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Microsoft Shutting Down Original Xbox Live Servers
Whether you’re still playing games on that enormous black box or playing old titles on the 360, come April 15 you’re no longer going to be able to do so online.
Microsoft’s first step is disabling subscription auto-renewal for those playing on Live via the original Xbox. We assume this means that if you're playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory on the 360 rather than the original Xbox, you will still have your subscription renewed.
With the original Xbox Live out of the way, Microsoft Live general manager Marc Whitten claims it will be able to better evolve the current Live service with “new features and experiences.” Whitten also says this will allow Microsoft “unprecedented flexibility for future features.”
One possible positive from the original Xbox Live shutting down is that it may finally end the current friends list cap of 100. An anonymous Microsoft representative previously stated that the capacity of the current friends list is limited because Halo 2’s friends list could only contain 100. With the Halo 2 servers down, this roadblock could potentially give everyone a larger friends list.
Anyone out there who's going to miss playing some of the original Xbox games online?
Source: Major Nelson's Blog
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