Hobbies And Interests
The Situation
Many games that were popular five or 10 years ago have become dated, but the decision to stop playing a game had always been the owner's. The use of the Internet in video games changed this. Gamers must now rely on games companies to keep providing an online service. Between 2008 and 2011 a selection of PlayStation 2 game servers have shut down, leaving online features unusable. Servers cost time and money to run, which is why they are closed when a game loses popularity. But sometimes even popular games are robbed of their Internet capabilities, to the disappointment of their fans.
2008
PlayStation 2 video games faced an online-feature cull on June 30, 2008. The lighthearted golf title "Everybody's Golf" was no longer playable online after this date. The fourth installment of the Syphon Filter series, "Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain," was also on the list. "Eye Toy Chat" was an online-only game, meaning this game became useless. "Destruction Derby Arenas," "This Football 2004," "This Football 2005," "Jak X," "Lemmings PS2," "Amplitude," "My Street," "F1 04" and "Twisted Metal: Black Online" were the other games to lose online features.
2010
The mass server shutdown of February 2, 2010, was all courtesy of EA Sports. The company closed seven game servers including football titles "NCAA Football 08" and "NCAA Football 09" as well as racing games "NASCAR 08" and "NASCAR 09." Soccer, boxing and basketball fans were also in for disappointment as "FIFA 07," "Fight Night Round 3" and "NBA 08" completed the list.
2011
EA returned the following year to cancel the online modes of a further four games. February 2, 2011, was the date that "FIFA 08" and "Madden 09" became offline-only games. Many gamers were surprised to see "Madden 10" and "NCAA Football 10" on the list, as both of these football games were relatively new.