Hellgate: London Servers Shutting Down

[Andy Chalk]

Hellgate: London Servers Shutting Down

The final curtain is set to fall on Flagship Studios [http://www.hellgatelondon.com/] a few months ago.

In late July, following the demise of Flagship, Zack Karlsson of continue to operate [http://www.namcobandaigames.com/], and that the company was trying to "figure it all out and chart a new course" for the game. "In the short term, please do not worry," Karlsson said. "The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance."

The "short term" appears to be drawing to a close, however, as Namco announced that the Hellgate: London servers will be shut down as of February 1, 2009. "Namco Bandai Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios," the publisher said in a message [http://www.hellgatelondon.com/namco-announces-free-server-support-2009-hellgate] posted on the official Hellgate: London website. "In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date."

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/hellgate-london-to-shut-down]


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[Melaisis]

Anyone remember when this was supposed to revolutionise the MMO industry despite it being clearly clunky and broken from the beginning but due to an extraordinary amount of media hype (I'm looking at you, PC Gamer UK!) it was built up to be some sort of instant classic?

That worked well, din' it?

 

[broadband]

well i never heard any of the hype but this is funny.

 

[Dechef]

A damn shame. I mean it when I say this game had a really really great concept, but it just didn't work out. Oh well.

 

[OverlordSteve]

Hellgate: London is one of those instances where the game magazines did a complete 180 from previews to reviews.

 

[Ralackk]

The game may of been a huge success if it had a few more layers of polish on it. I also don't know what they were thinking with the voice actors and the story. It was probably one of the worst voice acted and written games for a long time.

 

[Stragen]

I bet those people who forked out the couple of hundred clams for the lifetime membership on the mmo side of it are spewing.

Game was dead to me after a few hours of play, funny to see it completely dead now!

 

[TsunamiWombat]

*doffs hat, bows head*

I speak farewell to you, Lucious Aldin, and Techsmith 314. You were some of the greatest videogame characters ever.

I Alpha/Beta tested Hellgate London. It could've been epic. It could've been grand. Just... it couldn't have been a good MMO. It shouldn't have been an MMO. It was an FPS Diablo, it should've focus'ed on that. A Dark Messiah of Might and Magic that didn't suck. Then, then it could have been magnificent. Glorious! I still fondly remember shooting the denizens of hell with my ARC repeater. And my Thermite Rocket Shotgun thing whose name I forget, you know it fired these impact grenades in like a circular spread and it looked kind of like a jet intake? uhh anyway, awesome gun.

OH HELLGATE LONDON! THY PREMISE WAS GOOD! BUT YOU MADE THE DEMONS INTO ALIENS, AND THAT WAY LAYS DAMNATION!

You shall be missed. You shall be mourned. Adieu, Adieu.

They didn't listen to us. We told them the game wasn't ready, to push back the release. The forums cried out for time, time! But no. They released on Halloween as planned. And then it all came down, because they released a game before it's time- before it was ready!

"Stars fell and I wept. The void returned and I wept. Midnight spread and I wept. I wept. And wept. And waited. Boundless is Creation and so I am doomed to weep evermore. Now unbidden, this wisdom I will impart, for I am the Sage, a woman whose heart will weep no more. I am Truth. Will you learn? Worlds great and small have ended before me. They are beyond count, yet I remember all. For each star I have bled and do bleed still. My tears are tomes - great oceans to remember the burnt peoples of lands far and near. And yet, I am but one of many, forgotten in places bereft of Light... Now remembered. And so this gift I give freely: There are others. They wait to speak. Seek them and you shall learn, for I am the Sage and my gift is knowledge. Woe to the Dark, for knowledge is Light and Light shines still."

 

[Andy Chalk]

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic didn't suck.

 

[PhoenixFlame]

Unfortunate. Prior to the announcement of Diablo 3, this was touted among other things to be the next Diablo. Sadly, teamplay and communication were just not made to be a part of the mix, causing people to go solo through the whole thing. That, combined with the terribly repetitive gameplay, and that was that. I won't even get into the bugs, but they were there, and I hoped to have had them fixed by then.

The demise of HG:L pretty much reflects the lack of tolerance many folks have for buggy releases.

 

[Mariena]

Shucks.. I lost interest after a few months after it got quite repetitive. I never actually teamed up with someone, either.. the party system was so broken, and it was already too easy on your own, let alone with two of you! Oh well.

At least I had a good time in the beta and I'm glad I never subscribed. I had a good time on the Hellgate Guru forums, too! And you, Scapes, our beloved community manager.. where have you gone after the collapse of FSS? Good friend, where are you!

 

[cainx10a]

Shucks.. I lost interest after a few months after it got quite repetitive. I never actually teamed up with someone, either.. the party system was so broken, and it was already too easy on your own, let alone with two of you! Oh well.

At least I had a good time in the beta and I'm glad I never subscribed. I had a good time on the Hellgate Guru forums, too! And you, Scapes, our beloved community manager.. where have you gone after the collapse of FSS? Good friend, where are you!

Wait, what? The party system offered a harder challenge, and better loot/xp. I pretty much only played the game with a friend or 2, and it was helluva fun. Content patch 2.0 was technically going to add a decent portion of content to keep it running for a few more months, then, it all went down from there.

I didn't start playing this game until only a few months after the release, as a matter of fact, I started about 1 month and a half, before FSS's problems started. 2.0 was supposed to fix so many things, even including new tilesets to help generate new areas in the original game (not just the additional areas )

I will have to say, I had a lot of fun in this game, but that's also part to the awesome guild I was in, and the great people in it.

R.I.P HGL

 

[Mariena]

Shucks.. I lost interest after a few months after it got quite repetitive. I never actually teamed up with someone, either.. the party system was so broken, and it was already too easy on your own, let alone with two of you! Oh well.

At least I had a good time in the beta and I'm glad I never subscribed. I had a good time on the Hellgate Guru forums, too! And you, Scapes, our beloved community manager.. where have you gone after the collapse of FSS? Good friend, where are you!

Wait, what? The party system offered a harder challenge, and better loot/xp. I pretty much only played the game with a friend or 2, and it was helluva fun. Content patch 2.0 was technically going to add a decent portion of content to keep it running for a few more months, then, it all went down from there.

I didn't start playing this game until only a few months after the release, as a matter of fact, I started about 1 month and a half, before FSS's problems started. 2.0 was supposed to fix so many things, even including new tilesets to help generate new areas in the original game (not just the additional areas )

I will have to say, I had a lot of fun in this game, but that's also part to the awesome guild I was in, and the great people in it.

R.I.P HGL

Well, in the times that I played (the beta, for instance), the party system was horribly, horrible bugged. That lasted quite a while after release.