EA shutting down more servers

[onlysublime]

I'm posting some Burnout Revenge videos to celebrate the passing of a great title...

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umhFO_Rs7Ig

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcdPlFQ8Xv8

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPyjcQDgHKc

 

these are 720P videos. unfortunately, Youtube caps videos at 30 fps and Burnout is a 60 fps racer so you're losing speed and smoothness in these videos. and of course, Youtube's transcoder is pretty heavy handed. but what can you do?

[moycon]

I wonder, can you still sync up and play local on a LAN if you had multiple 360's and multiple copies of the game?

I think I have two copies of Burnout Revenge, I'll have to give that a try as I can't remember if local is an option.

 

I'm guessing all the Clips uploaded to the EA servers will be lost.

So sad.

[onlysublime]

EA doesn't permit system link on their games. They say it promotes piracy...

 

Actually, there are a very small number of EA games that allow it but those games are from big time developers who had major clout.

Edited March 21, 2012 by onlysublime

[TwiliteZoner]

XBConnect is a site that I believe has details to allow playing Xbox and 360 games online. Anyone familiar with this site?

[onlysublime]

XBConnect is a site that I believe has details to allow playing Xbox and 360 games online. Anyone familiar with this site?

 

XBConnect is an awesome program. I use it to play system link games on the old Xbox1 over the Internet. And that's the key. The game has to have system link support which is LAN support. And not many Xbox1 titles have system link which has to be completely by game developer design as any multiplayer mode should work fine in a LAN scenario. Microsoft touted system link but only Microsoft-driven titles had strong support for it (like Halo).

 

XBConnect could theoretically work with 360 games that have system link. However, the game developers have figured out how to lock out programs like XBConnect or Xlink Kai by setting an extremely low latency in order for system link to work. I think they set it at 30 ms which is plenty doable in a LAN situation but it's physically impossible to have a latency below 30 ms over the Internet and thus you can't use the majority of Xbox 360 system link games with XBConnect.

 

This is one of the reason why EA doesn't allow their games to have system link. It promotes the ability to play the game outside their control.

 

This is why I admire Epic Games. Take Gears of War. It not only has one of the best co-op story campaigns (so rare to have multiplayer story campaigns), it supports splitscreen, it supports system link, it has many non-online multiplayer modes such as horde mode as well as bots during deathmatch modes. I can have a full Gears of War experience completely offline. Of course, it's more fun to play with friends and you can completely do so in a LAN environment, off the internet.

 

I have no ideas about Bulletstorm which was made by Epic Games but published by EA. Hope they don't take that down soon.

Edited March 21, 2012 by onlysublime

[onlysublime]

Alright, they must be going by east coast time or something. But I logged in at 9:30PM Pacific Daylight Time and the Burnout servers are dead. Argh... You can't at least leave the servers up until midnight for the west coast????

 

Damn you, EA. I'll make it a mission never to buy an EA game again or at worst, buy EA games used....

[riffraff]

Yet, after almost 15 years.. Ultima Online servers are still up & running =)

 

I wonder why EA keeps them up. I guess there are still enough subscribers to pay for them.

[Lord Helmet]

 

Damn you, EA. I'll make it a mission never to buy an EA game again or at worst, buy EA games used....

 

Doesn't really help anymore if you want online multiplayer. Now EA makes you buy an online pass if you get the game used.

[onlysublime]

Damn you, EA. I'll make it a mission never to buy an EA game again or at worst, buy EA games used....

 

Doesn't really help anymore if you want online multiplayer. Now EA makes you buy an online pass if you get the game used.

 

I can skip EA for online multiplayer stuff. Plenty of other gaming options.

 

Single player EA USED is plenty good enough if there is a really great EA game.

 

another memory of one of my last races before they closed the servers:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTkSffJNupY

[moycon]

another memory of one of my last races before they closed the servers:

 

That was GREAT!! I was rooting for ya! LOL

I have to say I usually only did the Crash Courses online. I did play races as well, but I sucked HARD. I mean like crashing a dozen times in a race.

[onlysublime]

I was terrible at Burnout Revenge because it's been years since I played it on the original Xbox. I didn't get the 360 version because I had it on the Xbox1 and couldn't justify spending the high price for it. And it never got cheap at Gamestop because of its popularity. So I didn't get it until about 3 months ago but I didn't put much time into it because of my backlog of games (little did I know they were going to close the servers!).

