Farewell to Microsoft Internet Games on XP, Windows ME, and Windows 7

[Brink]

Hello, Microsoft Internet Games players, it is with heavy hearts that we have made the difficult decision that the following games will no longer be supported.

• Internet Backgammon (XP/ME, 7)
• Internet Checkers (XP/ME, 7)
• Internet Spades (XP/ME, 7)
• Internet Hearts (XP/ME)
• Internet Reversi (XP/ME)
• MSN Go (7)

Microsoft Internet Games services on Windows XP and ME will end on July 31, 2019.
Microsoft Internet Games services on Windows 7 will end on January 22, 2020.

We truly appreciate all the time and passion you’ve put into Microsoft Internet Games. This has been a great community.

However, the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences.
Current players may enjoy the games until the dates above, when game services will cease, and the games listed will no longer be playable.

While we’re saddened to leave this chapter behind, we continue to be committed to delivering engaging, delightful gaming experiences. We hope you’ll come with us on this journey and join the community of any of the other Microsoft casual games.

Sincerely,
The Windows Gaming Team

Source: Farewell to Microsoft Internet Games on Windows XP, Windows ME, and - Microsoft Community

 

[Brds7t7]

Haven't fired any of those games up since around 2009!

 

[townsbg]

That way they can focus (more) on the 10 "premium games" with ads in them. They are cutting everything off but windows 10. Lately M$ has become a big fat zero. I'll have to admit I don't play those games either. On XP I really only play pinball.

 

[file3456]

Pinball was great. But I only run 7 except on the netbook that runs XP and that's just for my local FTP server.

 

[townsbg]

I only run XP on a virtual machine.

 

[CarlSD]

Pinball was great. But I only run 7 except on the netbook that runs XP and that's just for my local FTP server.

I still have the Space Cadet "3D" Pinball game from XP.


Saved the folder from an XP install years ago and I've used it in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 10 - ran/runs flawlessly on all of them.


The game doesn't need to be installed - just create a shortcut to the 'PINBALL' executable in the game folder and you're good to go.

 

[Barman58]

Pinball was part of NT4, before that awful XP and it's Luna look ruined it

I can't remember how many installs of XP I did, well into the thousands, but every one had the Luna theme removed so that it looked less like something that you'd get from Disney

 

[townsbg]

I always changed mine to sliver or installed the royale theme.

 

[RoWin7]

Pinball was great. But I only run 7 except on the netbook that runs XP and that's just for my local FTP server.

Try this one: Short Circuit Pinball - ClassicGame.com

 

[RoWin7]

I always changed mine to sliver or installed the royale theme.

I always skip all the themes and create my own color schemes. My Win7 looks lot like my Win98 and XP.

 

[DCSeven]

It looks like Backgammon (and other games) didn't make it to the 22nd. The game hasn't connected here since support ended on the 14th.

 

[jc836]

Pinball and XP in a W7 VM

I am running Pinball without a virtual machine in W-7 and W-10. No issues in both cases. As to XP in a Virtual Machine; I am using the MS created one in W-7 to load the free version of XP that I got with the VM.

Using XP in a VM on a W-7 machine is fine and allows me to run a very old, no longer available, specialized road racing timing program (NASCAR,SCCA, IMSA and NASA). Running W-7 on a Dell laptop that is not used daily. EOL for Windows 7 is not an issue here.

 

[GoldenDog]

Only ever play some of the offline games when i'm really bored (waiting for something to load... and load... and load... and load...)

 

[Melchior]

I noticed there discontinue of this service effected other games too...
Unreal Tournament 2004... exe no longer loads as is... a games shim of does kind I think was related to this service shutdown and it effected Unreal Tournament 2004..


to work around it I renamed the exe filename to append a 't' to the end of UT2004.exe so it reads as UT2004t.exe
and it works as a work around...

 

[Tharthan]

t is with heavy hearts that we have made the difficult decision that the following games will no longer be supported

[W]e’re saddened to leave this chapter behind

Does anyone not born yesterday actually believe that they feel this way? I certainly don't.

 

[Barman58]

Does anyone really miss the internet games, with the state of the internet at the time they were released dial up connetions made internet games slower than postal chess

 

[file3456]

Does anyone not born yesterday actually believe that they feel this way? I certainly don't.

Now stop that. That kind of thinking is very anti-corporate of you and affects the overall appearance of our company and what we do.

Now what have they should have done was upgraded the games and/or platform. But perhaps they have some marketing metrics there that say they weren't used very much unless you spend three quarters of your life sitting in an office cubical and wasting company time.

 

[townsbg]

Did anyone use those games due to dial up?