 2 come to mind. So does Syphon Filter: Omega Strain... which is frustrating because you NEED multiplayer to unlock everything in that one) and it's because it's hard to justify the cost of the servers when your not getting money back.

 

[Jay]

Thus why consoles will always suck and PC companies who try this fail miserably.

 

[Seraphyn]

Madden 09 x360 and PS3?

Seems a bit early doesn't it?

Anyways it's a pretty standard thing to most companies do. It's no longer profitable, nor much in use to justify keeping it to nurture your community so it gets axed after a few years. On the PC it's not much of a problem, usually the largest community site will get a server going and even patch the game further, though I guess something like that isn't quite possible with consoles.

 

[@Li3n]

That's stupid... what if the kid learn how to disarm it from the internet? then he'll still have the game.

Well the self-destruct feature would be protected by DRM that takes up as many system resources as the games themselves, of course.[/QUOTE]

Which will get cracked within a month...

 

[Frank]

It looks like they're turning off servers that lack a large enough userbase to continue supporting. Not really a big deal. I'm guessing most Maddenites just moved onto 2010 when it came out.

 

[Chibibar]

Thus why consoles will always suck and PC companies who try this fail miserably.

Yea. At least with PC, you can host (or mod one) a server and play with your friends. Consoles can't get that since many company are going after "modded" consoles like xbox 360.

 

[JCM]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

Pretty much why I dont buy multiplayer EA titles, or Microsoft consoles. You only get support for your game (or in the Xbox's case, games) for a limited time, then its bye bye.

 

[Chibibar]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

Pretty much why I dont buy multiplayer EA titles, or Microsoft consoles. You only get support for your game (or in the Xbox's case, games) for a limited time, then its bye bye.[/QUOTE]

On a similar note, how come L4D2 Xbox can't play with L4D2 PC? are they not using steam account? (I don't have L4D2 xbox, but my friend couldn't play with me for some reason and I finally bought him l4d2 PC as xmas (tino-kun and stuhibiki)

 

[JCM]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

Pretty much why I dont buy multiplayer EA titles, or Microsoft consoles. You only get support for your game (or in the Xbox's case, games) for a limited time, then its bye bye.[/QUOTE]

On a similar note, how come L4D2 Xbox can't play with L4D2 PC? are they not using steam account? (I don't have L4D2 xbox, but my friend couldn't play with me for some reason and I finally bought him l4d2 PC as xmas (tino-kun and stuhibiki)[/QUOTE]Because they are different games. Yes, the levels look the same, but the engine is heavily modified for each version. You can get multi-console gaming in the same world thorugh emulation, like the Wii Final Fantasy game that emulated the Ds version.

And even if they could put them together, MS doesnt allow players with X360 mice and keyboards in Halo2/3, neither would they allow it with L4D, as a L4D player with a PC would easily beat anyone with a joystick.

 

[Bowielee]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

Pretty much why I dont buy multiplayer EA titles, or Microsoft consoles. You only get support for your game (or in the Xbox's case, games) for a limited time, then its bye bye.[/QUOTE]

On a similar note, how come L4D2 Xbox can't play with L4D2 PC? are they not using steam account? (I don't have L4D2 xbox, but my friend couldn't play with me for some reason and I finally bought him l4d2 PC as xmas (tino-kun and stuhibiki)[/QUOTE]Because they are different games. Yes, the levels look the same, but the engine is heavily modified for each version. You can get multi-console gaming in the same world thorugh emulation, like the Wii Final Fantasy game that emulated the Ds version.

And even if they could put them together, MS doesnt allow players with X360 mice and keyboards in Halo2/3, neither would they allow it with L4D, as a L4D player with a PC would easily beat anyone with a joystick.[/QUOTE]

Not neccesarily true anymore. The biggest selling point of Games For Windows Live (POS bloatware that it is) was that you could play cross platform.

 

[JCM]

My bad.

Ignore what I said then, looks like my past 10 years of MS-free gaming made me outdated.

 

[Bowielee]

My bad.

Ignore what I said then, looks like my past 10 years of MS-free gaming made me outdated.

Believe me, you're better off never having to deal with GFWL.

 

[Shegokigo]

He's pretty much right about L4D though, can't play it cross-platform.

 

[figmentPez]

On a similar note, how come L4D2 Xbox can't play with L4D2 PC?

I suspect that it's because MS won't let Valve run things on the 360 the way they do on the PC. I don't know if it's patches, or servers, or custom content or whatever, but Valve has said they wanted to do cross-platform play for TF2 (and presumably L4D as well) but that they couldn't work things out with MS.

I know that in-house, Valve has played games cross-platform between 360 and PC. It can be done, but either politics or practicality has kept it from happening in the real world.

 

[Bowielee]

He's pretty much right about L4D though, can't play it cross-platform.

Yup, because it's not a GFWL compatable game.

 

[Frank]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

Pretty much why I dont buy multiplayer EA titles, or Microsoft consoles. You only get support for your game (or in the Xbox's case, games) for a limited time, then its bye bye.[/QUOTE]

It's not just EA, most companies will shut down servers for a game when there is no longer a player base left worth supporting.

 

[Chibibar]

So wait... people who bought their games can now no longer play MP? Wow.

Class.

Pretty much why I dont buy multiplayer EA titles, or Microsoft consoles. You only get support for your game (or in the Xbox's case, games) for a limited time, then its bye bye.[/QUOTE]

It's not just EA, most companies will shut down servers for a game when there is no longer a player base left worth supporting.[/QUOTE]

True, but games like L4D series and Team Fortress series allow users to setup their own server which extends the life of a game for a long time. What options does console system get? even older game like EQ, UO, and SWG (MMORPG stuff) people make their own server to play on. Well, almost any game that requires a server that is on PC side can "host a server" and people can enjoy and continue to play their games.

Consoles seem to be at the mercy of company that keep the server going as long "it makes a buck"