- SmaugJr
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- Exalted Heroic Member
Yeah. The cool thing to do would have been to keep the server running as usual all along, even if it ceased being particularly profitable on a day-to-day basis (god knows MS has made a mint on the back of Halo 2 over the last half-decade). Waiting till the game's population is in the single digits is just cruel.
Basically, Microsoft is just trying to look magnanimous by letting these guys fizzle out, one by agonizing one. "Naw, we're not the corporate behemoth with the bottomless pockets who killed a popular, long-respected and long-enjoyed gaming forum. We're actually swell guys who were faced with an untenable business predicament (quite regrettable, certainly), and to show our solidarity and brotherhood with these rock-ribbed stalwarts of Halo 2 that refuse to lie down their controllers and give in to the inevitable, we're not gonna give them a dignified end. Nope, these last twelve... er, eight... uh, six... no, five faithful gamers will be allowed to linger, to burn through costly electricity and bandwidth, to wear out their faithful old consoles (which, honestly, should have been upgraded years ago to a spankin' new Xbox360 to Microsoft's further profit, but never mind about that, back to our stroke job... er, encomium), to keep the spirit of Halo 2 alive and wheezing all by their five little selves, with no hope of additional friends and foes to join them in their standard-def Halo 2 world. We, your pals from Microsoft, love you *so much* that we're not gonna kill it. We're not gonna give you a merciful end that lets you have closure... one last definitive game to put a button on the whole end. A chance to say you were the last ones there, and the ending was gracious and dignified and sportsmanlike. Oh, heck no! You guys won't leave without a fight? Well, we're with you, O Loyal Customers... er, Fellow Gamers! *We* won't fight you. We'll just make damned sure that your very last Halo 2 experience will be the failure of your network, an ignominious power outage, or the slow inevitable cookout inside your trusty ol' Xbox's guts. Or perhaps just someone in your household downloading a movie that standbys your connection. You guys wanna be the last ones there? Fine! Now that everyone else is gone and can't get back in, there you'll stay until something breaks, or you finally have the good sense to give it up, and come play over here where it's *much* more profitable... I mean, fun."
I apologize to Apache et al, if they receive this news from MS with gladness in their hearts. I truly want them to play as long as they want. But on one level, it feels to me like MS is robbing them by pretending to be doing them a favor and not pulling the plug. The Last Halo 2 Holdouts have been doing something really classy and cool by hanging in there. And I wouldn't have raised a word of protest until Larry Hryb said, "If you're one of the 'Halo 2 twelve' still playing, know that we're rooting for you, we think what you're doing is great, and [we] are not going to pull the rug out from under you".
Couple of weeks after they already had, indeed, pulled out the rug. Disingenuous creeps.