When XBOX is a classic...Whats XBOX live going to do?

[DShoe]

i was thinking about this the other day....like all things..good things must come to and end. all systems are hot,then eventually they end up at the back of the pile of video game systems just to get played when you wanna play your favorite game for that system....my wonder is
whats going to happen to xbox live here in a few years when its old not cool and microsoft doesnt make billions off of it.....people are going to be stuck w/ a ton of hightech<by todays standard> useless stuff.thats why im kinda leary of dropping any big money on this......i remeber back when sega had the deal w/ the cable company where you put a cartridge that looked like the 32x adaptor in the system turned it on it connected and you had 40 different complete games to play each month for like 8 bucks......i thought man nobody can compete w/ this......well tod. youd be laughed at calling the cable company wanting to replace your sega adaptor......im just wondering what everybody else thinks of this......

[thegreatescape]

Probably the same thing that happened to Seganet / Dreamcast online- the game servers will slowly shut down one at a time, and eventually the x-box live master server will stop operating.
I wouldnt bet against someone hacking it to get around the x-box live stuff so you could play direct I.P connect games (or something like that).

And before someone else says it, the enter key is your friend
:)

[Gamereviewgod]

It's the #1 reason I'm not online. I don't want to get hooked on something that I won't be able to play in a few years. That's stupid. I REALLY hate the downloadable content since you have to get it online. If it's not on the harddrive when the system goes, that stuff is lost forever.

[Flack]

I think it's inevitable. Live for the now. Many of us have broadband adapters for our Dreamcasts, DivX players and Beta machines gathering dust. Nothing lasts forever; enjoy it while it lasts.

[NE146]

Anything with bits is hackable by hobbyists. I'm sure there will be some odd way here or there to access a fan-made "Xbox Live" service either running locally or in some virtual capacity for all the old school xbox afficionados in the year 2024 or so. The participation may have dwindled by then however :P

[Drexel923]

It's the #1 reason I'm not online. I don't want to get hooked on something that I won't be able to play in a few years. That's stupid. I REALLY hate the downloadable content since you have to get it online. If it's not on the harddrive when the system goes, that stuff is lost forever.

Ummm, the downloadable content saves onto your HD AFAIK. As for not being online, that makes no sense. Pay for the year or so and play the games now...I'm sure when Xbox 2 comes out they'll have a new version of Live and then you can continue with your online fix. Heck, they may it may even still support original xbox games, so why couldn't they continue the service into the next platform...for example, Live keeps on updating to newer versions, but the older games can still be played. I don't really see a reason for them to change it so much that it couldn't work.

[bargora]

Like Flack said, seize the day. Even if Live shut down tomorrow, I've already supped my fill of sweet, sweet online mechbusting. How many offline games drag you back to play over 200 hours in a year?

[aaron7]

Anyone remember the dial-up adaptor and games for the NES and Sega? Exactly.

[WanganRunner]

I can't imagine that it'll die until Microsoft stops making consoles altogether (i.e. not in the forseeable future).

Xbox Next will surely have some sort of online functionality, and they'll probably just piggyback Xbox live on with it, having some stuff that's for both systems, and some that's only for Xbox Next. I don't see Microsoft pulling the plug on Live for a looooong time.

[Gamereviewgod]

Ummm, the downloadable content saves onto your HD AFAIK

Yeah, I know. If I don't download them now, I'm screwed. That extra content is gone. Just make the content available on the release disc. I paid $50 for the game, give me what I paid for. I'm not spending $70 a year simply get that.

I really don't play games until the system dies. That's when I start hitting the bargain bins to build the collection. I'll buy some of the bigger titles, rent a few more, and then go nuts when the system collapses.

Online gaming simply doesn't appeal to me in the least. If I want multi-player, I'll call some friends over. I'd rather avoid the 10-year olds and cheaters.

[digitalpress]

Online gaming simply doesn't appeal to me in the least. If I want multi-player, I'll call some friends over. I'd rather avoid the 10-year olds and cheaters.

Totally fair point. I felt that way too for awhile, until I discovered that I can play with friends AND play online. That certainly eliminates any locational logistics. On any given night I can play with my friend from NJ, my friend from Colorado, and my friend from the UK.

I also discovered that playing totally random people greatly boosts my personal skills, I find that I'm always learning something that I would not have with the same group of friends.

I'm not a big fan of the headset, at least not unless it's ALL friends. I can do without the bratty kids and non-stop profanity from strangers, but nothing beats the headset play with friends. It's like everyone's in the room with you.

My two zenny.

[Spottedkitty]

Well, technically you can already play Live games without Live. So long as said games have a LAN option.

You do need a bit of know-how to set it up and I've heard it's quite laggy but concidering by the time Live finally shuts down we'll all be using 100MB+ services then it's not gonna make much of a difference.
Just see http://www.xbconnect.com/

[K3V]

I play Halo 2 over XBConnect all the time, and it works quite well - much less laggy than Halo 1, probably because it was designed with internet play in mind. It even supports voice chat if you have the Communicator :)

[nate1749]

Not to be an ass, but just to clear up a common misconception... Microsoft has only lost money on Xbox, they have not made a dime. In the last statement that I read from the CFO he stated that profits were planned for xbox 2.
Here's an article that grazes on the topic (I can't find the relase from the CFO on microsoft's page)
http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/28/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/


Also, I think it will also just die like sega dreamcast online did (so sad). Maybe gamespy will move into the console arena.

