The death of Xfire . . .

[-JR- Mumbler]

(*Crossposting from our forums since this one tends to get more traffic)

By now, y'all are likely aware that Xfire, as of tomorrow, is no more.  And as the cliche' says, you don't know what you got till it's gone.  I never realized what a remarkably capable, intuitive, and ergonomic bit of software it was until Wraith and I tested a handful of potential replacements last night:

Evolve
Raptr
Gameranger
Overwolf
(and Steam, a lot of people's de facto alternative)

Personally, I don't like ANY of these, and NONE of them offer the kind of streamlined functionality that Xfire had (especially where joining servers and displaying server information--at least for such an old game like Halo--is concerned).  The more popular choices like Steam and Evolve are oriented around commerce to an exasperating (and cumbersome) extent, and Gameranger, the most simple, stripped-down application, is a sad comparison to Xfire, requiring a premium subscription to get rid of annoying ads and to see even basic server info).

I realize that most BFMs haven't used Xfire in a while, but my question to y'all is this: does anyone know of a good in-game IM program that offers an adequate server browser service for old games?  Any experiences with other programs or suggestions for resolving our collective predicament are appreciated.

-M.

[AEONS]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit sad about it going away, although as I type this it's still up and running, for how long is anyone's guess.

Used it on an almost daily basis for over 10 years, and a screenshot from yesterday of my profile. http://i.imgur.com/i3FIzep.jpg


That being said, Razer has a program called Comms that offers a minimally intrusive in-game overlay for chat and built in voice (not skype or ventrilo quality but it's just slightly below). Mike and Jay and myself are going to be using that for at least a little bit to see if it's worth keeping. It doesn't have a server browser at all, and unless we're skipping over something in the settings, it doesn't display if someone is in-game or not, but the program itself is still in Beta so there could be a possibility of more features being added.

[-JR- Mumbler]

Thanks for the suggestion, Aeons.  I'll check it out.  It seems like most gaming/comm clients offer a chat function (though "minimally intrusive" is definitely a benefit), but I don't know of any that offer a server browser for old/obsolete games like Halo.  Does anyone know of a stand alone server browser that will work for Halo (besides, of course, the lobby)?

-M.

[BFM_Crimson]

They provided this link to download pictures and videos, which is nice.

[§§}Compdude]

For what it's worth, the Xfire Client will continue to function for the foreseeable future. Just the social and web backend that logs your game hours and recorded content is gone.