Feel like throwing Amplitude into your PS2 or PS3 for just one more round of competitive super-fast button-pushing to Blink 182 or Komputer Kontroller online? You’ll need to find a friend to play alongside you because last week Sony took down the online servers for the game for good. I’m sad to see them go, but it’s been quite a while since I fired up the game, and I’m sure the user base has long since moved on to the super-popular Guitar Hero series of games.

Now if the games could be configured to point to alternative servers, and if the publisher released the server code for enthusiasts to run on their own, this would be a non-issue. They could turn off the main servers and let the hobbyists drive sales of the game on their own bandwidth dime. It’s a nice thing to wish for, and something that’s not that uncommon in the PC world, what with standalone servers for all the major shooters at least easily available. One good example of this the PC’s Supreme Commander game. I’ve read that it supports online play through a matchmaking service run by Gas Powered Games as well as direct TCP/IP play. Such things would be quite welcome on the new generation of machines for longevity, but the siren’s song of Xbox Live Arcade’s centralized gameplay and matchmaking could possibly contractually preclude such things.

I’m sure the servers shutting down isn’t just a matter of money, too. Shutting down servers for a 2-year old sports game ensures people don’t keep playing the previous iterations that might be just fine for them, driving sales of the newest and shiniest thing.

Seen on Joystiq here and here.