Zone News: ( http://zone.msn.com/en/general/article/cdromretiring )



earlier that day i checked out nar shaddaa to make sure it was still there, and it was. Little did I know that this would be the last time I would ever see Nar Shaddaa. Later on I checked the news and found this. Then I went back to nar a few hours later and it was this:





What about ZoneFriends?
Along with our old servers, the ZoneFriends tool will be taking a long-overdue retirement. All of our remaining (and future!) multiplayer games will be integrated with MSN Messenger. This is a big, big step forward for us. With its wide range of contact and message functions, handy additional features and even exclusive games, Messenger is everything that ZoneFriends wanted to be when it grew up.



So, wait, does this mean no lobbies?
That’s correct, at least for now. The old lobby system was built into our earliest classic games, and is to current game technology what a biplane engine would be to a stealth jet: similar, but essentially incompatible. Online gaming is all about community, so in addition to the in-game chat and Messenger-based invitation ability of our new multiplayer games, we’ve been researching new social and community features for both the games and our site in general. Of course the end result will be fun to use, but we’re also aiming for something that will still be as fun and useful after our second decade joins the first.



most of you prolly dont care thats kool

What is this? "YourOwners" What kind of name is that?

And pish. I doubt anyone here has used Zone in.. forever..

You're friends with ret.

Why?

Wow..I haven't used the Zone in many years.

I remember when a 300ms ping was considered good, and 200ms was incredible. Heh.

Haha. The zone.

Hahahaha, Zone.

I remember back when I was a young'un..wanted to be a zone 'mod' when I turned 18. Kinda forgot.

Thank god they finally got with the program and axed that crap.

Hahahaha.... yessssss. Those were the days. When I had 2 yellow bars, I was untouchable.

I remember playing TFC on a dial-up, and getting a whopping 39,000+ ping.

I died a lot. :|

Although I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun on the Zone, this has been a long time coming.

I loved the zone in it's very early days. I hated it when they switched to all that MSN .NET framework bull**** though. I met a lot of really cool people, and I still have a few really good friends I hang out with a lot that I met on the zone way back in 97.

Yeah, I remember playing XWA on the zone before they switched to all the .net crap. I had like 35 different screen names, and a new one could be made in less than a minute. Combined with a dynamic IP I could fool anybody I wanted. Then .net came in and everything started sucking. Got used to it, played for awhile more. Clan died, havent been back in a very very very long time. I had a blast on the zone and I owe my entry into online multiplaying to it, and I also owe my knowledge of massassi's existence to the zone. Good times, thats all I have to say.

I wanted to be a "SysOp" too. Teehee I remember dreading those guys like they were crooked cops. I remember the "contact sysop" button. Had to go tell some guy to head to the XWA rooms because there was a trouble maker. Could come in, boot, and leave. Trouble was back in 5 minutes.

The Zone was fun before it turned into a cesspool of stupid.

Your telling me that it wasn't always?

I used to play AoE on the zone way back in the day.. I had dial-up and so did everyone else

Yeah, me too. I kind of wish I could get in touch with some of the people I used to know from there, but everyone just sort of moved on from using ZoneFriends. It was great when you could pick out some really cool people out of the crowd of idiots and establish some good gaming friendships.

Good riddens.

MSN Messenger currently supports the same DirectPlay Lobby stuff the Zone did... you'll see JK and MotS show in the Games list. I think this is what they're referring to.

And there was much rejoicing.

*sings "Ha ha you're dead. The joke is over! You were an *******, and now you're goonnnne!"

<3 Old Green Day

I remember those days.

Wah, I had friends on the Zone. <3 LJW ):

Yeah that lobby system. Four player max... dang, those were the days. Some people did something to allow 256 players in thier lobbies.

Me, JK, zone.com, and a 33.6k US Robotics modem. Great times.

I remember rushing home everyday to get on the Zone and fire up the JK demo! Those were good times!

I remember leaving the Nar Shaddaa lobby and joining the demo lobby just to playing Bespin Mining Station and watch the newbians go flying to their deaths 97 times in a row or until I got bored.

i stopped caring 5 years ago. perhaps 6.

I'm rolling on the floor crying my *** off


Oh wait, I think I meant laughing.

Or maybe I meant I'm on fire?

intenret