 

So I go online to play it before they close the servers. And all the expert racers are out there getting in last kicks. And they see my rank is off the charts low (since I hadn't played it at all) so I kept getting booted from the game (I guess they worried I would worsen their rankings?). And CursiveMicrobe6 (Vibrio???) would race me but he's tons better. He even waited for me when he realized how sucky I was.

 

But yeah, in retrospect, if there's a game you really want to play online, don't wait too long or all the people will be gone or the servers will be killed... Considering that Burnout Revenge is still my favorite arcade racer, I should've bit the bullet and bought the game way back when...

[Atariboy]

One thing I've never been sure about, does DLC cease being able to be downloaded when a EA game goes offline? They of course host their own matchmaking and host their own servers unlike most 360 software, but what about things like patches?

 

Are those hosted by MS like DLC for every other game? Or does EA handle that online functions for their own software as well?

Edited April 18, 2012 by Atariboy

[moycon]

And they see my rank is off the charts low (since I hadn't played it at all) so I kept getting booted from the game (I guess they worried I would worsen their rankings?).

 

Yeah that would happen to me a lot when I tried to get back into it years later. Got booted often. I understood at the time because of the rankings. Seriously though, if folks were worried about it days before the servers were being brought down. What a bunch of lame a**holes!

[onlysublime]

One thing I've never been sure about, does DLC cease being able to be downloaded when a EA game goes offline? They of course host their own matchmaking and host their own servers unlike most 360 software, but what about things like patches?

 

Are those hosted by MS like DLC for every other game? Or does EA handle that online functions for their own software as well?

 

As far as I know, all game updates are stored on Microsoft servers and handled by Microsoft. So even EA can't terminate the updates.

 

But the question intrigued me so I went googling to see if I could find anything... and nothing concrete in my 5 minutes of googling...

 

but I did see these:

 

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/xbox-live3.htm

 

"Most Xbox Live content is routed through Microsoft's Xbox Live servers. For the Xbox Live launch in 2002, Microsoft installed massive arrays of servers in four locations in the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. At that time, analysts estimated that the network costs alone would be $500 million, a quarter of the investment Microsoft reportedly spent to institute its first Xbox console."

 

"There are a few exceptions to exclusive content hosting on Xbox Live. Long-time gaming industry leader Electronic Arts (EA) originally wouldn't produce Live Enabled games for Xbox because Microsoft wouldn't allow them to use their own servers. In 2004, Microsoft struck a deal with EA, and now EA produces Live Enabled games for the Xbox [source: Electronic Arts]. Some of those games make use of EA's own system of user accounts, such as those available for EA Sports Active players. Each Xbox Live Gamertag can be associated with an EA.com account, and linking the two is irreversible."

 

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/508/508793p1.html

 

"

The games have never been the problem, as EA has publicly stated its issues with Microsoft's successful online strategy: content control and cash. Xbox owners must pay $69.99 for a starter kit (and $49.99 to renew) to play online Xbox games on centralized servers run by Microsoft. EA wants both control over its content and money for gamers to play its titles. Unlike Sony Computer Entertainment America's laissez-faire setup, which is determined by independent publishers themselves, Microsoft gathers and controls everything. While full fiscal details were not revealed, IGN believes that EA was able to strike a deal with Microsoft to lower the manufacturer's licensing fees for those particular games. Another possibility is that it's working on a new monetary package to pay for online play. As for content, IGN believes Microsoft will share its data with EA."

"Recently, Microsoft's move to create Live Server Protocol (LSP), which enables publishers to set up their own specialized tournaments and leagues on sub-servers, has made the move easier for EA to swallow."

 

 

 

I guess the ultimate test is for me to delete Burnout Revenge and its updates from my HD and see what happens...

[gdement]

I've always been suspicious of games that require the help of a remote online system to access (including anything on Steam). I'm afraid in 10 more years, every new game made will only be a rental.

It's not a big deal to some people, but when I buy a game I want to know I can play it as long as I like, regardless of whether anyone else on the planet cares about it anymore. It's at the point where whenever a modern game gets my interest, I have to research this issue before deciding to buy it.

[madmax2069]

You're making the assumption that the vast majority of 360 games are peer to peer when they're not. Quite a few are but not the vast majority. and yes, for Halo 2, it wasn't one person. multiple gamers have claimed that they kept the servers alive, only to be booted by Microsoft.

