What happens when a persistent world doesn't stick around quite as long as planned? Players and game-makers throw an end-of-the-world party.

On July 31, Sony Online Entertainment will pull the plug on The Matrix Online. Until then, any former player with an account in good standing will be able to log in and play for free.

In what is now becoming a tradition for failing MMOs, the game's administrators are already amping up the number of enemies in the game. Massively's Colin Brennan reports sightings of "ashes falling from the sky" as well as waves of "zombies, agents, angels and demons" descending upon the game's virtual populace to wreak havoc.

The Matrix Online launched in 2005, several years after the series' two disappointing sequels bowed. It was slowed down by problems with publishers: Sega had it first, and Ubisoft almost took it but backed away, handing the reins over to SOE. It didn't review well: Wired.com's Lore Sjöberg called it "unpleasant", for one. It never came close to capturing the MMO mind-share monopolized by World of Warcraft.

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