By NFS is now among the 18 additional EA classics currently undergoing trials
- penned by Fraser Gilbert
It’s been some time since we last checked in on Insignia—the fan-made successor to Xbox Live for the original Xbox—mainly because nothing headline-worthy had surfaced.
This week, though, the crew returned to announce that the catalogue will jump from 199 to 200 supported games, and milestone number 200 is a particularly notable pick: Need for Speed Underground 2.
Why the fanfare? EA releases have posed steep hurdles for Insignia’s engineers, yet they’ve now cleared enough roadblocks to bring 19 of them partly back online. NFS Underground 2 will be the debut EA entry on the platform, even though an exact launch day hasn’t been pinned down.
“Right now, 19 [EA] releases can authenticate with Insignia. They also feature limited presence: your Friend List appears, but private chat and invites remain disabled. Need for Speed: Underground 2 already boasts fully working matchmaking. Eleven others can open lobbies, though actual races can’t kick off yet. Leaderboards and tournaments are still on the to-do list.”
“We’re thrilled to confirm that Need for Speed Underground 2—both PAL and NTSC/Asia builds—will become the first EA-backed title on Insignia and our 200th supported game overall. We can’t lock in a precise drop date, but it’s nearly here!”
On top of that, the volunteers have begun probing support for “Games for Windows” and Xbox 360 libraries. They’re kicking things off with back-compat OG Xbox discs, so—ideally—those Insignia-revived classics will eventually run on Xbox 360 hardware too.
Native Xbox 360 titles aren’t slated for resurrection until Microsoft outlines when it will sunset Xbox Live on that console. Whenever the official lights do go out, however, Insignia could step in to keep select 360 games alive.
Big days lie ahead for Insignia. Setup is still finicky, the project remains wholly unaffiliated with Xbox (so proceed at your own peril), yet we’d love to see Microsoft eventually team up and offer assistance—preserving vintage Xbox multiplayer is worth celebrating.
Keen to watch this unfold on Insignia? Tell us your thoughts below.
[source bsky.app]
Fraser serves as Pure Xbox’s News Editor, chronicling the most important Xbox and wider-industry developments.