 

It's not an assumption, it's a fact. The vast majority of 360 games don't rely on dedicated servers and that's why the vast majority of 360 games still have online multiplayer capabilities. Beyond Electronic Arts releases, very few do (I can't think of a single example off hand, and just a single example on the original Xbox). But anyways it's pointless to argue it.

 

And I just found multiple articles at mainstream gaming sites that reported on the end of Halo 2. The number of players eventually dwindled to a single person after about three weeks, who reported being booted from the server. It doesn't look like they pulled the plug while online multiplayer action was still taking place and waited until there was just a single individual still logged in.

 

The only games on the 360 that uses s 3rd party dedicated server that has no control by Microsoft is that final fantasy mmorpg, battlefield games, the rest use peer to peer.

 

With the 360 when you get signed out of live you got kicked out of the online game, with the original Xbox you could remain in a online game even if you was some how signed out of live, it's how they had it set up to keep the inconvenience down to a minimum when your playing a match. This is why people remained playing halo 2 long after the live servers was taken down, once the peer to peer Connection was made the rest was handled by who ever was the host.

 

. Ps3 uses the same peer to peer system for the majority of the games but are ran by their respected company, just like with the 360 there are only a few games that use a dedicated server, DC Universe, that final fantasy mmorpg, mag, and the battlefield gamed.

Edited April 18, 2012 by madmax2069

[Atariboy]

You're making the assumption that the vast majority of 360 games are peer to peer when they're not. Quite a few are but not the vast majority. and yes, for Halo 2, it wasn't one person. multiple gamers have claimed that they kept the servers alive, only to be booted by Microsoft.

 

It's not an assumption, it's a fact. The vast majority of 360 games don't rely on dedicated servers and that's why the vast majority of 360 games still have online multiplayer capabilities. Beyond Electronic Arts releases, very few do (I can't think of a single example off hand, and just a single example on the original Xbox). But anyways it's pointless to argue it.

 

And I just found multiple articles at mainstream gaming sites that reported on the end of Halo 2. The number of players eventually dwindled to a single person after about three weeks, who reported being booted from the server. It doesn't look like they pulled the plug while online multiplayer action was still taking place and waited until there was just a single individual still logged in.

 

The only games on the 360 that uses s 3rd party dedicated server that has no control by Microsoft is that final fantasy mmorpg, battlefield games, the rest use peer to peer.

 

Ps3 uses the same peer to peer system for the majority of the games but are ran by their respected company, just like with the 360 there are only a few games that use a dedicated server, DC Universe, that final fantasy mmorpg, mag, and the battlefield gamed.

 

I don't believe there is a single EA published Xbox or Xbox 360 game with online multiplayer (Or had in the case of games that have been taken offline) that utilizes P2P. They all work like the Battlefield games on consoles do. Heck, just read what Onlysublime posted. EA was so adament about such things that it took several years after the birth of Xbox Live before they started publishing Xbox Live enabled games since they were so bent on having a high degree of control over their online modes and refused to support the service until they were provided it.

 

And from what I've read over the years and what I've personally experienced, there's a ton of PS3 games that rely on dedicated servers instead of P2P. It's also a major reason why games being taken offline after several years is so widespread on the platform across many different publishers (Unlike on the 360 where it's limited to EA releases with perhaps the occasional exception that I'm unaware of).

 

If all they hosted were matchmaking, I'm sure companies like Codemasters would keep things like their PS3 racers online for extended periods just for the goodwill it generates instead of the negative publicity when a game gets taken offline. But actually having to provide server capacity to host matches is a lot more expensive than handling matchmaking functions and that means that publishers are always in a rush to redirect their server capacity to support more recent releases even if there's still a active online community for a game. And of the course it's also a shady way to drive people to more recent releases (Which I suspect played a role in why EA took that route on the Xbox/Xbox 360; Particularly with its annual sports rereleases being such big business for them, forced obsolescence for the online modes I'm sure was viewed as an incentive to get people out there buying the latest releases in each franchise instead of sticking with one for an extended period).

Edited April 18, 2012 by Atariboy

[onlysublime]

alright. I deleted everything Burnout Revenge related except my game save. Then I launched the game and the updated downloaded. So EA doesn't manage the patches.

[VW]

Ran into yet another reason to hate EA this weekend. I was at a friend's house and he had just got SSX and wanted to show it to me. EA thoughtfully left out local multiplayer in the game and to play head to head you have to play online (with each person buying their own copy of course). Then when EA shuts down the servers in a couple of years you can't play multiplayer with your game at all!

