[quote]***************************2019 edit***************************
[url=http://halo.bungie.net/forums/posts.aspx?postID=43235214]C̶l̶i̶c̶k̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶v̶i̶e̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶i̶g̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶m̶a̶t̶[/url] This link no longer works because, unfortunately, the b.net web team decided to delete the archived forums on halo.bungie.net in 2018.
[url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623111755/http://halo.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=43235214&postRepeater1-p=1]Click here to view this thread in its original format on archive.org.[/url] Thank you to shadowkiller168 for archiving this thread. Every page in this thread is archived. By reading the comments in order, you can see how this story unfolded on a day-by-day basis.
This thread is completely dead now. But for historical purposes, I wanted to give one last update in order to post the archive. Thank you.[/quote]
[b]12/24/2014-Final Update:[/b] Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly 5 years since the original Halo 2 servers were shut down (and over 10 years since Halo 2 came out!). It's amazing how much has changed since then. With the release of Destiny, bungie.net is a completely different entity than it was when this thread was created. We are in a whole new generation of gaming, so it's not surprising to see how different the community is here now. I know some of you have stuck around since before the darkness; this thread is mostly for you guys. This thread was originally meant to be sort of a protest to the discontinuation of Halo 2 XBL matchmaking, but now this is no longer necessary. The Master Chief Collection has given Halo fans what we have been wanting since the servers were shut down. Halo 2 really set the standard for what competitive online gaming should be like, and I'm so glad that the current generation of gamers will be able experience what made the previous generations so great. I wanted to personally thank all of the people who have kept this thread somewhat alive over the years. You guys have proven that Halo is more than just a game. Not many things in this world can create such a deeply shared passion by so many people across the globe, but Halo proved to be one of those things. So many unlikely friendships were formed, so many memories were made, and so much fun was had. Refusing to let Halo 2 die was my way of thanking the community and thanking Bungie for the good times you have given me. The nostalgia I have of the early Halo days will never go away, but the MCC will allow us to relive those memories once again. So, once again, I wanted to thank Bungie and 343 Industries for making this possible. And I wanted to thank the Halo and Bungie community for sharing this passion with me.
(If you guys ever want to play some swords and snipes on lockout, add me on XBL: Agent Windex. Hopefully, I'll have an Xbox One sometime next year)
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[quote][b]The original thread is posted below. I hope it brings back some good memories and lots of nostalgia. Thanks guys![/b][/quote]
As all of you know, the Xbox Live servers were shut down for all Xbox original games on April 14, 2010. A small, dedicated group of Halo 2 players didn't agree with this, and did everything they could to not let the game die. As long as we didn't shut off our Xboxes, or lose connection in any way, we would still be able to play Halo 2 online. At first there were over 500 people that had kept their Xboxes on after the servers were shut down, but that quickly decreased to less than 100. Many players had lagged out, and some players Xboxes actually overheated. In the end, were able to keep Halo 2 alive for nearly 1 month longer than it should have been.
You may ask why we did this. Everyone has their own reason, but mostly it was for the love, and memory, of Halo 2. For some, it was to show their disapproval to Microsoft for shutting off Halo 2 so we could have more friends on our friends list. (Which is apparently why they shut down the servers, and that update still hasn't happened!)
A lot of us became really good friends.
For a while, we had 'T0 Be Continued' live streaming all of our games, until her xbox regrettably froze while playing custom games. Then, 'Mr7ankjump' did a live stream, but he lagged out only 4 hours later. 'Z0mbie Stench' was doing a live stream every day after those 2 lagged out, but sadly she was kicked off because of connection trouble. XXBooker DXX was the final live streamer.
I would like to thank everyone who followed our story, all of your support really inspired us to stay on as long as possible. Also, I would like to thank all of the Final Few, you guys are awesome and it was an honor playing with you. Also, I would like to thank [url=http://www.GamesRadar.com/]GamesRadar.com[/url] for giving out F&F beta codes for the final 12.
There are no longer any Halo 2 players online. Here are the names of the Final 52, in order of not being kicked offline.
