It's the End of the War as We Know It

[Warstratigier]

ah indeed the market is not only a cruel mistress but also cunning in a devious sort of way. There might be some legitimate ways to try to fight against it like the obvious don't buy it, but that's where they turn to other methods to get their product out and profits in such as multi-porting it: even if one group proves to not buy the product, which seemingly isn't the case, they'll find another group or other groups.

A market that can appeal to so many is not so easy to corner now is it?

 

[Silva]

"Massive layoffs at EA"? Maybe now they'll make a decent game or two again. It's been a long time. Then again, that's the luck of Russian roulette. Their games might just get worse. Either way, I do sympathise with those losing their jobs. I just don't sympathise with the company they were employed by.

More on topic, I would just like to say: darn. I just bought a new high-spec PC and now apparently the PC games start getting shafted? This is just like when I bought a PS3, when we were coming out of the PS2-is-more-popular-than-anything era. Well, except there's already killer apps from older times I can still sink my teeth into on PC.

 

[FightThePower]

I never really got the boycott before this, so thanks for clearing this up. These are all perfectly legitimate points, and there's no doubt the lack of dedicated servers sucks, but it wasn't enough to stop me buying the game. Certainly it hasn't stopped me from having fun with the game, IW.net has been decent so far. Had the odd host migration and it all went smoothly.

Lol.

 

[Warstratigier]

I never really got the boycott before this, so thanks for clearing this up. These are all perfectly legitimate points, and there's no doubt the lack of dedicated servers sucks, but it wasn't enough to stop me buying the game. Certainly it hasn't stopped me from having fun with the game, IW.net has been decent so far. Had the odd host migration and it all went smoothly.

From what i've seen at other places, some that joined this "boycott" has only now helped succeed in making it a joke. Not much of a boycott when you see "Now Playing: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2" on the "boycott" members at Steam.

Edit: ah i see ya found it.

 

[samsonguy920]

Okay, here's another thing that is being threatened by this growing attitude that the PC might be going obsolete as a gaming platform: Stories. Lately there has been a push to find ways to present games as true dramatic devices, instead of the usual Mario Kart crap. How many developers are going to want to make the effort to actually put a true interactive story that would be entertaining to play while also gripping, and then have to deal with the limitations of a console? I feel that the PC still is a viable gaming platform, and if publishers decide to make cuts like these, they are making a huge mistake. If they are getting hurt in their income to the point where they have to make cuts like EA has, maybe they really need to look at their frigging prices. Yes, there are idiots out there who would put their car payment in jeopardy just to pay for Modern Warfare 2. But there are many more, who would enjoy such a game as MW2, but are not about to be that dumb with their budget for an overpriced game. In EA's case, they probably have to make cuts because of the money they had to spend on developing idiotic clunky DRM software, which cut into their sales because a lot of people weren't about to willingly let EA put malware into their system. You want to make money, game publishers? Quit behaving like the stupid US Government and start thinking of your consumers instead of your pocketbooks. If you win back our trust, and cut out the ineffective stuff, you can cut the price of your product and increase sales. Which will be just as if not moreso effective at making your shareholders happy.
What's going on now smells a lot like the same dumbass attitude that destroyed the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. All that is needed is a new upcomer that gives people what they want, and EA, Activision, Sony, Microsoft, and even maybe Nintendo will get bit in the ass. The next few years will tell.

 

[Baggie]

I'm not too worried to be honest. Sure I'm pissed with the new games coming out without dedicated server support, therefore terrible online capabilities, but they can't ignore market forces.
People know that multiplayer without dedicated servers are crap, and games they'd otherwise buy are going to make less money, while games that have dedicated server support will sell more as a consequence (I've already decided to buy Bad Company 2, even though I've never bought a battlefield game before).
In the mean time a couple of otherwise good games are going to be ruined, but I can deal.

 

[squid5580]

As a "consoletard" here is what I don't understand. Everything you have described except mods could potentially be fixed without dedicated servers. It seems to me that Activision is trying to evolve PC gaming to a point where it won't go the way of the dinosaurs. Fearing that is something I can understand. But what I have witnessed here in every last MW2 thread is not fear. It is demands. Fear would be not preordering and waiting to hear from reliable sources if they have indeed fixed these issues or not. Not posting whah whah whah Activision is evil because they dare try to improve on a system that isn't exactly noob friendly in hopes of gaining more customers. Now that MW2 has launched and it has been a few days I am curious on how the MP actually is. Too bad I doubt I will be able to find an unbiased opinion on the matter with user scores ranking in at 0 on metacritic and stupidity like that.

 

[YuheJi]

I'm sorry, two games decide not to have dedicated servers and you are all up in arms?

Seriously? I agree with the funk.

They are also two of the biggest games in years, from two of the biggest FPS developers out there.

 

[Captain_Caveman]

exactly. this article is spot on. i'm glad at least some people in the game media have the balls to say it.

addendum:
---------------------------
On to the news at hand; as Shamus points out in his article, on thing that can be done on PC is modifying the game (i dont mean mods as in maps, i mean changing how the game runs).

while it didn't take long for the hackers to make aim-bots & hitbox outlines (just search Modern Warfare 2 Hacks on youtube); what this is, is a legit modification for educational purposes only.

