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lordnikon
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Posted:
Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:53 pm
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Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence was released in Japan just before Christmas in December of 2005. Now, 1 year later, the Japanese release of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence will have its network functions terminated on December 25th 2005. Konami did this with Steel Lancer Arena International, and Arc the Lad End of Darkness. Now it seems not even the mighty Big Boss is impervious to Konami’s rigid corporate online structure. In the case of Steel Lancer Arena International it wasn’t so bad since the offline and online experience was pretty much the same, and you could play split screen with a friend at the very least. With MGS3 Subsistence, you cannot play the online maps in an offline environment. Everything about the online experience was isolated to connecting to the network.

This news strikes a chord with me specifically, as just this weekend I ordered the Limited Edition Japanese release of the game. I was pretty floored when I read the news passed on to me by site member and MGS3 authority, JimSensei. At least I will be able to play the game online for a solid 1-2 months before the game goes offline in Japan.

Konami is planning some farewell online match events, which will most likely end up being developers sitting in open games for random matches.

This brings us to the inevitable news that we ALL must come to grips with. Yes the North American version will probably be coming offline this upcoming March. Then after that in September of 2007 the PAL version will most likely be terminated as well. I love this games online mode, and it is depressing that I will never ever be able to play MGS3 Subsistence in network form ever again. I will never get to see the same online maps and unique levels that I have come so accustomed to roaming.

Depressing? Oh yea.

The only saving grace, is that the MGS3 network experience will be preserved somewhat in the upcoming PSP release of Portable Ops. Since it has local adhock gameplay it would be considered “online forever”. For anyone looking to salvage a semblence of their experiences on the PS2, this will be a good fallback title. (Hehe sorrow… I feel like I am fighting the Sorrow right now and ghosts of terminated PS2 games are haunting me.)

I only mention the PSP release as a note to anyone who loved MGS Online so dearly. Since this is a PS2 site though, we need to look over what we have that could somehow fill the void of the MGS3 experience. What even comes close? Having put some decent amount of time into 1 on 1 vs battles in MGS3, the one game that comes close enough is Socom 2 (sorry not 3 or Combined Assault….those games have vehicles). If you were to take Socom 2, and have 6-8 players in a select few jungle type maps, it would sort of fill the void of MGS3. I wonder if we could mimic the same weapon layout as MGS3 as well.

I know, I know, Socom 2 is not MGS3 and it surely doesn’t capture all of the atmosphere of MGS. It is a different game! However, it is from a third person perspective, has some similar environments, and similar weaponry. In all honesty it is the closest thing we’ve got.

As for the MGS3 forum, it will remain up until the North American release of the game is terminated. PAL users will still be able to discuss the game after this point in the General Online forum. Because of this news, the site will be putting up a new forum to take the place of the MGS3 forum. The new Splinter Cell forum will be up later this week to cover Pandora Tomarrow, Chaos Theory, and Double Agent. Luckily with Splinter cell, we don’t have to worry about losing network functionality, because of LAN functions.

In the meantime, enjoy your time on Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence. Just because the game has a pre-determined fate doesn’t mean we should ignore an amazing game and an amazing experience. Get your fill while you can!


Last edited by lordnikon on Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:52 am; edited 2 times in total
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Gforce
rank 27
Posted:
Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:30 pm
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Man you really really think the Us version will go offline real soon as well? From what I read here MGS online seems to be very popular, And I also hear in Japan some things that really blew up big here made little to no impact there. That is unless you have managed to run around a lot in the short period of time since you've purchased the LE copy of MGS and it turned out popular there to.
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lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:57 pm
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My japanese copy has not gotten here yet. I just ordered it the other day. Also, there are more people online on the Japanese version than the US version. Finally, every other Konami online title has had a 1 year life cycle.

Arc the Lad End of Darkness
DDR Extreme
SLAI

All of these games were online for exactly 1 year. Now the Japanese version of MGS3 is going offline 1 year after its release.

The NA and PAL versions will follow, and go offline just like clockwork. I would bet money on it.
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
Gforce
rank 27
Posted:
Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:15 am
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To be serious if you cared enough about it would you consider writing a note or even stick up what you think may happen on konami's boards? Because, well I mean the Nba live commmunity wasn't to happy with their game and they made it known.But there's time here and if it matters enough couldn't fans of the game make it clear a year online just wont suffice? Because its what always happens. These games end up about to go offline in about month and theres never enough time to convince those higher ups its not worth it to terminate them w/in that time frame. But now if you can almost bet on it happening again...couldnt the community try to stop or at least extend that online time?
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mcmonkey
rank 7
Posted:
Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:20 am
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well by the time this goes offline in pal-land i may probably be playing somthing elese online just as regularly so perhaps that may soften the blow slightly for me atleast, its still quite depressimg all the same.

any chance of anyone logging packets or ought for this marvelous waste of my free time?.....

(i know nothing about ps2 online, so meh)
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lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:37 am
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For the last few years I have been struggling to accomplish things with the Dreamcast Online restoration. It has been a long journey, which has yielded only so much in return. It was beyond worth it, but took a lot out of me over the years. Playstation 2 Online is much more complicated than Dreamcast Online due to "DNAS" which is a whole nother level of complexity. The piracy scene has been trying to bypass it for years, but have only managed to re-hack the game to connect to Sony's servers. I have known no situation where an application was written to emulate DNAS. It is far more complex than Sega's development kits, and on top of DNAS one would have to reverse engineer the server software for each individual PS2 online game.