[Atariboy]

alright. I deleted everything Burnout Revenge related except my game save. Then I launched the game and the updated downloaded. So EA doesn't manage the patches.

 

Figured it worked that way, but it's nice to know for sure. Thanks for being the guinea pig.

[onlysublime]

Ran into yet another reason to hate EA this weekend. I was at a friend's house and he had just got SSX and wanted to show it to me. EA thoughtfully left out local multiplayer in the game and to play head to head you have to play online (with each person buying their own copy of course). Then when EA shuts down the servers in a couple of years you can't play multiplayer with your game at all!

 

Are you talking about system link? Yeah, EA does not support system link (LAN play) as they believe it promotes piracy. System link is the reason we can still play Xbox1 titles over the Internet via XBConnect or Xlink Kai. I downloaded every single copy of SSX for Xbox1 (softmodded), praying that it had system link and none had it. Then I read online that EA games don't have system link because of the piracy issue.

 

EA could've used the technique that Epic uses on Gears of War. Set the latency requirement very low so that if the game was played on a true LAN, it would work but would fail over the Internet. That way, Gears of War doesn't work with any tunneling software like XBConnect since GOW requires a max latency of 30 ms to function which is impossibly low for the Internet to meet (I think the best Internet in the world has a latency of 80 ms). Then again, the Epic compromise doesn't prevent people from burning multiple copies of the game and playing completely offline in a LAN scenario.

 

My friend would've modded his 360 if he could play Gears of War via XBConnect. but since he can't, he begrudgingly kept it real and got a Gold subscription...

 

We would've loved to play NHL or Madden via online system link but EA spoiled our plans... Sad that they recognized our evil plans...

Edited April 23, 2012 by onlysublime

[riffraff]

Ran into yet another reason to hate EA this weekend. I was at a friend's house and he had just got SSX and wanted to show it to me. EA thoughtfully left out local multiplayer in the game and to play head to head you have to play online (with each person buying their own copy of course). Then when EA shuts down the servers in a couple of years you can't play multiplayer with your game at all!

 

T...T...T...Tricky!

 

Damn you EA.

[VW]

Ran into yet another reason to hate EA this weekend. I was at a friend's house and he had just got SSX and wanted to show it to me. EA thoughtfully left out local multiplayer in the game and to play head to head you have to play online (with each person buying their own copy of course). Then when EA shuts down the servers in a couple of years you can't play multiplayer with your game at all!

 

Are you talking about system link? Yeah, EA does not support system link (LAN play) as they believe it promotes piracy. System link is the reason we can still play Xbox1 titles over the Internet via XBConnect or Xlink Kai. I downloaded every single copy of SSX for Xbox1 (softmodded), praying that it had system link and none had it. Then I read online that EA games don't have system link because of the piracy issue.

 

I meant something as simple as split screen multiplayer that many games have. I have seen LAN play in a few ps3 titles like GT5 but not very often. That piracy argument is garbage of course, they just want you to have to buy the newest version of their game. Even on PC nobody supports LAN anymore because of the alleged piracy issue. It's really all about control and having an off switch for their game.

[Metal Ghost]

Ran into yet another reason to hate EA this weekend. I was at a friend's house and he had just got SSX and wanted to show it to me. EA thoughtfully left out local multiplayer in the game and to play head to head you have to play online (with each person buying their own copy of course). Then when EA shuts down the servers in a couple of years you can't play multiplayer with your game at all!

 

Are you talking about system link? Yeah, EA does not support system link (LAN play) as they believe it promotes piracy. System link is the reason we can still play Xbox1 titles over the Internet via XBConnect or Xlink Kai. I downloaded every single copy of SSX for Xbox1 (softmodded), praying that it had system link and none had it. Then I read online that EA games don't have system link because of the piracy issue.

 

I meant something as simple as split screen multiplayer that many games have. I have seen LAN play in a few ps3 titles like GT5 but not very often. That piracy argument is garbage of course, they just want you to have to buy the newest version of their game. Even on PC nobody supports LAN anymore because of the alleged piracy issue. It's really all about control and having an off switch for their game.

 

I hadn't realized that LAN support was waining. That's one of the things I love about Gears 2 and 3 (probably on 1 but I've never used it): co-op over LAN. Though with our busy lives the opportunities are sparse, on those occassions that my buddy and I can actually meet up for some Gears co-op, it seems awfully silly to connect each of our 360's through live when we're in the same room. Kudos to you, Epic, for including LAN support!