It appears as though older Xbox titles, namely the very popular Halo 2, are to blame for the 100 player limit on your Xbox Live friends' list. A "high-level Microsoft source" states that Microsoft has only held on to the limit to keep things running smoothly in Halo 2, which still ranks as the top played Xbox title week after week.
As with all rumors that come from anonymous sources, be sure and take this news with a grain of salt. There may be other noteworthy issues at hand that prevent the limit from being increased that do not revolve around Halo.
My source said Microsoft still does not know when it will disable support for the original Xbox Live, thus ending Halo 2's reign on the charts. It could happen after the release of Halo 3: ODST, since that would give Halo players two new Halo games to move over to on the new Xbox Live. If you want Microsoft to move in that direction, however, it requires your voiced opinion.
Microsoft will be reading this and comments elsewhere. If there's real vocal support for finally moving on from Halo 2, it could very well happen in the near future, I'm told.
But at least we know the hold up. It's a technical issue, but it's really not. It's about a community doing nothing more than enjoying their favorite game, while the rest of the world is prevented a seemingly simple interface feature. When to call it quits is a challenging issue for online games, but really, it's almost out of Microsoft's hands. Gamers have to make the decision.
As this was originally reported on G4, your best bet to have Microsoft hear your pleas is to either comment on the news piece at G4 or perhaps take your hopes to the official Xbox forums.Microsoft will be reading this and comments elsewhere. If there's real vocal support for finally moving on from Halo 2, it could very well happen in the near future, I'm told.
But at least we know the hold up. It's a technical issue, but it's really not. It's about a community doing nothing more than enjoying their favorite game, while the rest of the world is prevented a seemingly simple interface feature. When to call it quits is a challenging issue for online games, but really, it's almost out of Microsoft's hands. Gamers have to make the decision.
As with all rumors that come from anonymous sources, be sure and take this news with a grain of salt. There may be other noteworthy issues at hand that prevent the limit from being increased that do not revolve around Halo.