The Playstation 2 will end up having over 40 online forever titles in North America, and over 30 in PAL territories.

This is a lot of games.

Because of the amount of titles we do have that can be played outside of corporate control, and how much time/expertise it takes to restore online functionality to a terminated game, I have decided that I will not be persuing the logging of packets for PS2 DNAS titles. It will end up where all I am ever doing is trying to get games back online and never actually playing games. With the amount of titles that the PS2 has online forever, I consider this a "free pass". Most of my favorite PS2 online titles like Tribes Aerial Assault, Twisted Metal Black Online, and Star Wars Battlefront are LAN compatible and online forever. There are more than enough titles to keep me occupied, and many other people as well.

From my perspective I am planning to respect and enjoy each online title I own while they are online, and take advantage of the time I am able to play them. Metal Gear Solid 3 will be a game I will continue to enjoy over the course of the next 6 months, and I will relegate the future to fond memories.
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
mcmonkey
rank 7
Posted:
Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:13 pm
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lordnikon wrote:
the stuff in the post above ^^^


i see, thats completely understandable.

lordnikon wrote:
every other Konami online title has had a 1 year life cycle.

Arc the Lad End of Darkness
DDR Extreme
SLAI

All of these games were online for exactly 1 year. Now the Japanese version of MGS3 is going offline 1 year after its release.

The NA and PAL versions will follow, and go offline just like clockwork. I would bet money on it.


what about Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 5? is that still online? its been out for at least a year by now (i think) and its update has been released aswell, shouldn't that have gone offline by now?
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lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:33 pm
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I currently do not know the status is of the Pro Evolution / Winning Eleven series. I have yet to check their homepages. Last time I checked there was no indication if the servers were taken down or are still online.

EDIT: Winning Eleven 9 (Pro Evo 5) was released here in Febuary of 2006. So it will be a few more months before we find out when that game is still online. I have no idea what the current status is for the PAL version. The Japanese version went offline in August.
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The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
MICHAE2414
rank 24
Posted:
Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:22 pm
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I believe that Metal Gear online is a particular experience that can't be found with other online games on the PS2, and to see Konami of Japan terminate its existence "like clockwork" (as you put it) without any certain consideration is disappointing. I, for one, will be getting Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP in the future and hopefully be able to preserve the online gameplay nature through ad-hoc there for some time to come.
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fanoid
rank 4
Posted:
Wed Nov 01, 2006 6:45 am
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Hi Guys

Pro Evo 5 is still online over here in PAL land.

But its gonna be intesting to see as Pro evo 6 came out here last week still with its online play so i wounder how long Pro Evo 5 will stay online. Last time i loged on (about 3/4 days ago) there was still 500+ people on the UK servers.

Pro evoultion 6 online play has been greatly imporved as far as features, i dont no them all but this time u can set up compitions, use master league teams u have made in online games and play against PC players. Im sure there is more but i havent managed to play its very much yet so i'll get the details soon.

Konami have been having problems with the server, mostly the log in server as it can be really hard to get connected, they say they are working to sort this out.

Oh and i checked to see if Pro Evo 5 was cross region and its is not. I think this will be to do with lag issiues because if i play with anyone outside of the uk (in europe) i get serious lag which mades the game pretty impossible to play.


Lordnikon - i was gonna post this up somewhere else but i couldnt see the sport section anymore so i just put in here where there was talk about the game
 
lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:25 am
quote : #11
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MICHAE2414 wrote:
I believe that Metal Gear online is a particular experience that can't be found with other online games on the PS2...

Yea I agree in many respects. The MGS3 experience, its maps, weapon mechanics, and graphics are all very unique. My reference to Socom 2 I guess was mainly a way to emulate the experience on another game in whatever way possible. If you could have people choosing the same weapons as MGS3 in socom 2, and using 2-3 maps that are similar in visual layout, it would in some way pay homage to the great MGS3. I still need to boot up Socom 2 and see exactly how possible that might be. Its still a theory at the moment.
fanoid wrote:
Pro Evo 5 is still online over here in PAL land.

If you manage to hang onto the game for a bit longer let me know if and when you catch word that it is to go offline. The Pro Evo 5 website is in flash. Flash sites rarely get updates after their initial launch. So there is little way for me to know when the game gets terminated without scouring any UK forum I can find for a mention of it.

fanoid wrote:
Lordnikon - i was gonna post this up somewhere else but i couldnt see the sport section anymore so i just put in here where there was talk about the game

The sports forum was taken down a LONG time ago, along with the Misc games forum. On top of this just recently even more changes were made to the forum list. Basically all of those discussions were shifted to the "General Online" forum. If you can't find a place to post your thread, post it in the General Online forum. Also, I am still sorting out a few things in terms of the recent forum reshuffling.
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
mcmonkey
rank 7
Posted:
Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:46 am
quote : #12
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Posts: 69
there's a message up now on the euro servers about the JP servers going offline, it also mentions that we (pal-land) and north american servers shouldnt be worried about being "ambushed" (i realy like the cheesey language that they use in the messages).
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lordnikon
rank 59
Posted:
Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:39 pm
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I tampered with Socom 2 the other night to see if you could setup a gameplay scenario even remotely close to MGS3. It doesn't work. There isn't enough customization options in Socom 2 to achieve this.
  _________________
The most effective, in this war?
The Bydo have it... and they control it.
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