IW has Killed COD:MW2 for us PC gamers

[fieryfrog]

Community manager fourzerotwo has dropped a bombshell on the PC community as he confirmed there will be NO dedicated servers, no mods, no server lists and matchmaking only for the PC version on Modern Warfare 2, a first for the Call of Duty series, a series known for its large modding community and high number of dedicated servers.

I have been playing COD since it came out as the first version. Being a PC gamer, I live off of Mods, Dedicated servers and Custom Maps. This decision will kill Clan gaming for COD.

What are you thoughts?

[th3-space-pope]

I think it's gotten to the point where both Activision and Infinity Ward consider Call of Duty's success to be such a sure thing that they are willing to test the waters and see how much shit they can shovel our way before a backlash. The sad thing is that even with this new development and the price gouging in Europe I don't think the games sales will suffer all that much.

This is also somewhat depressing news as the amount of console games that had dedicated servers was on the rise, albeit a painfully slow rise but a rise nonetheless, which had me excited that console games might start taking more pages out of the PC handbook for multiplayer systems, alas it appears to now be trending in the opposite direction.

[az0madman]

First the $60 price tag, and now this. Granted, I haven't played CoD on the PC since the second one, but none of this seems like a smart move. It's like they want the PC market for this game to fail.

[cashbailey]

Yay! Spit in the face of the people that got you where you are, assholes.

So you've decided to release our version two weeks late to combat piracy. Fair enough... but some of us spent nearly $3500 on state-of-the-art PCs precisely for the reason of playing your game. So yeah, give all the bonuses and benefits to the console retards.

[icu]

That is nuts. As a PC Gamer (I wouldn't call you consolers "retards" tsk tsk cashbailey - I understand the frustration of being treated like a 2nd-class gamer, but let's be civil)

... as a PC Gamer this sounds nuts. Am I repeating myself?
Did they give a reason? Part of what I love about PC gaming is the modding and the communities that can form around dedicated servers etc. I wasn't a fan of CoD:4's (tried the demo), but I always meant to get it and eventually this release - now I'm not so sure.

*can we get a link to the origin of this info? Would love to stir up some hornet's nests I frequent.
** I used the power of Google - it's a very odd move. There is a petition going around. What a horrible precedent to set.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5384/mw2donotwant.jpg

[tokenuser]

So you've decided to release our version two weeks late to combat piracy. Fair enough... but some of us spent nearly $3500 on state-of-the-art PCs precisely for the reason of playing your game. So yeah, give all the bonuses and benefits to the console retards.Who is the fool for spending $3500 on a PC to play a $60 game ... when a $500 console will give you the same experience?

I got sick of the constant upgrading of my computers to play the next version of a game, so made the smart, intelligent, move to consoles - and gaming, while sitting back on the couch with the surround sound and 60" widescreen TV never looked better. There are some titles I've missed out on, but I'm not too concerned - its all fun.

[icu]

Well money aside - Many of us do not spend that amount. I spent about $650 on my current rig and it's doing just fine. I get all the reasons for jumping the PC ship I just love the experience which cannot be duplicated in the living room atm (imo).

(I hope that it was obvious that I do not hold any ill will for my console brethren. This war stops now!)

The thing is part of the "bonus" for getting a game on the PC is the mods and custom maps which can extend a game's life indefinitely. Case in point: Half Life 1 - I can't begin to calculate the number of hours of fun I've enjoyed from that single game purchase (and I think it was $30 or so at the time). The same goes for HL2 to a lesser degree and BF2 and many more.

If I listed a Top 10 favorite games of all time at least half would be mods if not more.

Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who. It's a bad move. More power to the 360 players, but it will be a sad day when modding is no more. I really wish that this could be brought to console gaming.

[tsmith15]

What a retarded decision, how is this in any way whatsoever a good decision? I just don't understand. That said, I was planning on getting it for 360 the whole time, so, no harm no foul.

[darknessgp]

Who is the fool for spending $3500 on a PC to play a $60 game ... when a $500 console will give you the same experience?
...

I can't speak for cashbailey, however I can say that you can build a machine for around $500 that will play this and many other games fairly well and it is NOT the same experience. It might be the same game, but there is something completely different between sitting in front of a computer with a mouse and keyboard and sitting on a couch with a controller.

As for IW decision, it doesn't make any sense. I mean, they want to host their own servers and do match making instead of letting the community host all the servers? I would think this decision means a lot more in bandwidth cost. Maybe the next announcement is about the ads put in the multi-player to offset the cost of bandwidth.

[inkwell]

I've been following this even though I don't play CoD4 online. I probably wasn't going to play MW2 either. Don't get me wrong, the multiplayer sounds like fun. There's just too many other games I already own or plan to buy that I would rather play.

I don't know if Infinity Ward had any say in this, but it is a ridiculous move. It sounds like their first objective is to get those playing it on the PC to buy the DLC. It will be the only way to get new content. Their second seems to be starting a franchise that can get a new version every 1 or 2 years and pretty much force everyone to update. With no dedicated servers there is almost no community aspect. With no community the game won't have much longevity.

There have been some comments blaming those who play games on consoles. I mean I've heard this from everywhere I've seen this discussed. It really needs to stop. I'm sure Activision is solely at fault here.

Part of me really hopes this fails miserably on the PC front. Look what happened when Microsoft tried to charge for their Games for Windows Live service. I hope it doesn't do really well though. If it does, other publishers might follow suit.

