What year did Online for consoles become popular?

I was just looking at my old online PSN profiles and just remembered that I use to play the sports games on my ps2 back in 2004. I also remember playing Killzone back then as well man I loved that game, The game that got me started with online shooters was Tom Clancy's Lockdown I played the hell out of that game when I rented from Blockbuster.

It became popular with the launch of the 360 and the rise of Live. I played online with PS2, but it wasn't really popular until the 360 launched

@The_Last_Ride: Really what year was that?

Well the 360 was launched in 22nd of November 2006, but it wasn't until Gears came in 07 it really took off

Yea around then end of 2006 to 2007. I remember playing call of duty 2 on xbox 360 which was a launch title. That's when I started to notice console gaming getting big. I had the most fun online those days.

huh? 360 came out in 2005.

2004: Rainbow Six 3 and Halo 2

Halo 2 in 2004 was very popular. It helped make Xbox Live a success. They'd already had a few online games (Unreal Championship, MechAssault, etc), but Halo took it from mild curiosity to THE big thing people were talking about.

When the game launched it hit the news. And that only rarely happens, at least around here where I live. They were talking about it on local channels. I even saw awards show presenters talking about Halo 2.

When the 360 launched, Halo 2 and it's LIVE features were the most played game on the platform for a while. I don't want to make claims that I'm unsure of so I won't go giving any numbers or whatnot, but it was going strong to say the least.

Playstation's online offerings were good as well. SOCOM was fun. But while somewhat popular, I don't remember anyone being as nuts for SOCOM as people were for Halo 2. Largely, one would assume, because the PS2 didn't have an on board HDD or network card. Those were all peripherals sold separately while the Xbox had them built in. It wasn't until the PS3 that Sony got their system ready to be put online out of the box.

If I had to pin it down to one singular moment, I'd say the launch of Halo 2 took console online games from "kind of interesting" to being the big new thing of the time. Now whether or not ushering in the age of the online console shooter was good thing or not is a debate for another time. ;)

Yeah I'd say that it really took off when Halo 2 launched.

2004 with Halo 2. Everything blew up after that on consoles.

@ZZoMBiE13: So is that why Sony released the PS2 slim with the Ethernet port?

I wouldn't presume to know. But if pressed, I'd assume they added it because the market was moving toward an online gaming focus. Sony of the time was always quick to react to the consumer demand and it usually paid off for them nicely.

The PS2 coming out a year before the Xbox was a blessing and a curse. Mostly a blessing though. They had not only the whole gaming market for a year, but they had the DVD market by being the cheapest DVD player you could buy at the time. But I only remember the Dreamcast having internet connectivity being built in before the Xbox (But I could be completely wrong on that. I'm old, cut me some slack). So at the time it launched, it would have been impossible and foolhardy to add in costly components for a trend most people wouldn't have predicted. The only real downside is that when you need a peripheral to enjoy a game, you immediately limit your potential audience for a title. I can't say it's a sure bet, but I'd wager that if every PS2 and PSTwo had all the hardware built in, SOCOM could have been as big as Halo. Maybe bigger. There were certainly more Sony machines in the market than Microsoft machines at the time.

I know my third PS2(PSTwo?) had a port so I tried SOCOM and it was pretty sweet. Beyond that, I got nothin but speculation and supposition.

I think it took off after the release of Halo 2, which was on November 9, 2004. Everyone flocked to xbox at that point, and a ton got live just for halo 2.

It`s a matter of fact it took off with the socom series back in 2002 on the ps2, but the first console that went online was the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 with games like Phantasy star online which i played countless of hours on dialup connection, good times :)

You could play online with the Genesis via xband and Meganet, and the Saturn had SEGA NET for games like Virtual On: Cybertroopers. You could probably go online with even older consoles, but I'm not familiar with them.

@Renegade_Fury: Oh you could? Damn Sega was really ahead of times back then. What year was this? To bad the Dreamcast didn`t succeed because that was one awesome console, im so glad i experienced games like Shenmue and Phantasy star Online, those games are legendary.

My Live account started with a 48-hour trial that came with Halo 2.

The first time I remember mention of online for a console was during the 16-bit generation with the X-Band modem for SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive.

Early 90's. I think Meganet came out in 1990, but it wasn't released outside of Japan. SEGA NetLink I think came out around year 2 of the Saturn, so maybe '96, but I don't remember. The Dreamcast was definitely ahead of its time too for being online and having the games you mentioned. It's just too bad so few noticed it back then, but at least its games are getting a little bit more recognition these days.

Dreamcast opened the gates. Xbox Live walked through them.

Exactly. I actually like Rainbow six 3 and it was way better than halo 2 too me. But both those games brought the start of console online gaming, or made it big, i should say.

Thats totally awesome, didn`t know they where that early out with online games. tnx for info.I`ll search up some of those games you mentioned on youtube and hopefully ill find some gameplay videos.

From my point of view online gaming on consoles started to become big allready with the original Socom Us Navy Seals launched on the ps2 in august 2002. This game sold 2.65 million copies and there where hundreds of thousands of people playing this game online.

I think Youtube has a couple vids on the online gaming history, which I do believe you are correct that it did start in the 90s but it just didn't catch on at the time.

Yeah the Dreamcast was ahead of it's time I remember getting offered the choice between having my own PS2 or a Dreamcast as a kid, that Sonic game was so addictive along with Crazy Taxi

ops, sorry, that was a typo :P

Found this interesting video on youtube about the Sega Saturn and netlink, i had no idea that any consoles was online before the dreamcast until Renegade_Fury told me about it, here is the video >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac-yvh7g-u8

Here is something that uploader wrote in the comment section of that video which i find interesting as well :) >> GameLine was a download service only. Intellivision had a download service like that too and was the first console to go online. Satelleview only worked for two hours a day while the satelite was over Japan and was a download service only. You're forgetting Sega Channel...another download only service. Xband modems were not supported by Nintendo or Sega. Sega did however partner with Xband to make the Netlink and officially supported it...whcih is why it's built into the games.

The questions are how many people in the world played sega saturn online? how many people in the world played the sega dreamcast online and how many people should play online on any console before you can call it popular to play online on consoles? :)

@renegadesteve: I played Crazy taxi alot, awesome game;)

this is interesting. :)

I remember having a blast with SOCOM II on ps2 back in the day.

@ojmstr: Remember the demo that came with the system? which had House of the dead on it and Power Stone, I can't tell you how many hours spent just on that demo alone

The days of Xbox and PS2 without a doubt paved the way for it.

It wasn't huge but, it was growing rapidly

around 2004 when major titles were being released it definitely exploded

Try 2004. The release of the masterpiece that is Halo 2. All hail its greaaaaatness. Seriously that game kicks ass!

People are forgetting Socom and how popular it was, millions used to play it, came out before Halo 2 and was much better.

Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast was massively popular too.

Other than singular games it wasn't until 2007 and COD4 that online on consoles really kicked off into more of a service.

I had power stone and house of the dead 2 with gun controllers, super awesome games. There where so many good games on the Sega DreamCast, it really is strange that the console didn`t make it.

Here are links to the videos of those two fantastic just for the nostalgia:)

Power Stone > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_rQW3Axk7o

House Of Dead 2 > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYlILBtTNn0