Halo 2 PC multiplayer servers shutting down, disappointing dozens

Did you know that as many as 20 people were still playing the PC edition of Halo 2? Surprising, I know. They won't be for much longer, mind, as 343 Industries yesterday announced it will shut down the servers on February 15. How sad that Halo 2's going away just as we finally have PCs capable of running it at a decent FPS. Ah, ha ha. That joke would've killed in 2007, you know.

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Did you know that as many as 20 people are still playing the PC edition of Halo 2? Surprising, isn't it? They won't be for much longer, mind, as 343 Industries yesterday announced it will shut down the servers on February 15. How sad that Halo 2's going away just as we finally have PCs capable of running it at a decent FPS. Ah, ha ha. That joke would've killed in 2007, you know.

"We've been monitoring the population for months, and it's been peaking consistently at approximately 20 players or less," 343 community manager Jessica Shea wrote in the latest Halo Bulletin blog post.

"Those that own this game can continue to enjoy Multiplayer over LAN after that date; however our network services will be turned off at that time," Shea said. "We love you, Halo 2 PC, and you will live forever in our hearts."

The Xbox edition of Halo 2 went dark when Microsoft shut down the original Xbox Live network in 2010, though a group of adoring fans kept it going for almost a month by keeping their connections alive. Their numbers were whittled away by lagouts and overheating consoles until the casket was finally lowered into the ground.

Halo 2 came to PC in 2007, three years after its Xbox debut, as a Windows Vista exclusive. It was widely slated for looking and feeling outdated, requiring Vista at a time when people were still very wary of it, and running like a total dog on even the snazziest PC.

From The Chatty
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    January 17, 2013 6:00 PM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Halo 2 PC multiplayer servers shutting down, disappointing dozens.

    Did you know that as many as 20 people were still playing the PC edition of Halo 2? Surprising, I know. They won't be for much longer, mind, as 343 Industries yesterday announced it will shut down the servers on February 15. How sad that Halo 2's going away just as we finally have PCs capable of running it at a decent FPS. Ah, ha ha. That joke would've killed in 2007, you know.

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      January 17, 2013 6:04 PM

      is that the game that required everyone to upgrade to vista? I liked halo 1 and wanted to give it a go but no way would i upgrade to Vista just to do so. Then by the time I got win7 I totally forgot about it

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        January 18, 2013 2:59 AM

        Actually, the requirement was hacked out after a few weeks since the game didn't really use DX10. There was just a check in the program whether Vista was installed or not.

        Seemed to be perfectly playable on XP.....

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      January 17, 2013 6:07 PM

      I think I never bought this because it required Vista at the time

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      January 17, 2013 6:11 PM

      and nothing was lost.

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      January 17, 2013 6:37 PM

      wow I didnt realize this existed.

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      January 17, 2013 7:17 PM

      I like how the editorial got snuck in the headline ;)

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      January 17, 2013 7:31 PM

      I had more problems with Halo 2 than vista.

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      January 17, 2013 7:36 PM

      [deleted]

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        January 17, 2013 7:48 PM

        It would be "Halo 3 For XBox Games For Windows".

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        January 17, 2013 7:58 PM

        [deleted]

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        January 18, 2013 7:57 AM

        if Halo4 is any indication they would just fuck it up. I don't know about multiplayer, it never clicked with me the Halo universe so I haven't tried it, but at least the single player is awful.
        Extremely linear, cheating hacking (warping) bullet sponge enemies, and not being allowed to backtrack. Seriously they constantly lock almost every fucking door you go trough, wtf, in the original halo you could almost always back-pedal through the whole level if you wanted to.
        Not to mention you are always out of ammo, and as they disallow back peddling, you constantly have to switch weapons to pea shooters. Nah worst Halo yet by far, try again 343 industries (or rather just stop trying).
        Oh, and I almost forgot the flying level ? wtf ? stupid in absurd-um



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      January 17, 2013 7:45 PM

      Alice you make me almost want to visit the front page sometimes

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      January 17, 2013 7:49 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 17, 2013 7:55 PM

      Microsoft should release Halo 4 as a Win8 exclusive.

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      January 17, 2013 7:59 PM

      Apparently I was one of 20... This sucks. I just picked this up a few months ago to relive the pinnacle of Xbox Live for the original Xbox. I love it, still tons of fun. I hope they do a re-release of the multiplayer portion for 360 ala Halo Anniversary.

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        January 18, 2013 4:47 AM

        you can still relive the xbox days of halo2, specially the last days when they pull the plug and
        everyone says their good byes!

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      January 18, 2013 1:42 AM

      There was a PC version of Halo 2?

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        January 18, 2013 2:47 AM

        It was a Vista exclusive and MP required a gold subscription when it launched. It was a massive failure.

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          January 18, 2013 3:58 AM

          MS fucking up a PC game? CRAZY!

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          January 18, 2013 4:51 AM

          It required a gold sub?? Oh man

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            January 18, 2013 7:12 AM

            no u can play with the free silver as i do on my live account that hasn't paid a cent to microsoft in over 3 years

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              January 18, 2013 10:21 AM

              You can now. At launch that wasn't true.

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        January 18, 2013 12:42 PM

        I had no idea it existed either, very bizarre.

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      January 18, 2013 1:44 AM

      [deleted]

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      January 18, 2013 2:49 AM

      I always feel bad about stuff like this, because I bet those 20 guys have a really tight community that's years old.

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      January 18, 2013 4:53 AM

      They can just move to bio shock 2 multiplayer, get that same feeling

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      January 18, 2013 5:09 AM

      i miss the days when we could put up our own servers and play by our own rules.

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      January 18, 2013 7:08 AM

      haha! Zing! Happy friday Alice!!

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      January 18, 2013 7:41 AM

      it seems halo 2 is running nicely on tunngle

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      January 18, 2013 8:47 AM

      Marry me

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      January 18, 2013 10:26 AM

      Will MS finally raise the user cap on XBL now?!

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      January 20, 2013 1:46 PM

      Damn! I still need to get all my achievements too. If I just could of found more time over the last five years. Well it's 343 fault now.

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