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Farewell to Xbox Live
Plus, a banned Xbox ad, the Game Boy GAMEBOOK, Victory Heat Rally, and more!
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This week Microsoft revealed a shakeup of its Xbox Live and Game Pass services. Most notably, from mid-September Xbox Live Gold will be replaced by Xbox Game Pass Core, alongside a few other tweaks.
You can find out more about the changes here, but the main takeaway is that, after more than twenty years, Xbox Live as a name is no more.
It's a name that will be met with great fondness by many. And before it disappears for good, it’s important to remember just what Microsoft’s online service brought to the industry.
Of course, the Dreamcast beat it to the punch. The likes of Phantasy Star Online, Quake 3 Arena and Sonic Team’s ChuChu Rocket! proving that online console gaming could actually work, even on dial-up. The PlayStation 2 supported online play too, albeit in a more slapdash fashion and only via an external attachment.
But Microsoft’s version was different. The PS2’s built-in DVD player may have caused a bigger stir initially, but Xbox’s built-in ethernet port and broadband requirement truly pointed towards the future of consoles. As did the one major thing that separated Microsoft’s online offering from the others; a bespoke, centralised platform to pull it all together.
Xbox Live.