Hamma Time

Unless you have been living under a rock the past few days you know that Infinity Ward recently announced there would be no dedicated servers and no modding for Modern Warfare 2. Today Fourzerotwo the community manager for MW2 came out from under a rock and climbed right back in again saying in part:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games. It’s also the most feature-rich PC version we’ve ever made. IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own.

This is only the first slap in the face. Wow, nice work wasting money Infinity Ward on a feature PC gamers had no idea about and do not want. As every PC gamer out there knows there is no need for every player to setup a dedicated server as mentioned above. Entry level players simply click multiplayer and select a server from the list. There are more than enough dedicated servers run by more than capable players to choose from. What a ridiculous concept created by a team that is obviously unaware of how the PC community works.

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Since my post just yesterday there have been over 30,000 signatures to the MW2 dedicated server petition online. Whether or not that will make a difference it’s hard to say. One thing is for sure and that is that it is hard for Infinity Ward to ignore a number on that scale. There have been tons of threads posted, and deleted on the IW official forums. They cannot quell the PC community by simply deleting threads.

During my reading today I came across a great comment on Kotaku:

PC gamers have already done their “matchmaking” days back during DooM, Warcraft and Quake. And you know what, once Quake came along it sucked to be the other 7 people in the match. We’ve upgraded, don’t bring us back to the dark ages and tell us it’s the second coming.

That is totally true, consoles do matchmaking out of necessity there is no other option.

The ball is in their court now, will they have the balls to man up and say they made a mistake? Or are they willing to lose millions from PC players who will not buy this game.

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Today is a sad day for PC gaming as we know it. It was announced in this interview (at about 1hr 41m) that Modern Warfare 2 will no longer have dedicated PC servers. This means that PC is going the way of dumbing down the game like Consoles with a matchmaking service where you click to play online and are matched up with specific users who will be hosted on a listen server (ie: You are the server). Consoles do it this way because well, it’s really the only way they can operate. PC’s do not have to abide by this ridiculous (and to be frank, very old..) technology.

The implications of this are so wide ranging that I can’t even begin to go into everything here. But I will go into a few.

First off lets talk about dedicated server companies like BranZone and GameServers.com. These companies thrive and feed their families from dedicated server rentals. These are legitimate businesses that make PC Gaming better for everyone involved. You are connected to a server who’s only job is to serve up a connection. You aren’t dealing with somebody else’s computer that is full of spyware on a 56k modem.

Second Competitive Gaming. Ladders like Team Warfare are based on Dedicated Servers. They provide a neutral ground where everyone playing can count on a solid connection for competitive gaming match. This is how I got my start in gaming, playing competitive  matches on Tribes 2 Dedicated servers. If not for dedicated servers it would not have worked and it will not work now.

Third and most important. PC Gaming is not Console Gaming. What works for Console does not work for PC and vice versa. They are totally different animals when you are talking about multiplayer online. Infinity Ward may think that 3 million 4 year olds running around cussing and calling everyone newbs on XBL is cool but I do not, along with many others.

Finally it’s important to note that Dedicated Servers are how the PC community gets to know each other and interacts. I found CDL, the team I have been on for 8 years via their very own dedicated server back in Tribes 2 had I not logged into that server I would not be the same person I am today. You can always find certain friends and teams playing on specific servers. This matchmaking service removes that VERY important social aspect from playing online.

I will not be buying this game unless Infinity Ward addresses this issue and makes a dedicated server available. Otherwise it’s been nice knowing you IF.

Be sure to sign the online petition here and let Infinity Ward know you are pissed off here.

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Every so often a story comes along that is so messed up it had to have been caused by a Video Game..

The NYPD has charged John Katehis (left) with repeatedly stabbing George Weber, 47, last Friday. The pair met after Weber posted a Craigslist ad offering to pay for violent sex. Katehis was to earn $60 for the sleazy encounter at which alcohol and cocaine were reportedly used. Weber, apparently as part of his sado-masochistic fantasy, supplied the knife with which Katehis eventually killed him.

Naturally this was caused by Grand Theft Auto right? Chances are the media will focus more on the fact this kid played GTA than the fact the dude was soliciting some pretty weird sex with a minor on Craigs List and even brought his own knife along for some S&M action.  This kids parents were obviously completely oblivious to the fact their son was out doing blow and having sex with men in violent sexual encounters.

This problem along with many many situations before it could have easily been solved by involved parents.

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  So it’s that time again and another GTA is on the horizon and this time it’s got what looks to be a pretty sweet ass multiplayer complete with co-op mode, racing mode, and even rival gang mode. Normally I’d be pretty excited to get into this game and kick some ass, the GTA series is always good for hours upon hours of fun. The problem? The PC platform once again gets shafted on release day. Now I am normally not one to whine about these sorts of things but come on give me a break…

Why do we have to wait 6 months to enjoy this game? Why should I go out and spend 400 bucks only to have an Xbox sit in the closet after about a month of playtime? I picked up the original XBox and a PS2 back in the day, played games on them for maybe a month a piece and now they are just sitting in the closet collecting dust. I used to enjoy consoles I mean who didn’t? Super Mario brothers started it all, Final Fantasy, Contra.. just to name a few. But then I got myself a PC and broke away from the cage of being stuck on one platform. PC’s can do everything from MMO’s (unfortunately) right to word processing. I just cannot get myself to play an FPS on a damn console a joystick and a keypad to aim and shoot?? Give me a break.. mouse and keyboard for the win.