1.APACHE N4SIR
2.Agent Windex
3.Lord Odysseus11
4.xxMAKDADYxx
5.DirtyCajun
6.Aforeignobject
7.XXBooker DXX
8.HiredN00bs
9.Rob2D
10.Z0mbie Stench
11.H20 Shoagie
12.Sherlok 1
13.SieferSword
14.Detenn
15.WGL Gonzo
16.MangledRex
17.XYOX
18.Anelf3
19.DeadlyChippy
20.Bond WM
21.Lockepyker
22.BillFromChicago
23.Mr7ankJump
24.NoName Nomad
25.T0 Be Continued
26.Family Fry
27.Hal0 HuLk
28.slater ohm
29.Dustyn1001
30.Milhouse06
31.Se7enUpMustang
32.TS Smokz
33.HummpaDummp
34.Crazy Kai
35.Wopsle
36.RomeoDude
37.xxxPuNiiSheRxxx
38.A Snoopkat
39.Keneken
40.xzzy
41.Nedge
42.TubbyKarma304
43.Lucky v1
44.Dragonslayer91
45.vxv frosty vxv
46.coppertop101
47.Osgray
48.MazeltovKoktail
49.Envoyyy JG
50.ssr14
51.Trent4now 05
52.One Eyed Monky
53. bLiGhTy (bligh7y)
27-53 are complete guesses, I just wanted to make sure their names were listed. Feel free to correct anything on this list.
Our message was heard throughout all of the internet. There were many articles written about what we did, on almost every gaming website. Here are some of the articles:
[url=http://www.slashgear.com/dedicated-halo-2-players-keep-online-gaming-going-2783371/]Slash Gear's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.gamestooge.com/2010/04/26/never-say-die-halo-2-fans/]Game Stooge's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/042310-halo-2-players-keep-original.html]Network World's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100219-Halo-2-Players-Refuse-to-Leave-Xbox-Live]Escapist Magazine's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/214933/dozens-of-halo-2-players-keep-original-xbox-online-gaming-alive/]Game Pro's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.games-inet.com/news-dozens-of-halo-2-players-keep-original-xbox-online-gaming-alive_369.html]Games Inet's Article[/url]
[url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20003533-17.html]Cnet's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/people-still-playing-halo-2-somehow]Eurogamer's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.maxconsole.net/content.php?39820-LOL-Halo-2-players-refuse-to-quit-Xbox-LIVE-keep-playing-until-consoles-freeze]Max Console's Article[/url]
[url=http://kotaku.com/5525837/fourteen-halo-2-fans-refuse-to-let-it-die]Kotaku's Article[/url]
[url=http://thegamingliberty.com/index.php/2010/04/28/halo-2-fans-refuse-to-let-halo-die/]The Gaming Liberty's Article[/url]
[url=http://slashdot.org/story/10/04/28/0754207/Dedicated-emHalo-2em-Fans-Keep-Multiplayer-Alive]Slashdot's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.videogamer.com/news/halo_2_players_keep_game_alive.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter]VideoGamer.com's Article[/url]
[url=http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704188/halo-2-refuses-to-die-gamers-still-playing-over-xbox-live.html]G4 TV's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179031]1up's Article[/url]
[url=http://gizmodo.com/5526334/halo-2-superfans-refuse-to-let-the-dream-die]Gizmodo's Article[/url]
[url=http://tweakers.net/nieuws/67039/fans-houden-xbox-game-halo-2-online-in-leven.html]Tweaker's Article (Dutch)[/url]
[url=http://www.switched.com/2010/04/27/gamers-refuse-to-turn-off-xboxes-keep-playing-halo-2-online/]Switched's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.freexboxcheats.com/halo-2-lives-on-with-the-help-of-14-gamers]Free Xbox Cheats' Article[/url]
[url=http://www.onenewspage.com/news/Technology/20100427/10444016/Gamers-Refuse-to-Turn-Off-Xboxes-Keep-Playing.htm]One News Page's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6260513.html]Gamespot's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.gamereactor.de/Blogs/christian+gaca/279]Game Reactor's Article (German)[/url]
[url=http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/29/halo-2-still-kinda-alive-thanks-to-some-fans/]Joystiq's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.xbox-news.com/e9490.html]XNews' Article (Japenese)[/url]
[url=http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/204921.asp]Seattlepi's Article[/url]
[url=http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/108/1086645p1.html]IGN's Article[/url]
[url=http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/stay-in-the-fight-halo-2-superfans-keep-game-alive/1397830]Yahoo's Article[/url]
[url=http://www.gamesradar.com/f/exclusive-interview-halo-2s-final-players-share-their-stories/a-2010051415103021070]GamesRadar Interview[/url]
Halo 2: Final Few Montages: (Thanks to Slater Ohm) Amazing videos, some of the last Halo 2 montages ever made.
