Who remembers the old MSN Gaming Zone?

[norseamd]

I used to play AOE2 there. I still play it occasionally through GameSpy.

i remember msn gaming zone because of aoe2 but i never played multiplayer back then. what is a good place to play now with forgotten empires. maybe i will start playing it again and try multiplayer. watch me fail.

 

[Mai72]

I played AoE on MSN. I loved it, but the best place to play was on HEAT! I used to play Kingpin. I would stay up for hours playing.

 

[Murloc]

nah it was already dead when I started playing age of empires 2 online.

i remember msn gaming zone because of aoe2 but i never played multiplayer back then. what is a good place to play now with forgotten empires. maybe i will start playing it again and try multiplayer. watch me fail.

you either buy the steam version (forgotten empires has been released as an official expansion in the meantime) and play there, or go to Voobly (ex-IGZones) or GameRanger (both are free). I think the latest patch people use on the traditional CD game is Userpatch (it's unofficial like all the patches since 1.0c).

Gamerangers has a much smaller player base, no rankings but it's more friendly. Voobly is kinda elitist and you will get utterly killed if you don't know how to play online. Age of empires 2 HD (steam) is a mixed bag as far as players go and there's many of them and they haven't corrected everything yet (like custom AIs are still broken and the standard AIs are weakened due to changes, but they're designing new ones that also hunt boars and stuff) but revived the modding community and does its job, they're working through the issues.

The forgotten on steam also has more changes since they have an active developer team.

On steam, people are playing AoF online, but on Voobly I think they've stuck with the Userpatch the conquerors version, at least for the tournaments.

You should have bought the aoe2HD + AoF pack when it was on christmas sale several times.

 

[johnnyzone]

Man, the MSN Gaming Zone brings back LOTS of memories! I was a teen at the time when it was big, and I was pretty obsessed with becoming a part of the volunteer administrative team. I was too young and had to wait until they launched the "Greeter" program, which allowed younger volunteers to help out, but with only a ! character at the beginning of our names, so I had to settle with !AskMe4Help. But man was that awesome to have! I also hosted Hearts tournaments and played tons of AoE, Midtown Madness, and DF2. I still have a folder on my computer of old volunteer files. I'll post the one containing a sort of history of the Zone (relating mostly to volunteers), in case someone searches for their Zone username, so hopefully they can find this post and join us here!

1998

February 20 - New GT's (Greeters): Agony0, celestria, Due_South, FBI_11, Jediian_99, Miss_venus, moo_2_u, Mr_Rebel99, mrmike1234, PookyKitty, Renegade, ShawnRisk, TC_Rebs, TZG.

October 1 - New GT's (Greeters): CoolKid_14, FriendlyBovine, GeneralLee01_98, Jadey_Jade, MrMoose007, paladin333, PatriotBLue, Plo__Koon, Racenmatt, Transpulse, Trekkie0, TrinketBox, Troopa1.


1999

March 1 - New GT's (Greeters): AskMe4Help, Bjt_Bauer, BronzeFalcon, benson006, CPUCONSULT, Cyber_GreeteR (Cyber_Help4U), Dan_44, GreeTNFooL, James_tb_kirk, JiBbeR_JaBbeR, jjason_dot_com, Kdogg871, KoRn__Bizkit, LBinshtock, Leader_Blue, MastaHelpa, Mikester_Guy, Mister_Luke, Mr_CC, netnut13, NHAngel82, Pannzie, Pilot_Thrawn43, Romulanous, S_k_i_l_l, Stryker, TambovWolf, xEvilangelx.

March 27 - New GT's (Greeters): Alex117, Blackwolf321, InTheLight777, Jason_Cook, Mystical_Spyder, NightHawk_88, PappyDoo, Perfinator, Silent_Walker, Smoking_Barrels, Theabyss4, Thraxas, VooDoo3_Jr, Wizad.

May 17 - New GT's (Greeters): Ben_114, Bird36, boot_disk, The1Cobra, CodyViViD, F_o_o_B, Flunglung, Freop, Garret_Lockhart, Helper_27, Kid_Geo, Mojo_da_Penguin, Moonie_2, MTM2_PhAtY, Myrddin007, rhemo, SecretAgent_248, Silent_Stinger, Skinny_Minkis, SPYDR2000, Steel_Golem1, SubtleVipEr, Sweetgirl14, TiReTrEd.

July 1 - First big update for the new Z6.

September 20 - New GT's: TheGreatPotato, Stephen_Hodgo


2000

Feb. 22 - Policy stated for GT's to not use Sysop commands in rooms.

March 1 - Midtown, Trivia Pursuit, and Mars/Venus ST's ended.

March 6 - New GT's: MultipleHelp, Skwirrley6, richard128, Mark413, Dot_Com_0, CreatureNo9.

April 4 - New GT's: Champion99, Cluby_Tech, CyrusThe_Virus, D_DooMeD, DaBo_, DrFahrvergnugen, Dudeman_12, ETF_CXSniPer, F_Lyon_Wall, Falnyx7, folken7, FoxRage, GameGuider, hk_victor, Ivy_Jane, Joshlep, lavachu, LocalFire, Lord_Des_Amore, Oblong_Halo3, Payallin, PhantomXL, Seeker_4321, Speedbird66, ThorArakis, ToxicReptile.

 

[Ichinisan]

I don't remember what username I had. Played mostly Quake II.

"Q2, Edge, CABLE, Inf ammo, no fall dmg"

 

[jrakestr]

Post was years ago but hopefully still reaches my peoples.

Randomly thought about rb6 and ran across this post. My old handle was dramatic, used to run with Tragedy, Masada and the "TSG - Those Sexy Guys" clan. Jester, jin and the rest. Oh the memories... nothing like MSN Gaming Zone and the teenage online shit talking 🙂 Hope my people are doing well out there.

 

[Cheesemoo]

AoE II on there... many good times had. I just got AoE IIHD and all the expansions on Steam for their MS sale this summer. Man it is awesome to play that game again.

 

[evident]

Wow necro. I do miss those days though. Things were much simpler back then, and games were better to be honest.

 

[Naer]

ahhh, the days of dialup, 56k. who could forget? So much fustration with people getting disconnected or lagging playing aoe2 tc