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https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/ea-shuts-down-fan-run-servers-for-older-battlefield-games/
Since 2014, a group of volunteers going by the name Revive Network have been working to keep online game servers running for Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, and Battlefield Heroes. As of this week, the team is shutting down that effort thanks to a legal request from publisher Electronic Arts.
"We will get right to the point: Electronic Arts Inc.' legal team has contacted us and nicely asked us to stop distributing and using their intellectual property," the Revive Network team writes in a note on their site. "As diehard fans of the franchise, we will respect these stipulations."
EA's older Battlefield titles were a victim of the 2014 GameSpy shutdown, which disabled the online infrastructure for plenty of classic PC and console games. To get around that, Revive was distributing modified versions of the older Battlefield titles along with a launcher that allowed access to its own, rewritten server infrastructure. The process started with Battlefield 2 in 2014 and expanded to Battlefield 2142 last year, and Battlefield Heroes a few month ago.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Saturday October 28 2017, @10:57PM (5 children)
EA appreciates your enjoyment of our old games, but thinks you suck, for not giving them more money.
Stop enjoying stuff when we aren't making money out of it! Buy new stuff! Now!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday October 28 2017, @11:15PM (3 children)
Well, the cat's already out of the bag, the knowledge of how to do so is already out there. They could torrent the process and any necessary files "anonymously" and then claim plausible deniability.
Was really disappointed that Nintendo tried to shut down AM2R. I wonder in the case of AM2R some backdoor negotiating with Nintendo was done to pay off some or all of the AM2R devs and use a lot of their code in the re-released version of Metroid 2. Metroid on a Gameboy was already a pants-on-head retarded idea.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @02:07AM (2 children)
Besides the fact that it began development in 2015, before the AM2R fiasco began, I don't think you played the new version of Metroid 2. Samus Returns is in no way comparable AM2R. Beyond the graphical differences, the engines are different as well. The mechanics, which AM2R tried hard to duplicate, are not even close in Samus Returns. This doesn't even count the free aim (instead of 8 directions of the original), the Aeion abilities, transporters, Amiibos, Melee counter, and that is just off the top of my head.
No, the real story is that M:SR is the old "they changed it now it sucks" and inferior remake made to make money and AM2R was a remake with graphical facelift. This made it so that Nintendo had to kill of AM2R to avoid the bad comparison and loss to competition.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday October 29 2017, @03:37AM (1 child)
The point myself and other sympathetics are trying to make is that, Metroid 2 and derivatives suck. AM2R Rocks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:28PM
I don't disagree with that. I was countering the idea that Nintendo took any help from the AM2R people.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Spamalope on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:56AM
EA wants to effectively convert a purchase to a rental by tying them to servers that disappear when they think it's time you make a payment. They're also able to prevent non-microtransaction games from out-competing the new shit shows.
EA has been a hard no for me since they started that.