Gears 3 Multiplayer Beta Comes With Dedicated Servers

[John Funk]

Gears 3 Multiplayer Beta Comes With Dedicated Servers

One of the biggest console shooters is getting a little dose of PC for its third outing.

Dedicated servers are an interesting thing. On the one hand, they're a fairly simple, straightforward technology for matches of multiplayer. On the other hand, some gamers worship the idea with a passion that seems just a little bit too, uh, dedicated. But while dedicated servers have traditionally been a PC thing with console games preferring to go the peer-to-peer route, Gears of War 3 is giving the ol' dedicateds a thumbs-up (sort of).

To help soothe the Gears-less gap in gamers' hearts left vacant by the title's delay to Fall 2011 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103946-Gears-III-Delayed-to-Fall-2011], Microsoft announced that it would be holding a multiplayer beta for the title in the interim. "We plan to host a public multiplayer beta for Gears of War 3 in 2011 featuring dedicated servers."

They're still a console-ified version of dedicated servers - the game will still handle matchmaking itself, and there won't be any fan-operated servers like you'll find in TF2. Even so, Epic and Microsoft believe that the change will go a long way towards eliminating latency issues and the dreaded "host advantage" that many criticized Gears 2's multiplayer for.

So warm up your thumbsticks, 360 owners, and get ready to chainsaw people in the face before you can officially chainsaw people in the face. On dedicated servers.

(Via Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/gears-of-war-3-gains-multiplayer-beta-in-2011-featuring-dedicat/])

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[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I wonder how the beta will be handled... I want to get in it D:

And yeah dedicated servers are pretty cool.

 

[Lordmarkus]

So the PC moves away from dedicated to matchmaking while consoles do the reverse?

Mindfuck!!

 

[C95J]

I have never understood what a Dedicated Server is... what is so different about it??

 

[Delusibeta]

I have never understood what a Dedicated Server is... what is so different about it??

Basically, a dedicated server is dedicated (geddit?) to hosting the game, rather than listen servers (or peer-to-peer) where you have to host and play the game simultaneously on the same box. Since it's a server, it also has a far better internet connection than your common or garden household connection. Thus, it's more stable and less lag. Plus, no-one gets zero ping and an advantage. Also, game servers are (broadly speaking) more powerful than a gaming PC, so it's more than capable of running multiple instances of the game at once.

Wait a moment. Xbox Live giving out exclusive free DLC? And now supporting dedicated servers? All we need is the four horsemen to show up and I'm heading for my nearest bunker.

 

[Armored Prayer]

Gears 3 is is having a multiplayer beta?

HELLZ YES! I'm so happy right now!

 

[Drop_D-Bombshell]

Brilliant. I hope It's gonna be brilliant. Here's to a promising game.

 

[LightspeedJack]

Sign me up!

 

[Irridium]

I have never understood what a Dedicated Server is... what is so different about it??

In a console, like lets say Modern Warfare, the game finds people(or tries to find people) of similar connection speed, and gives the person with the best connection host, which means your all playing on the host's connection. The host's latency is always zero, which means he/she will always have an advantage. This was in Halo 2 with its dreaded "host shotgun", and in gears with pretty much everything.

With dedicated servers it means everyone is connecting to a remote server, meaning no one is host. This eliminates host advantage(though the closer you are to the server, the lower your latency(ping) is. The lower ping the better). And you can choose what servers you want to play, so you can always choose servers where you'll have a good connection, meaning you will never experience lag(unless your internet itself is screwy).

And thats just connection stuff that Dedicated servers do. This doesn't even scratch the surface of what they can do to spice up gameplay. If you have a dedicated server, its yours and you can do and addwhatever you want to it. You can add custom maps, skins, mods, sounds, lights, ect. You can set the amount of players that can play on it, you are the admin, meaning you can ban jackasses and cheaters at your whim. Which means no reporting and waiting for someone else to deal with them. You can appoint admins as well to watch the server while you do other things. And if your server is good, you'll find that you have created your own personal community that you'll always be able to have fun with.

Plus, on top of that, the dev/publisher don't have to pay to upkeep them, police them, ect. Its all user supported, freeing up costs for the developer to do other things.

Thats what dedicated servers do. On the PC at least, it may be a bit different on the console, but thats what they are. And thats why people love them so much.

 

[tehroc]

I would figure with Epic owned dedicated servers it would be easier for them to absorb data about the beta. Seems like a no-brainer.

 

[GLo Jones]

I need to know how to sign up. Right NAAAOOOOO!

 

[The Rockerfly]

Looks promising, if they do a similar step up from gears 1 to gears 2 then I will be happy but please fix the bugs before it is released.

I have a very bad history with the gears series and its bugs

 

[TelHybrid]

About time...

We pay for Xbox LIVE to be able to play online. We're entitled to dedicated gaming servers for the money we pay, rather than paying the bill for download servers.

Good work Epic! =D

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Very good news. If something as silly as bots sold a bunch of people on Black Ops, this should sell a lot of people on Gears 3. Especially considering the matchmaking for Gears 2 was atrocious.

 

[Jared]

Perhaps trying to entice PC players? None the less I am sure will have happy faces from some

 

[albear]

awesome news is awesome

looking forward to the beta since were gonna have to wait a little longer for the game

 

[C95J]

I have never understood what a Dedicated Server is... what is so different about it??

In a console, like lets say Modern Warfare, the game finds people(or tries to find people) of similar connection speed, and gives the person with the best connection host, which means your all playing on the host's connection. The host's latency is always zero, which means he/she will always have an advantage. This was in Halo 2 with its dreaded "host shotgun", and in gears with pretty much everything.

With dedicated servers it means everyone is connecting to a remote server, meaning no one is host. This eliminates host advantage(though the closer you are to the server, the lower your latency(ping) is. The lower ping the better). And you can choose what servers you want to play, so you can always choose servers where you'll have a good connection, meaning you will never experience lag(unless your internet itself is screwy).

And thats just connection stuff that Dedicated servers do. This doesn't even scratch the surface of what they can do to spice up gameplay. If you have a dedicated server, its yours and you can do and addwhatever you want to it. You can add custom maps, skins, mods, sounds, lights, ect. You can set the amount of players that can play on it, you are the admin, meaning you can ban jackasses and cheaters at your whim. Which means no reporting and waiting for someone else to deal with them. You can appoint admins as well to watch the server while you do other things. And if your server is good, you'll find that you have created your own personal community that you'll always be able to have fun with.

Plus, on top of that, the dev/publisher don't have to pay to upkeep them, police them, ect. Its all user supported, freeing up costs for the developer to do other things.

Thats what dedicated servers do. On the PC at least, it may be a bit different on the console, but thats what they are. And thats why people love them so much.

hmmm, thanks, I understand now.

One question, do you know if L4D games have Dedicated servers? Because when I play a game like MW, my connection is always near enough perfect, but whenever I go on L4D games, my connection is always bad. I think L4D games might have dedicated servers.

EDIT: I think it does, I just checked... bad news for me then...

 

[The Lunatic]

Well, that's nice.

Maybe they won't ruin the multiplayer this time.

 

[Irridium]

hmmm, thanks, I understand now.

One question, do you know if L4D games have Dedicated servers? Because when I play a game like MW, my connection is always near enough perfect, but whenever I go on L4D games, my connection is always bad. I think L4D games might have dedicated servers.

EDIT: I think it does, I just checked... bad news for me then...

Yeah, it does. But on the PC you can open up a server browser and browse servers for one thats good for you, while you can't on the console.

I think it tries to find the best for the leader when you let it find a server for you.