Via Bash And Slash, user SarahB has gotten to the nitty gritty of what the cell phone bars really mean & people are trying it out and seeing what's really going on. It's worth a read.
------------------------------------------------

http://bashandslash.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=795&Itemid=111

"In competitive gaming circles, having greater than 30ms difference between teams on a server was ruled an "unfair server", so it is interesting to read the truth about pings in the online MW2 experience.

The truth was supposed to be that the IW.net experience was going to be far superior than the one getting on dedicated servers. Far from it in my opinion. Now we have some numbers to back up that opinion.

SarahB on IW's official forums (source) has given us all a way to better monitor your online ping. Here is her technique:

Navigate to the folder: 'program files\steam\steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\players' and open the file config_mp.cfg

Change scoresping_interval from 100 to 20, and maxbars from 4 to 10 (10 is the max).

This means that each of the 10 bars represents 20ms, with full green being 20ms or lower, and 1 red being 200ms or higher.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE:*

WHAT HOST ADVANTAGE LOOKS LIKE:*
http://img52.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=hostadvantage1.jpg

The sad truth? You might wanna pound a few beers before you read this:

? The host is immediately obvious, he's the guy with 0-20 ping (full green).
? I usually connect with about 101-200+ms.
? Most people are connected at 200+ms (3 or less bars on normal cfg settings).
? On regular cfg settings, 4 bars means up to 0-100 ping, 3 bars 101-200, 2 bars 201-300, 1 bar is 301+."

*note: the ALL CAPS is from the article, i'm not trying to be outlandish.

 

[Lord_Panzer]

I mean no disrespect but this all kind of sounds like a horse drawn carriage enthusiast complaining about automobiles.

It's actually automobile enthusiasts complaining about being forced to ride a horse drawn carriage because "All the Amish do it, we just wanna let you have the same great experience. Also Amish don't lean."

Emphasis mine, but I lol'd. I really did.

I'm sorry, two games decide not to have dedicated servers and you are all up in arms?

Seriously? I agree with the funk.

They are also two of the biggest games in years, from two of the biggest FPS developers out there.

Not to mention that Carmack is officially ye olde God of PC FPSs. That carries a bit of weight.

 

[Scumpernickle]

The PC will never die as long as MMO's stay on it. I don't think console MMO's would work at all.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I feel for the PC crowd, I really do. But I refuse to shed a tear since they helped to make it the best selling title of all time. The solution is simple DON'T BUY THE FUCKING GAME! Sign the petition AND THEN STICK TO IT!

Infinity Ward has no reason to listen to you or anything you say because they're still making money hand over fist.

I think it's, for some people either stand in the bread line or starve too death. I didn't buy MW or MW2. I didn't sign any boycott. I just doesn't appeal to me, but for some people it's a bit difficult to truly boycott a game you would normally be playing 24/7.

It's even more difficult to boycott a game you weren't going to buy anyway.

But Piscian, its not the PC gamers who bought it in their droves, but the console players, who -by in large- got a good game; or at least that's what the reviews say.

 

[Abedeus]

This is why it's better to stick with Valve or Bioware. At least they treat the PC gamers right.

 

[Fearzone]

For a topic that usually degenerates into flame wars, I must say: excellently put. Seriously this is the post we can link to if we want to summarize PC gamers grievances.

It is not the end of PC gaming, just that we will need to rely on smaller studios to deliver our gaming interests. This is a good opportunity for new studios to break in. Maybe we'll be forced to refocus on the game behind the graphics, which is a good thing.

 

[Dommyboy]

Oh noes, two games lose support for dedicated PC servers, and suddenly everybody goes off their tits in agony about it. The CoD4 mods were never that great, and I barely knew that RAGE had a multiplayer component in the first place, let alone that the game existed.

What was IW's reason for removing dedicated server support from the PC version, anyway?

 

[Aquarion]

The other notable point is that without dedicated servers, when somewhere down the line in 2015 UbiActivisionBlizardEA decide to turn off the matchmaking servers for MW2 because "MW15 - The War For All The Cookies" is coming out, that's it. No retro-gaming for you.

 

[MiodekPL]

Interesting, but it's just one game developer (two if Rage will make the same mistake). But it's like prophesying end of the world based on one man's dream. If they want to save cash - fine, let them have it. But was it really cash-saving? We'll see.

PS Has anyone else noticed ridiculously large amounts of anti-PC-gaming articles?

 

[metza]

Spot on about the effect the loss of dedicated servers'll have on the community. I can deal with the rest, but that one's a killer for me.

 

[Whoracle]

Whilst I agree, if no PC gamers buy MW2 then IW/Activision are just as likely to say "fuck you" to our faces (instead of using their dastardly tactics like so far). They could then easily use this to say that they won't make PC games at all.

So what? It's their loss. It's not like they're the only ones developing for the PC. Let them die and wait for another company to step in and fill the niche.
Why is that a problem?