Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

[Edge100x]

The interest in this game is high and we've been receiving quite a few emails about it, so I thought I'd make a quick news post.

We should be able to offer CoD:MW2 servers on the day of the game's release, if its release goes as smoothly as prior CoD titles (CoD2, CoD4, and CoD:WaW servers all worked out of the box). We will likely be starting at the CoD4 prices for this game, and will only go higher if its resource requirements are significantly more intense.

We generally don't offer pre-orders for any type of game server, both because we know we won't run out of space for them (we can roll out new hardware quickly enough to ensure this) and because we can never know for certain if the game will work properly on release day. If you're interested in a MW2 server, just visit our site on the day of its release and we'll have a news post about it here and (hopefully) the ability to order a server immediately.

Update: IW has announced that there will be no dedicated servers for MW2, so unfortunately we will not actually be able to offer these.

[gominator]

NO DEDICATED SERVERS FOR MW2 Period!
It's hard, very hard, for me to write objectively right now, but here is a summary of what we heard on BASH 123. If you missed it...we will have it on demand in a few minutes.

The raw version of BASH 123 can be found here temporarily.

Fourzerotwo was on our BASH webcast this morning and he had a few surprises for the PC community.

Here are the snippets:



*
We're doing a lot on the backend to make the game accessible for everyone.
*
There is no delay for the PC version of MW2
*
There's prestige mode
*
Jason West at the MP event, said that he was dead on, on the matchmaking servers. We've been building a system on the backend called IW.NET.
*
You are completely reliant on IW.NET. There are no server lists. There are no dedicated servers.
*
You have private matches where you can customize the game
*
You cannot put MW2 on a dedicated server.
*
This is the first time we've ever done something like this and the team has huge plans for what IW.NET develops into.
*
Customizing your game...you have quite a few options in a private match
*
You're getting same game (as in Console), plus matchmaking and private match.
*
Server admin point-of view, NO DEDICATED SERVERS

I've summarized some of my own thoughts from the cast here:

General

* IW partnering through Steam is what you will see in the future. Matchmaking is not through Steam, but IW.NET is run in conjunction with Steam.
* GSP's will no longer be renting out servers.
* No PunkBuster. VAC will be used as an anti cheat.
* Retail distribution: Pre-orders will get a disk. Or you could order from Steam.
* DLC may now need to be paid for - not confirmed.
* Piracy was only a small reason for going to IW.NET - not the whole reason.

Clans:

* No more clan servers. Private matches, replace clan servers.
* Listen servers will connect to each other.
* IW.NET/Steam will replace the community server admin

Competitive Gaming

* Competitive gaming has changed forever.
* It might be possible in the future for IW engineers to load a "competitive" setting on IW.NET, but it is far from a guarantee. It might also never happen.

Modding

* Modding the game is now very much in question. Fourzerotwo had no info on modding. However, it appears that there will be no mods or maps for MW2.
* Modding in SpecOps? Unknown.


Today our game has changed for ever.

I'll leave this post with Josh Peckler's comments from planetmedalofhonor.com:

The server community is what's made us. It's what defined us.

IW.NET is getting the PC community to turn into consoles. You're trying to re-write our history.

As a clan Leader I am completely disappointed with this news. I cant begin to tell you how many of my clan buddies have canceled their pre-order. I believe this to be the way of the future. Sad Sad day indeed.

[Edge100x]

Aye, if they actually go through with this, it will be terrible news.

The funny thing is that the market in general seems to be turning back towards dedicated servers, not away from them. Since IW has not tried it before, it's just a lesson they have to learn, I guess.

Not having dedicated servers will likely spell doom for MW2 on the PC. Without good multiplayer, the game won't have any staying power.

[coupsan]

Ugh, how utterly disturbing. It makes absolutely no sense to switch to a peer-to-peer method of multiplayer gaming.

On the bright side, that's one less game purchase for me to make this year.

