News Flash - EA shuts down online play

Not many people play classic sports titles for more than a year or so after they launch, so there probably won't be massive protests in the streets over EA's move to force those hangers-on to upgrade to newer versions - well, except for maybe Need for Speed Underground 2, which is a totally different style game from the more recent Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

These games had online play retired on Aug. 1:

• FIFA Soccer 2005 (PC, PS2, Xbox)
  
• EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 (PS2, Xbox)
  
• NCAA March Madness 2005 (PS2, Xbox)
  
• NBA Live 2005 (PC, PS2, Xbox)
  
• NBA Street V3 (PS2, Xbox)
  
• NCAA Football 2005 (PS2)
  
• Need for Speed Underground 2 (PC, Xbox)
  
• NHL 2005 (PC, PS2, Xbox)
  
• Total Club Manager 06 (PS2)
  
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (PC, PS2)
  
• UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 (PC, PS2, Xbox)

These titles will lose online play on Oct. 1:

• Madden NFL 2005 (PC, PS2, Xbox)
  
• NFL Street 2: Unleashed (PS2, Xbox)

Normally, a publisher couldn't remove their game from Xbox Live play, but EA brokered a deal that it would bypass Microsoft's servers, granting itself the ability to pull the plug. Yet another reason to avoid EA games, if you needed one...