EA Shutting Down Servers for Older Games
So if you've got Madden NFL 2005 lying around just for the online play, you better think of trading up.
Imagine you're a Madden NFL fan, and all this talk of the upcoming next-gen versions has you hankering for some online play in the current-gen copy you have lying around. You dig up Madden NFL 2005 for Xbox, and log in to Xbox Live, finding only emptiness - the plug has been pulled. This is the fate awaiting many fans of EA's older sports games.
There'll be no more of this onlineOn 1 August, the servers hosting 24 of EA's online-enabled games were pulled live, says a report at Game Informer. Another six have a similar destiny slated for 1 October.
While it's true that even the newest of these games are coming up on two-years-old, the shutdown of the servers is a reminder of the capricious nature of online gaming.
The games affected by the server shutdown are as follow:
- Servers offline as of 1 August:
- FIFA Soccer 2005 (PS2, Xbox, PC)
- EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 (PS2, Xbox)
- NCAA March Madness 2005 (PS2, Xbox)
- NBA Live 2005 (Xbox, PC)
- NBA Live 05 (PS2)
- NBA Street V3 (PS2, Xbox)
- NCAA Football 2005 (PS2)
- Need for Speed Underground 2 (PC, Xbox)
- NHL 2005 (PS2, Xbox, PC)
- Total Club Manager 06 (PS2)
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (PS2, PC)
- UEFA Champions League 2004 - 2005 (PS2, PC, Xbox)
- Servers offline as of 1 October:
- Madden NFL 2005 (PS2, Xbox, PC)
- NFL Street 2: Unleashed (PS2, Xbox)
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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