http://zone.msn.com/en/general/article/genarticlecdromnotify2.htm

Amongst others, you will see that M$ have officially announced that CFS1 (& 2) will no longer be supported on their Gaming Zone after January 31st.

As a matter of interest, after hearing this earlier today, I tried out Gamespy's host with _SS_MyKill_ and found it to be much better than the Zone's providing noticeably smoother gameplay even for Dial-up users. It was so good I also noticed the handling of the aircraft had changed as well. Probably for the same reason. You can have up to 32 players in a game.

You have to subscribe to the service but you can do this for free under the terms of the subscription (remember to say a rousing "NO!" when asked if you would like to receive extra mail from them ad-infinitum though. If someone hacks your membership they can sign up for services within Gamespy which you are liable for under their terms (good excuse to go out and buy that new firewall).

It looks like they also have a very effective way of controlling the detritous which has / had free reign over the lobby's in the Zone.

When Jan 31st rolls around, I'll try it and see how long it lasts. Nothing more to lose.

I hope M$ will do the decent thing (after the HUGE petition that was submitted to them to retain CFS) and post a referral page to Gamespy on the page the game cd links new players to. But, actually, I doubt the thought has ever entertained the merest shaft of light in their tiny corporate light-bulb brain.

¤§¤ CFS and it's loyal players (and long-suffering M$ users)

Quote:

Yes but it's not for the benefit of the community that sprang up around CFS1. It's based more on the HyperLobby model. Although one good thing is they can control the detritous of the zone better than the zone ever did.


Full report in November's EURO "Gazette" (out tomorrow  8) ).

Thanks Padser, will do.

~S~

It works, too!

Jiri's advice never made sense to me before, but the edit is so easy... doh!

All you CFS-ers have to do now is make sure everyone knows about it... I might even re-install the games and revisit some of my mispent youth...

Would MSN put a link to HL on the Zone once they close CFS 1 & 2 down, I wonder...

Probably not a good idea to hold your breath for that one...

~S~

Pads

Things are developing by the minute here. I'll try and keep you updated as I get this info back.

UPDATE:-
I need everyone's help please:-

go2 (Zone's head-honcho) has stated that the Zone is having second thoughts re the future of CFS and may be prepared to re-think it's position regarding CFS1 (and possibly even CFS2) if enough people write and ask them to keep it.

Please send an e-mail to " zmaster@microsoft.com" and simply say, "Please do not remove CFS1/2 from the Zone".

Many thx for your assistance.

¤§¤
Shades

p.s. I have no idea why the petition didn't work but maybe it was presented to the wrong people as I have received no reply from the site host when I asked about his results. We may have a last gasp chance with this. Let's not waste it.

Where can I join a CFS1 squadron?  i'd like to help too. I'm a little new at this stuff

Yep, the 45th are a very good and active squad offering a variety of styles of games and camaraderie.

There's also a famous online directory (Yellow Pages) of squads hosted by TGIF_Tivan HERE.
The best squads to apply for are those that have "FFF" membership. Although no longer current, the FFF (Fair Fighting Federation) was, at one time a guarantee of a squad's commitment to fair gaming and positive action against cheating.
The 45th is one such squad with FFF membership but their current active members may not be aware of it, due to recent turnover.