Let’s Talk About…Insignia

While many groups are reviving PlayStation 2 games such as SOCOM II, Star Wars: Battlefront II, and, Everquest Online Adventures, there is a service out now for the original Xbox that doesn’t aim to bring back a singular game, but an entire service. Let’s talk about Insignia.

What is Insignia?

In short, Insignia is a replacement service for the original Xbox Live, bringing almost 200 games back online while also including features such as friend lists and leaderboards. It works on Xbox consoles (modded or stock) and on emulators. While it does take a little bit of effort to set up, once you do, you will instantly feel that lovely nostalgia rush we all so desperately crave.

What games does Insignia support?

With around 200 games, there is something for everyone, and many of the big online games are a part of this service, including:

• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
• Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition
• Mortal Kombat: Deception
• Forza Motorsport
• Street Fighter Anniversary Collection
• XIII
• Counter-Strike (remember that port?)

Right now, however, the most popular game on the system is the recently added Halo 2. Yes, THAT Halo 2.

At any given time, you can find plenty of people playing this classic. In fact, as I am writing this on a Thursday night, there are around 100 players online playing Halo 2, with the Insignia Discord channel organizing events all the time.

How much does this cost? Nothing is free, right?

Fortunately, Insignia IS free. According to the Insignia site: “Insignia is completely free to use, and will always be free to use. No hidden costs, no subscriptions, no ads.”

How do I connect?

You’ll need an original Xbox or the XEMU emulator. The original Xbox can be modded or be stock as there are direction on the Insignia site for either version. You’ll need to receive a personalized code to register your device, so you’ll submit an email address and receive this code to use when setting up.

For a more detailed step-by-step guide, check out the Insignia site.

Keep in mind, when running this on the XEMU emulator, not everything runs perfectly. For example: Project Gotham Racing 2 will crash (pun kind of intended?) when loading into a race and will need to be played on actual hardware. Also, Halo 2‘s audio is still not perfect, so if you are playing on XEMU, I would suggest turning the sound down a bit.

I’ve been able to spend several hours on both original hardware and XEMU playing a handful of games and I can confirm that this replicated the original Xbox Live beautifully. The fact that I raced against actual people in Project Gotham Racing 2, or had a full Halo 2 lobby in 2025 is nothing short of a miracle. With more games being added to the service, and a userbase of 20,000+ and continuously growing, there are plenty of reasons to give Insignia a try.