Evening Reading: Goodbye Original Xbox Live

Microsoft wrote a fitting coda to its first game console today. On April 15 they plan to turn off Live access for the original Xbox . New games stopped coming to the system a long while ago but the persistence of online play stands as probably the strongest indication of just how well the service ultimately hit the mark. When Live launched on only the first anniversary of the Xbox, November 15, 2002, no one knew quite what to make of it. In a world where most relied on dial-up connections to the Net, it required broadband access. And despite only supporting a handful of titles, it asked users for an annual subscription fee. The inclusion of a headset and support for voice chat across all games topped things off. I remember our reactions were along the lines of "what are they thinking? Consoles are for single-player games. That's what they need to take on the PS2," and "everyone who wants to play online plays on PC and i...