[buttasuperb]

I can't imagine that it'll die until Microsoft stops making consoles altogether (i.e. not in the forseeable future).

Xbox Next will surely have some sort of online functionality, and they'll probably just piggyback Xbox live on with it, having some stuff that's for both systems, and some that's only for Xbox Next. I don't see Microsoft pulling the plug on Live for a looooong time.

I hope this is the case.

[TheRedEye]

Anyone remember the dial-up adaptor and games for the NES [...]?"

Oh, you mean the one that doesn't exist?

[aaron7]

No, the one that does! I have an ad for it. Possibly few were made... but it did exist.

[robotriot]

Well, there is one difference to the DC online system afaik - Xbox live isn't free, so it probably could be held alive for a much longer time than the servers for DC games, right? At least that would be reason for MS to keep the service going - making money with it.

[nate1749]

dc online = dreamcast online? It was free???? I thought there was a monthly charge of like $9.99 or something. Well what the heck, why wasn't I playing games online!

Nate

[Wavelflack]

Anyone remember the dial-up adaptor and games for the NES and Sega? Exactly.

I remember seeing advertisements for them (Baton Teleplay, Edge 16), but neither were ever released. Ever.

It seems that you're trying to prove a point here ("Exactly."), but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it is. Are you trying to equate Xbox Live with the old modems from the 8-bit and 16-but era? If so, I'll point out that Xbox Live was "actually released". That alone differentiates the two. Are you saying that XBL will wither and die a failure? The NES and Genesis modems (aforementioned) never died because they never lived. Xband came out eventually, but didn't really catch on. I would say it's reasonable to think that XBL HAS "caught on".

[aaron7]

Simply put, the idea was there and now no-one knows it even existed. XBL obviously came out and is 1000000000000x more popular than the NES idea, but it was still an online gaming thing that dissapeared. XBL will dissapear just the same, yet will take much longer.

[Leo_A]

If Xbox Live 2 utilizes the same resources as the current Xbox Live, you may see it live beyond the system's death.

Much like how many old Sierra published games are still online like NASCAR Legends when hardly anyone uses them. It uses the same online stuff as their other stuff so it doesn't take many resources to keep supporting them.

[Mattiekrome]

Xband was the coolest thing I ever owned until I got the first phone bill @_@

XBL, although I have never played it (or XBOX for that matter) is quite successful, or so it seems. But as mentioned above, I would think the servers will slowly die out 1 by 1 as gamers lose interest... all good things must come to an end (but not anytime soon I wouldnt think)

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm...Microsoft will have to offer some sort of backwards compatibility on a newer system, and if they don't do that, the PEOPLE will have to take responsibility upon themselves and CREATE A NEW SOCIETY...er, put up some servers. Shame it can't be like DOOM where all you need is the iWAD and can recode a new MP engine for it.

[Drexel923]

Ummm, the downloadable content saves onto your HD AFAIK

Yeah, I know. If I don't download them now, I'm screwed. That extra content is gone. Just make the content available on the release disc. I paid $50 for the game, give me what I paid for. I'm not spending $70 a year simply get that.

Actually you pay $50 for the game itself...thats the way its always been, I don't think you or I deserve more than that. The whole point of downloadable content is to get you on Xbox Live. It kinda defeats the purpose if they give you the extra stuff without it. BTW, you do realize that a year of Xbox Live will only cost you $50. Then you can go and download all the content you want...except of course the ones that make you pay extra for it. (but most don't). I think that $50 is a fair price for the best online gaming and extra content for a year. Plus who knows, you may actually get into online gaming if you give it a try....not everyone you play against is an asshole.

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=801746

[Leo_A]

I got a feeling when this goes, it will all go at once.

Pretty sure this is ran like stuff like WON is by Sierra. Don't think it will disappear 1 by 1 like the Dreamcast.

[bargora]

I suspect that when the next Xbox iteration hits, Microsoft may rework the Xbox Live data transmission protocols. As I understand it, the current protocol uses some sort of funky packet size that works just fine with DSL, but leads to some degree of packet loss or deprioritization over cable-based broadband. Also, the Xbox Dashboard speed test is apparently bollixed.

I've learned all of this from people's travails trying to get Steel Battalion: Line of Contact to work properly, especially over cable connections. Most game companies have worked around the underlying problems, which is why most Xbox Live games run smoothly. But not Capcom / Nude Maker. SB:LOC apparently utilizes the dashboard speed test in deciding who has sufficient speed and latency statistics for a match before admitting the player into a lobby. Because the test is inaccurate, many people with perfectly good connections are denied entry from a room or else kicked out shortly after entering. The problem is intensified since LOC uses peer-to-peer networking in-game rather than the more common client-server model. This networking model ensures synchronicity in game action, which means that there's none of this business where you shoot someone in Halo 2 about 30 times and then they turn around and kill you, because the game has decided that your target really wasn't where you thought it was. Unfortunately, it also requires a lot more data transmission and requires low levels of latency to achieve smooth gameplay.

Anyway, what I'm thinking is that there probably will be changes to Xbox Live in the future, making it unlikely that it will be entirely (or even partially) backward-compatible, unless the current system is maintained in parallel with any upgrades.

And of course, I could be completely, absolutely wrong about that.

EDIT: Ha! Killed this thread DEAD.