Infinity Ward has outraged fans this weekend by unveiling a new matchmaking service for Modern Warfare 2 which will replace dedicated servers and fundamentally change the way that PC players interact with the game.
Unveiled by Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling at BashandSlash, the new system will only be used for the PC version and is called IWNet. It'll run alongside Steam and also tie in to Valve's VAC anti-cheat system, abandoning the old Punkbuster system. That's the good news.
The bad news is that dedicated servers are now a thing of the past and there's no option to browse servers. You can still set up private matches with specific players, but otherwise you rely on the matchmaking system to choose a server for you. No dedicated servers, no LAN matches.
"You are completely reliant on IW.NET. There are no server lists. There are no dedicated servers," clarified Bowling.
Addressing concerns about how this may affect custom content for the game, Bowling said he had no real information on that front as IWNet is a "code heavy project" which he isn't hugely involved in right now, so he couldn't promise anything. Many sites are now reporting that mod support may have been removed from the PC game.
"I don't have those answers yet," said Bowling, when pressed on the topic.
Downloadable content for the game is definitely still supported, with Infinity Ward confirming that it'll be a paid-for product on the PC.
"This is the first time we've ever done something like this, obviously," Bowling said, "and I know the team has huge plans for what IWNet develops into, and this is just the beginning. It's hard for me to speak personally towward IWNet, because that is a code heavy project."
Bowling said that the up-side of IWNet though is that it allows Infinity Ward a lot more control over the community and the way players get updates. Won't help them roll out a demo though.
Fans are generally reacting badly to the news it seems, with many bit-tech readers announcing they have cancelled their pre-orders in protest. As RPS points out though, we don't have a full picture just yet and Infinity Ward is likely to release more info soon.
The news has already broken in the bit-tech forums, so jump in their and let us know your thoughts.
Unveiled by Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling at BashandSlash, the new system will only be used for the PC version and is called IWNet. It'll run alongside Steam and also tie in to Valve's VAC anti-cheat system, abandoning the old Punkbuster system. That's the good news.
The bad news is that dedicated servers are now a thing of the past and there's no option to browse servers. You can still set up private matches with specific players, but otherwise you rely on the matchmaking system to choose a server for you. No dedicated servers, no LAN matches.
"You are completely reliant on IW.NET. There are no server lists. There are no dedicated servers," clarified Bowling.
Addressing concerns about how this may affect custom content for the game, Bowling said he had no real information on that front as IWNet is a "code heavy project" which he isn't hugely involved in right now, so he couldn't promise anything. Many sites are now reporting that mod support may have been removed from the PC game.
"I don't have those answers yet," said Bowling, when pressed on the topic.
Downloadable content for the game is definitely still supported, with Infinity Ward confirming that it'll be a paid-for product on the PC.
"This is the first time we've ever done something like this, obviously," Bowling said, "and I know the team has huge plans for what IWNet develops into, and this is just the beginning. It's hard for me to speak personally towward IWNet, because that is a code heavy project."
Bowling said that the up-side of IWNet though is that it allows Infinity Ward a lot more control over the community and the way players get updates. Won't help them roll out a demo though.
Fans are generally reacting badly to the news it seems, with many bit-tech readers announcing they have cancelled their pre-orders in protest. As RPS points out though, we don't have a full picture just yet and Infinity Ward is likely to release more info soon.
The news has already broken in the bit-tech forums, so jump in their and let us know your thoughts.
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