Bye Bye Bye MTM2 ??

[Kruzr]

Lastly, I address Microsoft directly. If you plan to follow through with this decision, then I ask that you provide the MTM2 community with the source code of our game so that we might correct the bugs and flaws that have haunted us for the past six years, and that we might find and integreate alternate ways of meeting and launching races. Surely, you can have no objection now that you no longer care about the game, it's users, and Microsoft customers. And yes, if that sounds a little far fetched, then consider that MTM2 is the last hold out for many of us to continue using Microsoft products at all. Without MTM2, and without the msn gaming zone, there is no attraction, there is nothing to hold us here. So, yes, consider your decision carefully. When you discontinue game support for MTM2, you do much more than prevent mtmers from playing a game. By discontinuing support for MTM2, you force us to seek out alternate pursuits, and believe you me, it's not likely that people will invest years of time and money in a company and product that will pull the rug out from under us with not so much as a thought to what they do.

Im not sure if thats the best way to ask them. In some places you seem to be threatening them.

If you are serious about wanting the source code then may I suggest you contact the folks over at FreeAllegiance and ask them how they got MS to release the code for that game. Or if you know of any game community where MS made public the code of other games.

Sad to see the game go. I may play one more time before Feb. Heck, get as many back to MTM2 before then and lets have a blast.

[Phineus]

Not threatening. It just refuses to be desperate or to beg.

That said, there's rumors the zone still has provisions for lan play. I know nothing about it at this stage, or how long it'll last, but I'll be sure to post info as soon as I find out more


Anyway, it's not an end. Just a new era.

[rocketalces]

Have you already sent that text to MS?

Speaking of communication with MS: did you ever get an answer to your open letter about the image file?

[ZOtm_BigDOGGe]

One part really caught my eye.

"Surely, you can have no objection now that you no longer care about the game, it's users, and Microsoft customers."

Surely they can object. Microsoft is interested in one thing...Selling products to make profits, nothing else. Giving us the source code would generate nothing for the company.

The longer MTM2 endures, the less chance we would move on to buying something else from them. MS makes no more profit from this game, and they would LOVE to see us buy newer MS products. In fact, I bet today they see the flaw of making a game we can keep fresh for years by making our own tracks/trucks/etc...I got my copy in the 90's, and have stuck with it due to the ability to build trucks for it. I have never encountered any other games that had that effect on me. I played Sports Car GT for a few months until I won all the races, then shelved it and bought a new driving sim....Same with Viper Racing, Driver and a few others. Not so with MTM2.

The only way I can see those greedy MS dudes agreeing to providing us with the source code would be to charge us for it, such as with monthly lease payments, and those payment w. I bet they are just hoping mtm2 will finally fade away, and well will spend fresh funds for newer products from them.

So why do they still have game rooms at the Zone for MTM2? Of course they could drop MTM2 from the zone to try and persuade us to move on to a new game sooner, but such an act might make users feel that MS can no longer be counted on to support their online games, and move on to someone else's game products.

I don't see them ever producing and distributing a new MTM game, as the market for monster truck related stuff is not that large, and chances of recovering investment funds are poor for games where you can provide your own add-ons and keep the game alive for years......Driving games in general are not selling well.

Techland can't even find a USA dristributer willing to sell the new Xpanded Rally racing sim for them since publishers don't see much profit potential in racing sims anymore, and don't want to chance the high costs of distribution. TRI dropped driving sims for the same reason (they lost their shirts with EVO2). Games like GTA and Half-life are the winners. Seems like what most gamers want these days is to blast guns and blow things up

The video game industry has become cut-throat, many famous game companies have folded or been bought out, and the survivors are being much more cautious over what they spend their funds on. It cost millions to develop and distribute video games these days, so they will only develop what appears to be the best possibility for big sales, and they won't do anything that might jeopardize those sales (like giving away source codes for free).



PLEASE let me be wrong, and MS suprises us with a new and similarly modifiable driving sim at some point in the future. Providing us the source code? I just can't see it happening unless we buy it outright for a large sum (and sign a promise to not use it to develop and sell/give away a new version of the game).

