The End of an Era.....(my old Xbox gets put under the bed)....

Well today is the day. Today we begin mourning our beloved original Xboxs and their multiplayer titles; XboxLive will be cut off from them. Microsoft announced it a while ago but I don't know if we're ready to leave games like Halo 2 or Crimson Skies or even good ol' Battlefield 2.

The Xbox made its debut on November 15, 2001 with the game that dropped me onto a ringworld that took my normally casual gaming to a whole new and competitive level, Halo: Combat Evolved. Exactly one year later Microsft introduced the XboxLive subscription service; a way for you to connect and play with or against people from all over the world as well as download new content straight to the harddrive on the console. The first two months up only saw about 250,000 individual subscribers. In July, 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had reached one million subscribers; in July, 2005, (IMO due to the release of Halo 2) membership reached two million people. As of May 2009 that number has increased to 20,000,000 and is still growing daily. An astounding number of people across the planet are spending their time teaming up with and killing each other via this insanely popular virtual network; everyone in my house has a subscription as a matter of fact.

The bomb was dropped on February 5th, 2010 that on April 15th, 2010, there would be no more XboxLive through original Xboxs or for their games even if played on the Xbox360. 'Tis a sad day for all, a sad day indeed.

As I type this I am in fact gathering my old Xbox games and console for one last hurrah; my copies of Halo/Halo 2, Crimson Skies and Battlefield 2 are going to get played until dawn....or whenever they cut off Live. After that....Halo 2 might come out for campaign nostalgia, but I don't know if I could bear to face it without being able to rip someone to shreds from 50 feet away with a totally bullshit sword swing....ah, the good ol' days....

-Armand

Day One Bribery, Even on XBL?

Day one incentives are something that's been around as long as I can remember, whether it be some sort of cool unlockable weapon, maps or even just some silly gamerpictures. Lately you'll get more....interesting incentives. After pre-ordering Tekken 6 I was handed a calendar for instance; and after pre-ordering God of War III I was given armor that helps me beat the game quicker (which I have yet to even download). This goes the same for most of EA's titles; Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 both give you access to tons of free DLC through built in networks only attainable by getting the game on Day one, lest you shell out roughly $15 extra for the networks later on.

Well, it seems that getting DLC on the first day yields some rewards as well; or so Microsoft is showing us:

Yep, that's right. For spending $15 on the Stimulus map pack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and not being able to play it until later that evening due to updating hiccups, we get a week of free Xbox Live service. I dunno about you but that's kinda weak IMO. Seriously, the price point should've been set at $10 at most and the testing for this update fiasco should've been worked out when the DLC was being considered.

I can't say much for IW on this one but to Microsoft - My PS3 is, for the first time ever, beating out my 360 in usage.

-Armand