Infinity Ward Responds, "Won't Be Ignored"
By Steve BurkeRegarding yesterday's explosion of news over the lack of dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2, one of the Infinity Ward forum community members sent a direct message to FourZeroTwo via Twitter. FourZeroTwo, IW's community manager, frequents the micro-blogging site and responded quickly.
TriggerPappy, the one who messaged FourZeroTwo for an answer, asked him if he had seen the petition signed by over 70,000 PC gamers and what his response to the chaos was. Unfortunately, FourZeroTwo kept his response short (partially due to the Twitter restrictions), and stated simply:
"fourzerotwo: Definitely made a big wave, and the response will not be ignored. I'll ensure everyone at IW sees the petitions and responses to it."
Maybe a compromise can be met where gamers get the dedicated servers they want. We will keep you updated.
View the thread discussing his response on their official forums, here.
Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim Review
By Steve BurkeParadox Interactive lays claim to the throne of Sims. Long live the king?
Infinity Ward Silences Community, Makes Position Clear
By Steve Burke
UPDATE: Infinity Ward has responded to the boycott and petition threats, after reading this story, please check here.
Yesterday, in a barrage of media announcements, it was made abundantly clear that Infinity Ward has no plans to support standard dedicated servers in their upcoming game Modern Warfare 2. The community immediately responded by posting several petitions on the official IW forums, two of which were largely successful. The two biggest petitions averaged 250-300 pages in length, totaling several thousand signatures each (it is unknown how many were duplicate signatures between the two). Infinity Ward responded in force, and closed down the two largest petitions overnight.
When gamers checked for them this morning, they were greeted with a "The topic you requested does not exist" message. Community member TriggerPappy contacted an IW moderator, and when asked, said that he promised no other petitions would be closed. TriggerPappy promptly reposted the original thread, found here. Unfortunately that promise came late, and IW has already been flamed by every PC Gamer and his uncle in the forum, effectively bringing down the IW forums in a wave of chaos. One of the major petitions is still online, though not on the IW forums, can be located here.
The question we are all left with? Does IW's silencing mean that they are opposed to one of our basic freedoms, the right to petition? Are they assuring us that there will be no means, no matter how much begging is involved, to get dedicated servers? We expect an answer from community manager FourZeroTwo on Monday.
It seems that the PC Gaming community is locked in a battle of willpower with Infinity Ward. If the community can deliver on their petition and revoke all pre-orders, we might see a response from the stalwart company. Until then, it is doubtful that we will receive much more than acknowledgement of existance and removed posts.
All things Half Life 55.8% OFF!!
By Brant "The_Bob" ArmstrongIn case some of you missed the Gamespot poll of who is the greatest game hero, the result of it was a solid win for Gordon Freeman of Half-Life, securing 55.8% of votes. To celebrate the victory, Steam has put all games concerning HL on sale for 55.8% off!
No Dedicated Servers for MW2, No Mods Either
By Steve BurkeInfinity Ward community manager FourZeroTwo T-bagged the PC Gaming community today after confirming there will be NO dedicated servers, mods, server lists, and PC will have matchmaking only for Modern Warfare 2. Infinity Ward, you may be ruining PC Gaming as we know it. The Call of Duty series is widely renowned for its high number of dedicated servers, competitive matching, and fantastic mods (such as the Star Wars mod that FourZeroTwo plays). Where's it all going? Down the toilet that FourZeroTwo claims he is "shitting in."
Listen to the original PodCast below (click Read More), scroll to 1:41 or so to hear the discussion. They continue talking about the dedicated servers until the end of the PodCast.
When Christopher Nolan stunned the world with Batman Begins and then three years later with The Dark Knight, everyone seemed to be drawn to Batman. Eventually, the team at Eidos decided to resurrect the long dead Batman and give him a new role. Eidos has spent the last couple of years working on what is claimed to be the “Best Comic Game of All Time.” Batman: Arkham Asylum has tons of new features that were never introduced in a comic game before, so of course it deserves the accolade…maybe.
This is the game Dr. Evil should have been playing instead of playing with Austin Powers. World domination was never so easy... Comparatively speaking.
The strategy game that would forever change the face of RTS, Command & Conquer, is now releasing the 4th sequel to the initial series. Westwood was bought up long ago by gaming conglomerate EA, but the spirit of the game still moves on, for better or worse.
In the past 24 hours EA has released some intriguing new info encompassing the gameplay, defensive structures, and overall look and feel of C&C 4. If you can bear listening to the over-acting hosts of "BattleCast Primetime," there is a tell-all Q&A session with some of the game's devs, showing clearly the elements of gameplay we can look forward to. EA announced new contests focusing on C&C 4 as well, including their unit-naming contest. In the video below, we also get an in-game look at a newly announced unit, The Crawler.
Full Video
You can also read the newest Dev Q&A session here.
~Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke
BigWorld Tech Helps MMO-Devs Create Big Worlds
By Steve Burke
Everyone wants to play the perfect MMO, but no one seems capable of creating one. BigWorld Tech's commercial MMO Engine attempts to aid developers in their quest to move designs off of paper and onto the computer. The BigWorld engine was demoed last month at GDC Austin, and we got to use the tool's level editor and map layout functionality. After what we did with it, you can smell the Fillet MignOrc from miles away.
Modern Warfare 2 Features - Level 70, Perks
By Steve Burke
Infinity Ward's Creative Strategist (and once community manager) FourZeroTwo (FZT) asked the community to pose questions via the popular blogging site, Twitter. You've probably seen FZT in Modern Warfare 2's trailers - he's the guy that always gets killed at the end. The MW2 community asked hundreds of questions, and FZT answered in force. Here's a compiled list of features that he has stated will (or will not) be in Modern Warfare 2.
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