[url=http://youtu.be/BYthxCUE7dw]Episode 1[/url]
[url=http://youtu.be/Zb6Q6ZbB5HE]Episode 2 (no audio)[/url]
[url=http://youtu.be/2Hegzh2gS5s]Episode 3[/url]
[url=http://youtu.be/gp9qOMTfAMU]Episode 4[/url]
[Edited on 02.04.2012 11:25 PM PST] [b][/b] [b][/b] [url=http://www.bungie.net]link[/url] [url=http://www.bungie.net]link[/url]
Edit: This thread was moved to the OffTopic forum because #Gaming was removed from Bungie.net.
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customs over live...matchmaking when party is the right size
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Hey guys I don't own a xbox but I have played halo multiplayer with all my friends and it is wicked. Getting four xboxs together and lanning halo 1 was epic so good job on keeping halo 2 alive. A quick suggestion to try also have you ever used xlink it allows you to "lan" xbox and ps2 games over the internet with friends so all you guys can add each other on xlink set it up and then play online with halo 2 still :) thought you might wanna try it :) http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/
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I will miss those days for sure!!! I can't believe it's over!! Halo3 just isn't quite the same, and I will miss those maps. Maybe We'll start a new local gaming service like gamespy for Halo2. Or just play Halo2 Vista. ANyway, I'm in the process of getting all my old clan videos up on http://kill4play.com and I've managed to get about 6 online so far. Hundreds more to go, and I'm only going to upload the good ones! Bear in mind, they're not like, Most epic snipe trick shot ever, just a monument to those good times we had! I logged over 12,000 Games.... Good lord! I'm sure I've ran into a few of you more than once!! +Kill 4 Play +K4P LarcenIII
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Awesome, another question. I thought Matchmaking was down, is this because they have yet to dc from Xbl or what? Im sorry for the constant questions. Edit: Ignore question just tried to connect to XBL on halo 2 and realised these guys must have continuously been connected since the services was closed... I cant connect. [Edited on 04.28.2010 9:58 AM PDT]
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Damn you. Your getting angry at them for having fun. I dont see you there. Theyre paying their respects. So what if they hadnt payed any attention to it when Halo 3 came out? Theyre doing a better job than you are. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Sweet_Child wow is this thread a joke? there were ppl that were much more dedicated to h2 than all of you ppl. all of you losers havent even touched h2 since h3 came out. all your playing for is to try and win something and gain some kind of acknowledgement. i hope all ur xboxs burn and you get NOTHING. i never even bought h3 and i always played h2 and never once did I see any of your names ever. what a JOKE! if anyone deserved anything its the none of you 4 sure.[/quote]
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FINISH THE FIGHT!
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i specially created an account here to say : RESPECT! to you guy's i Hope MS will respect/reward your loyalty to this game :)
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The final 13! Thats so epic!
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You have my respect Awesome dudes
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Looks like we lost SieferSword. Looks like we're down to 12 people left. :(
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] APACHE N4SIR [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Palien90 ... bunch of people that havent turned their consoles off for a week and a half. Its sad.[/quote] Work on your math skills buddy... its 2 weeks tonight. The thing that is sad is you can't count past your 10 fingers... go buy an abacus.[/quote] Im sorry your majesty. Im afraid I have MOVED ON TO OTHER THINGS BESIDES A 6 YEAR OLD GAME, and cant be bothered with useless knowledge like when the game was supposed to be shut off.
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[quote]Im sorry your majesty. Im afraid I have MOVED ON TO OTHER THINGS BESIDES A 6 YEAR OLD GAME, and cant be bothered with useless knowledge like when the game was supposed to be shut off.[/quote] If you must troll please start a thread for it. This thread was born of good faith and I'd like to see it remain that way.
