Archive for October, 2009
Modern Warfare 2 will ship with “Steamworks”
Modern Warfare 2 will ship with the full suite from Steam. All PC versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will come complete with the Valve toolset, providing gamers with auto-updating, anti-cheat technology, Steam Achievements, and the recently introduced Steam Cloud.
“Steamworks will make it possible for us to have a closer connection to our fans, and enable us to support our community much more than ever before,” said Robert Bowling, creative strategist, Infinity Ward. “Steam is the hands down leader in offering a community focused experience on PC and the inclusion of Steamworks has allowed us to deliver the most feature-rich PC version to ever come from Infinity Ward, which at the end of the day will mean the most to our fans.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for PC will include 50 Steam Achievements, enticing players to train a local militia and be “Back in the Saddle” or infiltrate the snowy mountain side base and earn the “Cold Shoulder.” Fans may access the game from any computer. And through Steam Cloud, multiplayer game progress will be stored persistently and travel with the player.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be one of the biggest releases in video game history,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “Having a game as significant as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 using the suite of back-end services in Steamworks is a signal to us that we’re making the right kinds of choices for triple-A developers like Infinity Ward.”
IW Needs to Return to it’s Roots
There is a saying, “Never forget where you came from.” In 2003 IW introduced the first installment of the best selling video games of all time.
Since then it seems IW has forgotten it’s roots. In Modern Warfare 2 IW plans on taking away one of the options that made the series so successful on the PC. If you look at the box art this game was made for “PC” only. What I am referring to is “dedicated servers.” For those unaware of what these are. They are servers rented from a third party company for hosting your clans (normally) game. It has the game mode you like ie; hardcore and the settings you prefer ie; no nades. You can also install third party mods developed by gamers who are gifted with the ability to code and design.
IW is apparently taking all this away with the new IW.net interface they have developed for this game. What is unclear is if they will provide the servers or if it will be left up to the individual gamers who want to start a server from there home. The latter of course is flawed as it depends completely on the individuals connection, not to mention the fairness of having “0″ ping. Every computer has a different CPU, and driving a server is very CPU dependent. Most comps can only accommodate maybe 16 players smoothly, and this is a BIG maybe. This of course is unacceptable to the PC community.
I tried to reach Mr. Bowling to clarify some technical aspects of this new system via Twitter. Apparently he is to busy or unwilling to his job as a “community manager” to respond to the “community.” As of press time, IW has not even given us a PC spec
not to mention a video or something showcasing this new system. As the title proclaims IW, you need to remember where you came from and who paid your bills. “The Community”
Bowling confirms shooting down UAVs now in an interview
As the November 10 is coming closer, we can see different new inteview videos are being shared with a rapid speed. After two consecutive footage of Joel Emslie, lead character artist of Modern Warfare 2, it is now time for Robert Bowling to speak up something. This time GameSpot takes an interview. Check it out below:
IW.Net: Curse or Blessing?
After Robert Bowling’s announcement, that MW2 will have no dedicated server support, I have tried to digest the possibilities.
As we know, The merger of Activision and Blizzard has created the largest gaming company on the planet. The buyout of IW and Treyarch has assured them a winning franchise in the COD series. World of Warcraft uses the IW.Net servers to run the game and as we know, it makes millions in subscriptions. I am under the assumption that MW2 will run on these servers as well. P2P will not work for PC gaming and IW knows this. IW will be able to control the content of the game as well as any updates that it will of course need. This will bring more casual players into the fold, as clans believe it or not make up a small minority in the community.
The introduction of Steam into the mix assures the future implementation of a complete down-loadable format. The future on this is inevitable as companies look to cut manufacturing costs. Steams “VAC” (Valve Anti-cheat) system is in my opinion more easily implemented as Punkbuster has to many problems with crashing the game and not allowing people to even log into the game. Will all this flow smoothly on release day? If you believe that I have some great ocean front property I will sell you in Arizona. However once the bugs are ironed out, I believe (if implemented properly) can be very good for the PC community. Just think about global stats and achievements, no PB headaches and no need to update the game yourself. However, if not set up right, this will be Activision’s biggest blunder yet and stockholders will want some-body’s head.
Fourzerotwo tweets PC version not delayed
No delay on PC says Robert Bowling on Twitter. Earlier news was floated that the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 may not be released on November 10. Why not? Infinity Ward always kept quiet about the PC version of this game. It always focused on the console versions. Now as the launching date is getting closer here is what Infinity Ward tweets:
“No delay on PC for Modern Warfare 2. You’ll also have Prestige Mode in PC as well as lots of Steam support. Hopefully min specs will be soon”
So…? No more waiting of two weeks, as it was rumored, for the PC version of MW2.
Good News: PC gamers will also be getting the Prestige mode, as it is for the console versions.
Robert Bowling also said, “You’re completely reliant on IWNet and there is no dedicated server or server list. You rely on IWNet for matchmaking and your games, but you still have your private matches.”
Lead character artist of Modern Warfare 2 interview
Interview: Vince Zampella, CEO Infinity Ward
Take a look to an interview of the head of Infinity Ward, the CEO Vince Zampella. The video is an extended cut of GTTV.
PC version delayed? Bowling tweets not sure
Robert Bowling just now confirmed that they are not sure about the delay of the PC version. He is not sure about the delay and promises to all the fans of Modern Warfare 2 to update us soon about the rumor that PC version of Modern Warfare 2 will not be releasing on 10th of November.
On twitter today Bowling wrote, “I know our PC players are anxious for official word. I am as well. I will let you know as soon as I do. I promise.”
Well, let us hope for better. Let us hope the PC version also releases as scheduled.
Electronic Arts (EA) been throwing punches at Modern Warfare 2 for sometime claiming that the new Battlefield: Bad Company from the DICE studio would have dedicated servers for the PC gamers. It will be valuing the importance of PC gameplay and also customization of it.
Jens Uwe, headmaster of the European division of EA, said in an interview on Friday, “In March we will launch Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is our first strong attack on Call Of Duty… The shooter space is one we don’t want to give up. It’s an important genre and we were the number one. So we are certainly working on how we can get that crown back and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an important product in that context.”
One who has played first Bad Company as well as the Modern Warfare titles may be knowing well that the games are very different in style and also in gunplay. We may also have found out that DICE is on the way of making some changes in it such as making the enemies more easier to kill to fall in line.