I will probably buy the game when it comes out on the PC, but I think its ridiculous these studios continue to shaft the PC.

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Today I was doing my usual lunch time news whoring when I stumbled upon a teaser trailer to Duke Nukem Forever. Perhaps the most famed video game to never be released DNF has been the butt of Internet jokes for 10 years now. It’s a pretty good trailer, Graphics seem ok but honestly does it matter what the graphics look like? Just seeing this thing released will be a feat in itself. But my question is what in the world would you even do if it does someday get released? Will you buy it just because it’s DNF and an instant collectors item? Or maybe you are hoping there is an updated strip club in the game so you can get your jollies off a slightly less pixilated pair of tits.

Within minutes of it’s release poor Shack News who got the first exclusive trailer link was brought to it’s knee’s by Digg. At last check the site was still getting just hammered (pun intended).

Personally the thing that struck me the most when I started thinking is how long ago this game was announced, I was about to graduate high school myself.. the writer on ShackNews was in the 7th grade. It was a brisk day in 1997 when first news of DNF came to the world. In 2001 a trailer was released at E3 that never came to be, since then it’s been redone in a new engine among other things. The developer still joke’s that the game will be released "When it’s done" and that we should be seeing more stuff. I’m not holding my breath.. but I am kicking ass and chewing bubble gum.

Hamma Gaming

Well the weekend is finally here, I got so much done this week at work that it feels good to have a few days off. Monday is Columbus day and being in education, I get that day off Anyway on to what has peaked my interest for games recently.

So as I posted several days ago about Star Trek Online it turns out today they did a new Q&A over at Star Trek Online.NET with a few of the developers. I am really really hoping this game does not dissapoint as it will probably be the only MMO I would ever play again. So far, it is looking great – here is a quick snippet from their Q&A:

Brief stint at the academy. This is an opportunity to immerse the new player in our world, set up our premise, and potentially teach a little before launching the new recruit off into the galaxy. Note that the player will likely only choose his race at this time.

Assignment to a training vessel. The player will use this time to test department content and then lock into his chosen department. This gives him the chance to see what those departments are actually like before having to choose.

Entry into the larger hub network. This phase has the player adventuring within Federation space. The missions in this area of the galaxy capture the traditional one-shot episode-like content you know and love.

Commission. While he has already gone out on training missions with small, temporary ships, or as crew members of other players’ ships, this is his first real permanent commission.

Exploration into disputed territory. The conflict we’ve hinted at is a major factor within this phase of the game. The stakes will be higher, but so will the rewards

As you can see there it is looking pretty damn appealing it’s to bad it’s still at least a year off There is much more to read over at Star Trek Online.NET so head over and check it out.

Hamma Gaming, Random Thoughts

As many of you know I used to be an extreme hater of the RPG. Truth is I had always feared that if I had gone near one I would meet the fate many of my friends did and be sucked in. Well that’s just what ended up happening.

Anyways things in WoW are still fun – but the new is starting to wear off and people are starting to get bored with it. When Blizzard made high end raid content only applicable to high end hard core guilds they really screwed the pooch with me and my guild. 40 people to raid an instance? Screw that, it means you need like 60 level 60’s to constantly run something like Molten Core.

So my outlook on the future has begun. Many people have talked about Vanguard and how it could be the next big thing but, I am not so sure. From my limited reading about it, and my conversations with other people it seems like it is going to be the most hardcore of hardcore RPG. The case where, if you are a lumberjack that is level 5 and you try and chop down a level 25 tree you suffer a painful death by wood. Personally that is not appealing to me.

I have always hoped for a Space based futuristic RPG that did not suck, all the one’s I have read about and talked to people about have no appeal to me. Thus I have set my eyes on what I am most excited to see come out.

I have always been a Star Trek fan, and Star Trek games have almost always been doomed to fail. As if they are cursed in some way. I am hoping against hope that the upcoming Star Trek: Online reverses the evil curse and finally allows me to captain my own ship. So far it is looking very promising, the ability to choose which way you want to go in terms of Helm, engineering, Science, Tactical etc. It will give everyone no matter the path they choose the ability to enter into Command and perhaps one day command your own ship. Ships will be full of players and NPC’s and captains it appears will have the ability to invite people to their ship and even reject/kick people (Out the airlocks perhaps?) .

In my opinion any good game needs a good backbone in terms of a community. So far it looks like Star Trek Online.net is taking up that role pretty well. They have up a great FAQ compiled of all the known information about the game including the fact that it is still a ways off in terms of development. You can take a look at their FAQ over here.

that’s about it for today, overall boring so far. Tonight I am meeting up with my cousin many know as MattxMosh from the forums for a few brews, more on that tomorrow.. Maybe.

Hamma Gaming