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[quote]Im sorry your majesty. Im afraid I have MOVED ON TO OTHER THINGS BESIDES A 6 YEAR OLD GAME, and cant be bothered with useless knowledge like when the game was supposed to be shut off.[/quote] Oi, if you haven't anything nice to say, find another thread. Easy as that. I, for one, respect the final players immensely. While I'm bad at Halo multiplayer (most of my multi was in CE, though I admit I have a special love for Firefight. <3), I played one or two games back in the day. Have fun, folks. Make that hardware earn its keep! XD EDIT: quoted text I was responding to. [Edited on 04.28.2010 12:36 PM PDT]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] BK Burger Boy LAST MAN STANDING[/quote] HERO
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[url=http://gizmodo.com/5526334/halo-2-superfans-refuse-to-let-the-dream-die] You Guys on Gizmodo[/url]
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Congratulations guys, you made it to overseas (dutch) news. [url=http://tweakers.net/nieuws/67039/fans-houden-xbox-game-halo-2-online-in-leven.html]Tweakers.net[/url] Eventhought Halo isn't my type of game, i wish you good luck ;)
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Palien90 [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] APACHE N4SIR [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Palien90 ... bunch of people that havent turned their consoles off for a week and a half. Its sad.[/quote] Work on your math skills buddy... its 2 weeks tonight. The thing that is sad is you can't count past your 10 fingers... go buy an abacus.[/quote] Im sorry your majesty. Im afraid I have MOVED ON TO OTHER THINGS BESIDES A 6 YEAR OLD GAME, and cant be bothered with useless knowledge like when the game was supposed to be shut off.[/quote] I'm not going to add to your "trolling" Palien90, but I will say for someone dissing a "6 YEAR OLD GAME" and that you "have MOVED ON TO OTHER THINGS" seems like you haven't.... seems like you cant help but logging onto a forum of a
6 YEAR OLD GAME forum and talk smack! Keep it up... we all know who to T-Bag in REACH. <><>S.N.A.P.<><> -
I never had a chance to play Halo 2, as GameStop sold me a faulty disk when I bought it in October '09 and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Anyway, to my point. Do any of you live in/near Indiana? I might be willing to pay a gratuitous amount of money to be able to play.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Major League Win I never had a chance to play Halo 2, as GameStop sold me a faulty disk when I bought it in October '09 and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Anyway, to my point. Do any of you live in/near Indiana? I might be willing to pay a gratuitous amount of money to be able to play.[/quote] I live in Indiana and would be willing to accept said money for a chance to play Halo 2.
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Gratz to everone still standing gamerader is giving you all halo reach early access keys :D [url]http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/halo-reach/news/still-playing-halo-2-on-xbox-live-we-have-a-gift-for-12-of-you/a-2010042811911463027/g-2009060110582402047[/url]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Burned Remains [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Major League Win I never had a chance to play Halo 2, as GameStop sold me a faulty disk when I bought it in October '09 and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Anyway, to my point. Do any of you live in/near Indiana? I might be willing to pay a gratuitous amount of money to be able to play.[/quote] I live in Indiana and would be willing to accept said money for a chance to play Halo 2.[/quote] You aren't a member of the Twelve.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Lonaran Gratz to everone still standing gamerader is giving you all halo reach early access keys :D [url]http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/halo-reach/news/still-playing-halo-2-on-xbox-live-we-have-a-gift-for-12-of-you/a-2010042811911463027/g-2009060110582402047[/url][/quote] I see that less as an award and more of a b*tch. I'd go -blam!-ing nuts if I had to decide between early Reach or Halo 2 forever.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Major League Win [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Burned Remains [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Major League Win I never had a chance to play Halo 2, as GameStop sold me a faulty disk when I bought it in October '09 and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Anyway, to my point. Do any of you live in/near Indiana? I might be willing to pay a gratuitous amount of money to be able to play.[/quote] I live in Indiana and would be willing to accept said money for a chance to play Halo 2.[/quote] You aren't a member of the Twelve.[/quote] Your point? You just said you wanna play! I offered! I have one copy that can access the internet and matchmake and the the other cannot!
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I meant online. My apologies for the mixup.
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WoW... look at that... The UPS truck just delivered my original xbox360 that red ringed... Seems I might hook this one up in the other room, use the 30day free gold card and create a account so I can play REACH then come back and play HALO 2... Mouhahaha (you all jelious lol) One thing, can my bandwidth take the two boxes? Will i get booted from one or the other or maybe both? Do I chance it? What does everybody think i should do? Props go out to CRS for bringing this idea to my attention. Things that make you go "Hmmmm"
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Major League Win I meant online. My apologies for the mixup.[/quote] I know I am just being a dick! But yeah I can get online with Halo 2 as well.