[SLO_COPE]

We'll still be able to play MTM 2, however, we'll be relegated to sharing a room with several other games that are in the same position.

Start with the this url, click the CD-ROM tab, then scroll down to the bottom of the page were you'll see the Zone Direct Play room. A couple of guys on the team say it works fine, actually seems to launch a little faster even. Not that that's of any consolation to losing our game room, mind you. Just reporting what's been passed on.

[Phineus]

> did you ever get an answer to your open letter

Not a peep... which in a way might be a postive sign. I don't want to fool myself, but dogge's argument cuts both ways: if there is no market, then what's to object to in terms of bottom line.

> Surely they can object.

Like Kruzr points out, it's happened at least once. The particulars are an unknown, but something like that might go a long way to appease customers who aren't going to move on anyway. The ship isn't sunk until the hull comes to rest on the ocean floor, and until that happens with mtm2 then I'll assume we're still dealing with people who can be reasoned with.

The zone hasn't closed yet, so there's still opportunity to keep it open.

MS hasn't said no to anything, so there's still possibility for them to say yes.

[Phineus]

I've set up a petition to keep the rooms open.

• Petition Site

I think if they see enough people interested, that would probably be the strongest proof we could provide that shows it's worth keeping around. If you agree, then please send as many people to the page as you can.

[Eat Dirt]

Man, this is *beep*.

I dont want to play any of microsofts new games! I like MTM2 better then anything they have came out with sence then (Mechwarrior is an exeption). And besides, if the worried about profit, wouldnt they just be jiping us off if they took away online play? So I dont know why the big M plans to take it down.

[Cale]

the market for monster truck related stuff is not that large,

Tell that to Clear Channel...seems like they're doing pretty well off of it.

MS will probably never make an MTM 3, but I can see there being a new M/T PC game coming out in the future with Raminator and Bigfoot as the primary trucks, if only to try to go head to head with CCE (which is what they are always trying to do). Maybe the next Monster Jam game will be ported to PC, maybe someone can hack into it or something. But you are right on one thing, the entire PC game market is now The Sims, FPS's, RTS's, MMORPG's, and GTA. Not much else. It's terrible.

[SLO_Scrooch]

Good idea, that petition website. I'll write something down there right away. Thanks Cope for pointing me to that link as well

I don't think Microsoft will do anything about it. They close rooms all the time, and everytime they got these relativily small communities over them. Have they ever re-opened their servers because of this?

I think we should try to see this closing as an opportunity instead of a thread. We should talk about creating our own zone.
We could set up an IRC channel where we all get together. Then, someone could write a plugin for example. If you run that plugin in the IRC channel, it displays in the channel if you launch a game, what IP your game is and what track / list you are running.
With a certain command you can get an overview of all current races.
Or maybe something like IGOR or WinVroc.

Sounds pretty neat to me, not sure if it's something that can be coded though. It's also hard to inform everybody where the IRC channel is and getting new people there according to FUB__PaRaNoiA_, he has a point there.


Ow and yeah, I think Cope has a good point when he says that we still have the ability to get together in a 'for all games' room.

[Grim2004]

THEY CAN'T TAKE AWAY MY @ FAVORITE GAMES, MTM2, and Star Wars Jedi Outcast, this makes me so mad!!!!!!!!!!! CURSE ON YOU MICROSOFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, or whatever!!! *Please Excuse me while I scream into a pillow!!* They can't just take it away thought it's no fair, stupid Bill Gates. pahh... richest man.

[Kruzr]

I left a message on the Alleg forums asking them about getting the code for the game. The responses were not what I had hoped for. It was the developers working on the game that got MS to release the code. Why? Because they saw how much the players wanted to keep the game alive.

Here's the link about the code release if you are interested in reading it. Its not long.

http://research.microsoft.com/research/allegiance/

Best of luck to you guys.

[Guest]

So then perhaps the key is to find out and get a hold of some of the developers of MTM2???

-SciFi