What does PS2's premiere online shooter SOCOM get for its 10th anniversary? Its servers shut down

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All of the PS2 and PSP SOCOM games will go offline on August 31

What a world we live in, eh? A conflict that's gone on for the best part of a decade comes to an end and all people can do is complain and say 'I was enjoying that'. Tsk. But seriously, it is the end of an era, as PS2's SOCOM: US Navy SEALS series and the PSP versions are having their servers switched off on August 31, 2012.

PS3's SOCOM 4 is still going strong(ish), of course, but that won't help the still-loyal fanbase from feeling sad. Especially as they were hoping for some kind of HD collection to mark the game's tenth anniversary. In truth, they've been feeling sad for a while anyway, with each new sequel seemingly doing something to take the series away from the game it was when it first launched.

Above: "Right men, this is PS2 country. Keep moving and do NOT look at the floor"

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But what a run it's had! Most current-gen games' servers only stay live for a couple of years at best, so a 10-year stint is pretty remarkable. The closest thing we can think of in terms of consoles at least would be the Halo 2 servers, which ran from November 9, 2004 until April 15, 2010. But that's nothing like this PS2 game's stint, which started on August 27, 2002.

It does make us think about how far online gaming has come in 10 years. Remember the PS2 Network Adaptor? Or buying a PS2 Slim that had the adaptor built in, but knowing you'd never be able to play Final Fantasy XI on it because it needed the hard drive too? Remember not caring because San Andreas was coming soon anyway? Happy, happy days...

Source: The Real SOCOM

Justin Towell
Justin Towell
Freelance Writer

Justin was a GamesRadar+ staffer for 10 years but is now a freelance writer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.