Breaking News: Ratchet & Clank PS2 Online Servers Terminated

[FreddY]

After Masquarr originally pointed this out, I can officially confirm that the online servers for both Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Ratchet: Deadlocked for PS2 have gone offline. While DNAS authentication is successful, an error message is received when a player attempts to log in to the online server.

Player reports from various forums actually place the server termination date as early as June 26, 2012.

This also means the end of Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain online forever.
(As it used the online server of Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal to connect online.)

It seems apparent that the Ratchet & Clank games for PS2 were shut down in preparation for The Ratchet & Clank Collection (a PS3 bundle which includes remastered versions of Ratchet & Clank, Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal, along with multiplayer modes), which released in Europe on June 27, 2012. The collection releases in North America on October 2, 2012.

Along with the server shutdown of the SOCOM games (and subsequently Amplitude) later this summer, this serves as another big loss to the PS2 online gaming community. Once the SOCOM games go offline, there will no longer be any PS2 online games hosted directly by Sony.
(Champions of Norrath, Champions: Return to Arms and Final Fantasy XI are unique in that they are hosted by the 'Sony Online Entertainment' service.)

Ever since I personally contributed in resurrecting the online server of Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain in July 2011, many players were able to enjoy the game that was once thought to be offline forever in 2008.

What were some of your greatest memories playing Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet: Deadlocked and Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain online?

What do you think about the impending termination of all Sony-based PS2 online games?

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[21SkAt3r21]

I have a feeling by the end of the year all we will still have online for ps2 is bf2, thps, swbf2 (maybe), all kai games, and some other smaller games. No sports games, no socom obviously, and idk if cod will even make it till the end of the year. it probably will though because Activison suprisingly leaves COD servers up forever and it is hosted by Gamespy. Gosh all these games going down makes me sad.

And as for the R&C:UYA servers, i was on them less than a week ago with a good 20-35 people having a great time. I was horrible at the game but ill miss it, it was really fun. I might have to pick up the HD collection this fall on PSN..

[jacobgrocks]

I have a feeling by the end of the year all we will still have online for ps2 is bf2, thps, swbf2 (maybe), all kai games, and some other smaller games. No sports games, no socom obviously, and idk if cod will even make it till the end of the year. it probably will though because Activison suprisingly leaves COD servers up forever and it is hosted by Gamespy. Gosh all these games going down makes me sad.

And as for the R&C:UYA servers, i was on them less than a week ago with a good 20-35 people having a great time. I was horrible at the game but ill miss it, it was really fun. I might have to pick up the HD collection this fall on PSN..

There's a good chance GameSpy will remain up as long as DNAS does, since Gamespy is known for leaving their games up forever.

[teamR@@K!E]

Wow, more and more games going offline that have a good turn out.

bf2 will hopefully be good and as long as there's a specific dns address or a ds server
tribes will always be online or at least able to meet up online

[JamesCableCar]

Most Gamespy games will probably be up for a long time. I wouldn't worry about it... yet.

[21SkAt3r21]

Most Gamespy games will probably be up for a long time. I wouldn't worry about it... yet.

Yeah, Gamespy is good about leaving servers up so we should be good. But you never know...

[lazyhoboguy]

Well I sort of was expecting this to happen once I heard about the ps3 versions of the ratchet and clank games coming out. Sort of sucks that I didnt get to try Ratchet Deadlocked online yet. I was pretty surprised those servers stayed online as long as they did.


*edit*

Did sony give any official confirmation that these games have gone offline on ps2? Did you guys email them and ask, or did they post that they were going offline somewhere?

[21SkAt3r21]

Did sony give any official confirmation that these games have gone offline on ps2? Did you guys email them and ask, or did they post that they were going offline somewhere?

I have just heard people talking about it and it didnt suprise me when FreddY posted it due to the HD collection. I don't know if there is any official confirmation but people have said they've been down for weeks (i played online perfectly less than a week ago though) supposedly.

[FreddY]

http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/ ... p/37237459

Important notice for all PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system owners regarding online games.

As of June 27, 2012, you will no longer be able to use the online features of the following games:

PS2 system
Ratchet and Clank®: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet: Deadlocked®

PSP® system
Ratchet & Clank®: Size Matters
Resistance® Retribution
Syphon Filter®: Combat Ops
Syphon Filter®: Logan's Shadow
Syphon Filter®: Dark Mirror Online

You can still play the above titles offline, with the exception of Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, which does not have an offline mode.

[Masquarr]

I'm rather upset that they only posted it in that obscure and difficult-to-find subforum that isn't even about the Ratchet series. I've been browsing the PS2 General Discussion subforum somewhat frequently for the last few months, so if only SCEA had posted the announcement there, I would've seen it in time, and I would've been able to warn everyone about it.

Most Gamespy games will probably be up for a long time. I wouldn't worry about it... yet.

Correct. To my knowledge, nearly all of the Gamespy games for the PS2 use the same server, gamespy.com. The only exceptions that I know of are the SWBF games, which use other domain names, such as swbfront2ps2.available.gamespy.com and swbfront2ps2.ms4.gamespy.com. That's why even some of the old and really unpopular Gamespy games are still playable online. It isn't even possible for Gamespy to terminate support for those games without terminating support for the more popular ones! However, some Gamespy games require the user to also connect to external servers in order to play online, most notably the ones that use DNAS. To my knowledge, Midnight Club II is the only Gamespy game that connects to Gamespy and Gamespy only. That game will probably remain playable online for a very long time.