EA must be looking to free up some server bandwidth because starting in March nine more games with online connectivity will get the boot and have all their online gameplay components stripped forever, this includes Def Jam, Godfather, and The Simpsons just to name a few.

"As background information, the games scheduled for shutdown in March and April 2010 represent less than 0.3% of all peak online players across all EA titles. Despite some people's perception, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these older games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99.7% of customers playing our more popular games."

One of the titles getting the ax, Army of Two for the PS3, is region specific to Asia only and will still have online support elsewhere... for the time being at least. Still, some of the games listed below aren't all that bad and will be a shame to loose online play for come this March.

March 16, 2010 Online Service Shutdown

Def Jam for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Godfather for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Lord of the Rings: Conquest for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for PC
Need for Speed: Carbon for PlayStation Portable
Need for Speed: ProStreet for PlayStation Portable
Simpsons for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

April 15, 2010 Online Service Shutdown

Burnout 3: Takedown for PlayStation 2
Army of Two for PlayStation 3 (Asia only)

Click here for a complete list of games for which EA is no longer providing online support.

Online gaming has seen a surge of popularity in recent years, particularly with platforms such as Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam. Research and analysis group Screen Digest expects the craze to only continue, with 2010 seeing a particular swell.

A report released by the firm suggests that the online games market will make up 24% of the combined physical and online market in the US in 2010, a 6% increase from last year. The report also noted that new technologies being introduced into the market, such as Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's unnamed motion controller, will play a big part in the continuation of this trend.

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Online gaming is something gamers all cherish, but there's a few individuals who can ruin the experience completely. There's generally five different types of these people, and I have created a top five list of the worst online gamer types. Just hope you don't come across these people the next time you're playing online.

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