It’s been a while since I have ranted and I have been thinking alot about the current state of Multiplayer gaming recently.

Myself and Jenny recently have been playing All Points Bulletin it is a game I have looked forward to for a few years since I first heard about it. I’ve always enjoyed the GTA series and any open world game. The added opportunity to customize the heck out of my whips and character added to it.

Unfortunately we have started getting extremely frustrated by it and many other games recently. Why exactly? One word: Progression.

Back when I started gaming, playing Tribes, Doom, Duke Nukem among others multiplayer gaming was based purely on skill. Who was faster? who had the best aim? who practiced the most? It was not uncommon for me to play a couple of hours a week in Tribes to keep my skill level high for when we had matches. I had equal access to all the same weaponry as anyone else. This favored casual players as well though because some people just had the knack for doing something and could pick it right up.

Nowadays however gaming has de-evolved (Some will say it has evolved, I disagree) into who has the most time on their hands to unlock the best weapons. A gamer just starting out is already at a disadvantage to those who have had the most time maxing out their characters. This is true of World of Warcraft, Bad Company 2, APB and pretty much any modern online game. Players who have the most time on their hands become the most overpowered characters that can simply wipe the floor with newer or causal players. In some games this is not as big of a deal as in other games but the mechanic still exists. In APB for example 3 slot modified weapons with Level 3 upgraded modifications make it near impossible to gain the upper hand most of the time.

Games are no longer based purely in skill and even modern FPS games that have not been spared this fate. Games like Bad Company 2 and Call Of Duty have numerous unlockables which gain them advantages that others do not have. Now, it is not as extreme in some FPSs as it is in others and especially MMOs. PlanetSide did this right, it had unlockables but these were available to any new player early on. They didn’t have as much versatility as the more seasoned players however they had access to the same weapons.

I fear that the future of gaming will continue down this road. Upcoming games like Star Wars and Jumpgate Evolution I fear will lead me to the same conclusion. At this point the only thing that keeps me from quitting gaming and finding a new hobby is the friends I play with. If not for them at this point I’d have already quit.

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.

Party System and Friendslist: Modern Warfare 2 on PC also makes it much easier if you want to party up with your friends, or again, with your clan for a match. You can utilize the friendslist to see when your friends are online, and invite them to your Party. A Party allows you to move from game to game as a group. It’s great for clan matches, because you can party of with your clan and move from public game to public game together. Or if you’re doing a scrim, party up and invite the other clan (who is in a party) and they’ll all join at once. Set up a private match together and play. It makes setting up scrims or games with friends easier and hassle free.

Wow.. just wow. This is just a ridiculous and utter fallacy. Friends lists are well and good, and a nice addition to dedicated servers. And obliviously a must for console players. But this is yet another slap for PC players who have been building gaming communities on dedicated servers since the first one’s ever hit the scene many years ago. PC players BUILT online communities, we started it.. we may know a little about it. A console gaming community is more of a bunch of people you play with on occasion and may never see again.

A PC gaming community is much more fluid and rich because PC players by nature are more enthusiasts, we are people who enjoy gaming on the PC because of the flexibility it gives us so we like to hang around with people of similar interests. You find a server that you enjoy playing on and you keep playing there. You have the chance of running into people you know and even meeting new people, or joining their team because you like playing with them. This does not happen with the system IW has in mind. Another thing? On PC we want (and expect) 24+ player servers.

Cheat / Hack Free Games: The biggest benefit of using IWnet by far is the fact that you don’t have to worry about joining a server full of aim-bots, wallhacks, or cheaters. Or relying on the server admin of the server to constantly be monitoring, banning, and policing it. Modern Warfare 2 on PC allows us to control the quality of the game much more than ever before as well as utilizing the VAC (Valve-Anti-Cheat) system to keep games clean of hackers and cheaters.

And another slap.. what a joke this is. There is no such thing as cheat/hack free games. First off no system (Especially VAC) is capable of a hack free game. This actually is precisely the reason you NEED server administrators to monitor their servers. Many games today have come out with mods (yet another thing not allowed by MW2) to create global ban databases of bad players and ID’s. It is the PC community that stops cheating, not some silly “anti cheat” system.

I only went into a few points here because it’s just too easy to pick apart every tidbit of this post. From reading IW’s response to an amazing outpouring of rejection on blogs, gaming sites and over 110,000 signatures online it is totally apparent to me that they have absolutely no intention of changing this. So we as PC gamers must stand tall and not buy this game as it is the only way for us to show the company that we do not approve of their actions. It’s a lesson to other developers who may be thinking of dumbing down their PC experience in favor of consolization.

This will be my last entry on this topic unless they decide somehow to change their minds. Good work Infinity Ward on totally destroying COD for the PC.

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.

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.

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.

  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.

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.

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.