Microsoft Uses Gifts to Make Up for Halo 2's End

[Pendragon9]

What I see this as is getting kicked in the nuts, but getting money in return.

It's nice, but the pain will still linger. But what can you do. They did something at least.

 

[orangeapples]

What makes Halo 2 servers shutting any different from some other games servers closing? Certainly nothing that warrants giving people stuff thats for sure.

Halo is Microsoft's flagship. Anything that keeps the Halo fans happy keeps Microsoft happy.

 

[Gxas]

So how long do I have to play to become one of these "loyal Halo 2 players"? I mean, I could put the game in and just leave myself logged into Live until they shut it down. That would make me loyal, right?

Right!?

RIGHT!?

I WANT FREE STUFF!!!!

 

[CyberKnight]

And much like the "Live is 5ive" and "Rewards Club" promotions, I'm still left in the cold.

I don't know what "loyal" means to them, but apparently, paying for Live for seven years straight since Live was in beta, picking up Halo 2 on launch day, logging 1800+ games in Halo 2, isn't it.

 

[AfterAscon]

money grab. hard core money grab. They don't care if people are playing halo 2. What they care about is them not playing Halo 3 or odst.
makes perfect sense, it's just a dick move.

MS's been doing this for years.

Hardly, Halo 2 came out 5 1/2 years ago, thats longer than they supported the original xbox. Also compared to other companies, such as EA, the fact the servers are still going is remarkable for a console game.

 

[Who Dares Wins]

(I just noticed that Tom's avatar is a Nu, probably because I started playing Chrono Trigger two weeks ago, that's why I've been inactive for the last two weeks xD)

Er...what?!

OT: Now how do I get on this mailing list....

Totally Offtopic

http://chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Nu, look at Tom Goldman's avatar, picture, whatever(the topic poster). It's a Nu creature from Chrono Trigger an unbelievably good SNES and DS game which I recommend for everyone. God, you gotta draw it all for the people here to be understood.

 

[TimbukTurnip]

Am i the only one who finds this unfair? Why should people who played an old game get free stuff because they can no longer play that game over the internet?
I guess it works for Microsoft - they won't lose a segment of gamers, as they will stay with Microsoft and upgrade to a 360 and whatever, but still it seems plain unfair to me.

 

[AceDiamond]

Am i the only one who finds this unfair? Why should people who played an old game get free stuff because they can no longer play that game over the internet?
I guess it works for Microsoft - they won't lose a segment of gamers, as they will stay with Microsoft and upgrade to a 360 and whatever, but still it seems plain unfair to me.

It's called the squeaky wheel getting the grease. I don't necessarily like it (especially because some of the people complaining were so illogical they deserved a lobotomy more than anything else), but at the same time I understand the need to placate dissenting users at least to some degree.

And let's be honest, this is a lot better than UbiSoft's reactions to complaints about its DRM (i.e. pretend there's nothing wrong at all)

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

Wow...so Microsoft is doing something nice for it's loyal fans?

I'm shocked! They see us people! WE'RE PEOPLE TO THEM EVERYONE!

This made me smile like a loon.

 

[Tharwen]

Beta access for Halo: Reach, a 360 game.

I see what you did there, Microsoft!

 

[The Hairminator]

I wonder... When Reach is out, who the heck is gonna play Halo 3? It's gonna go the same way, sooner or later.

 

[MasTerHacK]

Microsoft being nice?!
Uncle Billy has something up his sleeve.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I think that a lot of them DO have 360s but for some reason or another thought that Halo 3 was "broken" and kept playing 2.

And Microsoft does nice stuff all the time...like...the rare free arcade game and weekly sales on stuff you might want?

Okay. So its not much...BUT HERE'S FREE STUFF!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.178172-Xbox-Live-Free-Downloads-List-Over-160-Links

 

[GamingAwesome1]

money grab. hard core money grab. They don't care if people are playing halo 2. What they care about is them not playing Halo 3 or odst.
makes perfect sense, it's just a dick move.

MS's been doing this for years.

I'm with this guy.

 

[Grey_Focks]

hell, free stuff is free stuff, and that's three months I don't have to pay for live and a few points to spend on whatever. I fail to see the negative of this. yes, you need a 360 to reap these benefits, but I'm pretty sure most people who were still play halo 2 online were playing it off their 360's.

Halo players are pretty stupid anyway, or so it's said.

 

[Nurb]

They aren't being nice, they're doing something more cost effective than keeping a server up for another year. They wouldn't do this if it actually cost them money, and being nice means going out of your way, they just don't want loyal fans using bad word of mouth and hurt their image.

They'll shut down the halo 3 servers in a few years to force people to upgrade to the new system and it'll just make people angry again.

This is why a multiplayer is not an excuse for a short or bad single player experience, because game companies are cutting players off from servers sooner and sooner lately in order to 'encourage' them to buy the new product, and people who like to keep and save their systems to go back to won't have a very interesting library.

 

[CD-R]

Can't the primitive Halo 2 network code piggy back the Halo Reach servers?

Yes yes yes, I know it was advanced for its time, but like in todays bandwith chewing internet Halo 2's net code while not as efficient for its day probably hasn't got such a high workload?.

I don't know. I do remember the Escapist running an article about how the reason you can't have more than 100 friends on live is because of Halo 2 though.