Gamesylvania

After reading the excellently written piece by Jason Trent on why shutting down Xbox Live support for original Xbox titles will benefit users, I had to come up with a rebuttal piece. Trent makes some very good points, and I can certainly get behind Microsoft’s decision to improve the service. Unfortunately, I just really like to argue with people. Here are 5 good reasons why shutting down Xbox Live classic is a bad idea.

5. People still play Halo 2
Perhaps not many, but there are people who still prefer it over Halo 3. According to Bungie.net, as of this writing, there are 757 players online; 5,610 unique players within the last 24 hours. Also, as a used games seller, I can tell you that I’ve sold off every copy of Halo 2 that’s ever come into my virtual shop. Even with the game available to purchase on demand via Xbox Live, people are still paying good money for a hard copy.

4. There are more games than just Halo 2 at stake
Crimson Skies, for one, offers a fantastic multiplayer experience. The awesome, aerial combat is a lot of fun. Then you have Mechassault, one of the first games that made Xbox Live a must-have service. Unfortunately, once the plug gets pulled, those great moments are gone forever. You can still play them, you’ll just never know what it was like to play them online.

3. The original Xbox still works
I bumped into a guy a few weeks ago at a GameStop who was pretty excited to be buying an Xbox. No, not an Xbox 360, the original Xbox. You see, not everyone has a lot of money. Getting an old Xbox for cheap is a big deal to them.
Another issue is the fail rate of Xbox 360s. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, do you really want to risk investing in a machine that is going to die on you? Red rings, disc-scratches — the risk isn’t worth it to them.

2. Backwards incompatability
Another great reason to hang on to an original Xbox is the fact that, while the 360′s backwards compatibility has been pretty good, let’s face it, the Xbox 360 isn’t always the best way to play original Xbox games. Glitches, crashes, framerate issues and other problems can crop up that make the experience unpleasant. Not all of these titles were given the same love and attention that Halo 2 received when it was being updated to run on the Xbox 360, and many don’t work at all.

1. It smacks of greed

I’ll be the first to admit that Microsoft has every right to turn a profit on their service, but how much is actually required to keep those old connections going? In a way, it feels like Microsoft is doing this specifically to force people to “upgrade or die.” Grr! We’re Microsoft and we want MORE MONEY! You want to keep playing Halo 2? Too bad! Go get Halo 3! And make sure you buy it new instead of used!
Of course, who knows how long you’ll be able to play Halo 3 before Microsoft goes all “deadbeat dad” on us and gets tired of supporting that game, too. It’s not like they’re charging you to play it online or anything — oh, wait…

My hope is that, down the road, Live will become so awesome that we won’t even miss legacy support. If patching older games and maintaining a separate, classic Live experience were that simple, they’d probably do it. Perhaps those old games will see a re-release with modern features built in; a Halo: Classic, for example, with the first and second games included. Perhaps that new Crimson Skies we’ve been hoping for?

The legacy Xbox Live service officially ends on April 15. Enjoy it while you can!

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Psst! This article was the result of a cross-blog participation effort between Gamesylvania and my good friends and network affiliates, GoozerNation. We thought it might be fun to do a point/counter-point style series of articles. Interested in getting involved? Contact me for more info on doing cross-blog promotions and guest posts!