Breaking News: GameSpy Drops Support of PS2 Activision Games

[FreddY]

(NOTE: This message was written with PS2 in mind, though it appears this issue also affects the Tony Hawk Series for PC. No word on if any PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 games have been affected.)

While there is no official confirmation anywhere, it appears that as of October 9, 2012, GameSpy has dropped online support of all Activision-published games for PS2.

Here is a complete list of all PS2 games affected, all of which I can confirm no longer connect to the GameSpy online servers. While DNAS still authenticates, the GameSpy servers of these games have been reconfigured to return an error message reading "Online play is no longer supported for this title." (or something similar to this):



Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (LAN supported)
Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd (LAN supported)
The Hustle: Detroit Streets
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
MTX: Mototrax (LAN supported)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (LAN supported)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (LAN supported)
Tony Hawk's Underground (LAN supported)
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
World Series of Poker
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

What does this mean for PS2 Online Gaming?

What this means is that if any of these games do not feature a LAN mode (for LAN tunneling via programs like XLink Kai and XBSlink), they will no longer be able to be played online.

The only exception is the Tony Hawk Series, as online play will still be supported through their regular online servers via CHC/Snipe's server at THPS.US, since they are configured to run through OpenSpy instead of GameSpy.

Theoretically, all of these discontinued titles could potentially be configured to run through OpenSpy as well (like Deer Hunter and Risk: Global Domination), but that project would require extensive packet capturing and troubleshooting.


It should be noted that this ONLY affects Activision-published PS2 games hosted by GameSpy, all other GameSpy games are still playable online, including the more populated games like 'Star Wars Battlefront II' and 'Battlefield 2: Modern Combat'.

The PS2 versions of 'Call of Duty 3' and 'World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets', both published by Activision, remain online as they are hosted by DemonWare.


As some of you may know, Glu Mobile Inc. acquired GameSpy Technology from IGN Entertainment on August 2, 2012.

Glu Mobile Inc., a leading global developer and publisher of games for smartphone and tablet devices, announced that it has acquired GameSpy Technology from IGN Entertainment.

There will be no disruption in service to GameSpy’s current customers and contracts as a result of this acquisition by Glu.

Nearly eleven years after the release of the PS2's first online game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, could Activision's service contract with GameSpy have expired?

Either way, OpenSpy's stock just went WAY up.

[tool8]

Sad they shut them down with no warning. I hope someone have captured any packets of these games...

OpenSpy, is that bobz servers or?

[Bobz1993]

Openspy is hosted by CHC.
I only partially used it, because full implementation would break apart working Gamespy games from their regular servers, making it so you couldn't play on games that were actually online. With this news I have stuck the records back in on DNS1. As CHC made Openspy as a substitute for Gamespy, not much may be needed to bring back full functionality. Give the games above a try on 199.195.251.151 and see how far you get.

With this, games that can still use Gamespy, but use my DNS for something else, (Battlefield), Unless you want to transition the game over to Openspy, Use DNS2 to create your account/play. Or if you already have your account, use automatic settings to play without my DNS.

Let me know how far the DNS gets you into the game.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour Tested Working!
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One Tested Working!
Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd Tested Working!
The Hustle: Detroit Streets Untested
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Untested
MTX: Mototrax Untested. Should be fine.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Tested Working! (PS2) (may not be necessary for PC yet)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Tested Working! (PS2/PC)
Tony Hawk's Underground Tested Working! (PS2/PC)
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Tested Working! (PS2/PC)
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (PS2) Tested Working! (PC) Trouble posting games to master server.
World Series of Poker Untested
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Untested
FlatOut Tested Working!
FlatOut 2 Tested Working!

Cold Winter Tested, Needs to be logged.
Fight Club Untested
TOCA Race Driver 2 Untested
TOCA Race Driver 3 Partially Tested, Try creating new in-game net settings.

PC:
Empire Earth II Untested
Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy Untested
Empire Earth III Untested
SWAT 4 Working on it.
SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate Working on it.
Worms 4: Mayhem Untested
Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers Untested


EDIT: gamespy master servers are still up for the games.. dunno how long this will last. makes it seem like theres only a cutoff at the login stage.

[FreddY]

As CHC made Openspy as a substitute for Gamespy, not much may be needed to bring back full functionality. Give the games above a try on 199.195.251.151 and see how far you get.

Nice work Bobz, I tested Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd at random on BobzEnt.info's DNS 1 (199.195.251.151) and it connected to the online lobby.

UPDATE (Regarding THPS3)

It appears that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 still functions normally through GameSpy's server. This could be due to a number of reasons, such as the MOTD being built-in to the game's code or the THPS3 server not using any sort of GameSpy ID login or lobby chat. Whatever the case, hosted games on GameSpy's online server for THPS3 still post.

[JamesCableCar]

Damn never really thought this would happen ha...

[FreddY]

BREAKING UPDATE (It's not just Activision Games!)

Contrary to what was originally thought, these GameSpy server terminations are not exclusive to Activision-published online games after all. While it remains true that all Activision-published titles have been terminated (except THPS3), reports are coming in today from various players that other GameSpy games have been terminated within the last 12 hours as well!

I can confirm that both FlatOut and FlatOut 2 for PS2 have been terminated, returning the following error message:
"Online play for FlatOut is no longer available."


The following GameSpy hosted games are now offline:

PS2:
FlatOut
FlatOut 2

PC:
Empire Earth II
Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
Empire Earth III
SWAT 4
SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate
Worms 4: Mayhem
Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers

[Source]


This is it, folks. The apocalypse of GameSpy as we know it.

[Mr.Chale]

man i think bfmc2 got the axe as well got the network error -603 anyone else

edit:nevermind

[Mytho]

As some of you may know, Glu Mobile Inc. acquired GameSpy Technology from IGN Entertainment on August 2, 2012.

Glu Mobile Inc., a leading global developer and publisher of games for smartphone and tablet devices, announced that it has acquired GameSpy Technology from IGN Entertainment.

There will be no disruption in service to GameSpy’s current customers and contracts as a result of this acquisition by Glu.

I hate to say I told ya so, but I saw this coming a mile away. I was there for the Dreamcast online gaming apocalypse where something extremely similar happened with Nokia acquiring Sega SNAP, the server software that many first-party Dreamcast titles used. Once I heard Glu Mobile had taken control of GameSpy, it was only a matter of time.

I wish we had more of a warning, perhaps a notice saying that remaining PS2 servers would be terminated in early 2013. Regardless of if we were on borrowed time, terminating services that people still used to this day without any warning leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

I'll be trying the GameSpy titles I own tonight and seeing what, if anything, is left after today's mass termination spree.

[21SkAt3r21]

well this was random. I knew it would come eventually but had no idea it would be this soon. I'm more shocked about the tony hawk games though than anything else.

[xCrI$TiAhNx]

BREAKING UPDATE (It's not just Activision Games!)

Contrary to what was originally thought, these GameSpy server terminations are not exclusive to Activision-published online games after all. While it remains true that all Activision-published titles have been terminated (except THPS3), reports are coming in today from various players that other GameSpy games have been terminated within the last 12 hours as well!

I can confirm that both FlatOut and FlatOut 2 for PS2 have been terminated, returning the following error message:
"Online play for FlatOut is no longer available."


The following GameSpy hosted games are now offline:

PS2:
FlatOut
FlatOut 2

PC:
Empire Earth II
Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
Empire Earth III
SWAT 4
SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate
Worms 4: Mayhem
Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers

[Source]


This is it, folks. The apocalypse of GameSpy as we know it.

It may do something about it on Flatout?
Keep them coming back?