[gominator]

Unfortunately I think its all true, I listened to the boring podcast with Rob Bowling. It looks like IW is going the way of the console. I truly hope you are right Edge, I hope this is only a lesson to be learned for IW. All 36 of my members have cancelled their pre-order of the game or will be doing so in support of our way to game "PC" with the choices that we have, Servers that we rent, Mods/maps that we implement. Not that we think its going to have any effect on anything, We just will not support anything that doesn't have dedicated support.

[Edge100x]

I really don't understand why they're not even giving players the option to run their own unmodded servers. It's not that hard for them to support a dedicated server, as they did for prior titles, and it can only add to the game's value. Going p2p only really is a huge step back, not forward, regardless of how excited they are to try it.

Aren't any of them gamers over there? Don't they realize how much better dedicated servers are?

[BnD|Sleeper]

Edge, you may be a bit biased to want dedicated servers :roll eyes:

But I do agree with you; DS are useful for players to work with because it gives us access to servers located where we want them to be. For example, someone in Seattle may want to buy a Seattle server rather than having to deal with a random person hosting their game in Kentucky. COD4 is a pain in the ass often with hosts always 'ending the game' on the 360; I actually wish they'd setup dedicated servers for the 360 in all parts of the country (or with good backbones) because it is frustrating.

Doing that on PC is ridiculous, because computers crash more often than 360s even so games will be ending even faster and more frequently. Thankfully I won't be playing the PC version; even if it were handed to me, it already sounds worse without the DS aspect.

I'd say they failed miserably already because I'd rather see them doing the transformation differently; keep DS aspect on PC and expand them to 360... But they're likely doing this so they can be more profitable (so they don't have to setup servers to work with the load).

Stupid... Very Stupid.

[Edge100x]

I can understand to some extent the focus on console gaming, since that's what more and more gamers use, but even on consoles, dedicated servers are better. Dedis lead to:

- Better uptime and no interrupted games
- Lower latencies and higher performance in general (32-player games use multiple megabits of bandwidth, something that very few home users have, even now)
- More servers available
- Customization potential
- The ability for communities to better be able to form and gather

Even if Activision doesn't like GSPs, allowing home users to run their own servers would provide at least some of these benefits. Ideally, they'd allow dedicated servers for both PC and console.

Every console game used to allow matchmaking only, but that's changing. Microsoft is encouraging game makers to allow dedicated servers for consoles and PCs through Games for Windows. Valve likes matchmaking and uses it for L4D, but uses a hybrid version with dedicated servers, which gives a much better experience (but they still don't allow PC users to run servers for consoles). Epic designed UT3 and derivative games to support dedicated servers, even for console play.

[IcEWoLF]

Edge and community check this video out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH7wOQCyZF0

This guy basically told the truth.

I wanted to rent a MW2 server, this just was too hard to accept.

Please watch the whole video, its worth it!

Friends/community/clans will all die off. friends and friends won't be able to play together due to their ranks, all server maintenance will be done at the same time like blizzard, that means downtime for all!

[Sim]

They need to hire this person back. (last i heard he quit or left), he knows what Dedicated Servers do for PC gaming.
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2007/1 ... 83514.html

[Edge100x]

It's shocking how different he's telling us their attitude was with CoD4. You're right, they really need him back (he was actually one of the founders of IW, apparently).

[coupsan]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/11 ... ltiplayer/

amazing.

[Edge100x]

I said before that "32-player games use multiple megabits of bandwidth, something that very few home users have, even now." I guess they must have realized that, too, and realized just how laggy it would be. Gotta restrict the game pretty severely in one way or another to avoid it.

[Meowy]

infinity ward just dont wanna let gameservers make lots of money from using their games lol.

[Edge100x]

I imagine that they would prefer for whatever money gamers are spending on dedicated servers to be funneled into paying for DLC. That won't actually happen, but I'm sure they're enjoying the dream.