Original Xbox Live service getting shut down tonight

For Xbox or Xbox 360 owners who play Xbox 1 games online – yes, they do exist – today is a sad day. From midnight tonight, online support for the original Xbox and all of its games will be cut off forever, meaning the likes of Crimson Skies and MechAssault will lose part of what made them great.

Most significantly, this spells the end of online gaming in Halo 2 (above), a game that still attracts a significant number of players. As you’d expect, tonight is likely to see the Xbox 1 servers jam-packed with nostalgic gamers (one site is even doing live coverage of the last two hours).

So farewell, old Xbox Live, and thanks for the memories. As much as I loved gaming across the Dreamcast’s wheezy 28k dial-up modem (Phantasy Star Online! ChuChu Rocket! Magical times!), I’ll always remember you as the platform that really got me into online games. *Sniff*

What a shame the 14-year-old racists and homophobes who so often popped up there aren’t also disappearing.

[Via Giant Bomb]