Electronic Arts is the bearer of bad news for those gamers who are still playing some of their older titles on Xbox, PS2 and PC.

The publisher has revealed a list of games that have been and will be pulled from the online arena over the next month.The first online shutdown service has already taken place on August 1st with the following servers already pulled:

August 1st

FIFA Soccer 2005 for PS2
FIFA Soccer 2005 for Xbox
FIFA Soccer 2005 Demo for Xbox
FIFA Soccer 2005 for PC
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 for PS2
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 for Xbox
NCAA March Madness 2005 for PS2
NCAA March Madness 2005 for Xbox
NBA Live 2005 for Xbox
NBA Live 2005 for PC
NBA Live 05 for PS2
NBA Street V3 for PS2
NBA Street V3 for Xbox
NCAA Football 2005 for PS2
Need for Speed Underground 2 Demo for PC
Need for Speed Underground 2 for PC
Need for Speed Underground 2 for Xbox
NHL 2005 for PS2
NHL 2005 for Xbox
NHL 2005 for PC
Total Club Manager 06 for PS2
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 for PS2
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 for PC
UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 for PS2
UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 for PC
UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 for Xbox

This will follow with numerous other server shutdowns on October 1st:

October 1st

Madden NFL 2005 for PS2
Madden NFL 2005 for Xbox
Madden NFL 2005 for PC
NFL Street 2: Unleashed for PS2
NFL Street 2: Unleashed for Xbox

It seems surprising that EA are branding games from 2005 as being old, a sequel to NFL Street 2 hasn't even been announced, yet they are cancelling the online service. Either gamers should be informed as to the publisher's plans when they purchase the game or online games should continue running for a decent length of time. According to comments from a number of gaming forums, online enthusiasts aren't happy with EA's premature closedown of these services.