Hamma Time

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.

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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.

Read more…

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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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