[tokenuser]

I can't speak for cashbailey, however I can say that you can build a machine for around $500 that will play this and many other games fairly well and it is NOT the same experience. It might be the same game, but there is something completely different between sitting in front of a computer with a mouse and keyboard and sitting on a couch with a controller.Not all console gaming needs to be controller based. CoD can be played with a keyboard and mouse on a console. Needs some config for the key mapping, but once done it runs the same.

BTW - I know you can build a good gaming machine for $500, esp if you have parts you can borrow from a donor computer.

[icu]

I'm not sure how universal this is, but sampling myself and my friends it seems to be true.

It seems like console gaming is geared toward the mass consumption of games in quick succession. It encourages (and why would they encourage such things) the consumer to buy at least 2 games per month? I dunno, this could be much different on the average because my friends who crossed over to the 360 seem to buy a game every other week on average.

As a PC gamer I tend to consider what I buy for a long time and then find a game that I sink myself into totally and play over a long period time - the game's life is extended with mulitplayer (this is the same for console games or can be of course) and mods and custom maps.

The mainly PC gamers I know tend to buy maybe 1 game every 2 or 3 months and just really dive deep into them. This could be just a coincidence (and every "rule" has exceptions) or the nature of the games themselves, but it's just a whole different attitude and culture.

I can understand why devs are all but ignoring the PC market as they tend to buy less games (my theory) and then there's the pirating thing (I don't pirate games - I don't think it's cool and I never d-load something I have to install as a rule)
I think the monthly subscription MMORPG is an answer or at least a perfect solution for this. Gamers who get WAY into their games and play them over an over - hey, charge em' a monthly fee!

However, a dev can win the love and support of PC gaming and garner dedication which is beyond fanboyism if they treat us right. Best examples are Epic who were among the best to PC gamers before they abandoned us for the 360 and handed us UT3 and a dev like Valve who have my loyalty for all time even with L4D2 ;).

[lax182]

Basically we are left with blizzard, valve and Crytek... we'll see how long blizz lasts with Activision Leeching off them

[darknessgp]

Not all console gaming needs to be controller based. CoD can be played with a keyboard and mouse on a console. Needs some config for the key mapping, but once done it runs the same.

BTW - I know you can build a good gaming machine for $500, esp if you have parts you can borrow from a donor computer.

true, there are some exceptions... but in general it's never the same. and building a good machine, I was just pointing out that $3500 is stupidly high. Seriously, with prices like they are now, I can't see spending more than $1200 MAX on components (no donor machine needed). and you'd end up with a beefy machine that can do a lot more than just games...

After thinking about it more, I'm wondering if this is just out of laziness. Think about it, finish the XBox's multiplayer which is going to be match making. Why put the time in to create the ded server stuff? why not just port over the matchmaking and adjust slightly.

[dolson]

Who is the fool for spending $3500 on a PC to play a $60 game ... when a $500 console will give you the same experience?

Hey, I don't know where you've been, but the PS3 is now $299!

[icu]

That's the thing though, I did a pretty decent mid-level PC upgrade about a year ago and I was comparing it to going with a 360.
I ended up upgrading to a PC that should be fine for me for at least another year or so and then only minor upgrades will extend it beyond that.
I spend about $650 as I was only able to use very few of my old rig's parts (my next upgrade will cost half this amount - CPU/GPU only most likely)

The initially lower console cost and the potential to not need an upgrade were the main motivations.

Cost - The benefit of the lower cost died as soon as I realized that in order to really utilize the 360 in my living room I'd need to buy a ~$99 Wifi extender (something the PS3 and Wii do not require)

I figured I'd need to buy at least a second controller.

It was my understanding that I'd need to buy an HDMI adapter (I could be wrong about this)

The Live membership $50 a year right? This I do not pay on the PC.

Add up those bits and bobs and the initial cost savings are severely lessened.

Upgrade - It is very likely that by the time I really feel the need to upgrade my PC the next consoles will be out and everyone will be "upgrading" to it.
Again, I could have the timing off, but how much longer will people be playing 360s? This generation of consoles will last longer than others to be sure, but in the end I have never tried to stay "cutting edge" with my PCs cuz that's just silly.

Of course, the PS3 at $299 with the built-in Wifi and the free online play is different. If it was that cost a year ago and had some games that I wanted to play ... (kind of important) I could have gone for it (maybe) instead.

[vegan]

Yay! Spit in the face of the people that got you where you are, assholes.

I would wager that the Call of Duty series has sold more console copies than PC copies, actually.

[darknessgp]

I would wager that the Call of Duty series has sold more console copies than PC copies, actually.

I think you'd be terribly mistaken. perhaps CoD 4 sold more on console than on PC, but as a series it has been carried by the PC version. CoD 4 is really the only on that really took off for console... though it would be interesting to see some hard numbers (perhaps if I'm bored I'll go dig around for them)

[quantumtheory]

Having played Call of duty 4 on PC and 360 I can see why people who played PC would be pissed. I played CoD4 on PC first. So I was used to having 64 player games and unique modded maps thrown in. One that comes to mind was a Christmas version of Crash. You'd hear santa's sleigh and bells go by overhead when an Airstrike happens and it was at night. I much preferred that version over the actual map.

On the other hand, I much preferred playing it on my 360. I don't know what it is for me and shooters. But I much prefer them with a controller in my hand and playing it on my TV. Sure I can buy a controller for my PC, but it just feels wrong. I think I find the xbox live experience much more enjoyable than just sitting at my pc than using my keyboard and mouse. Any time there is a game I can buy for 360 and PC, I get it for 360. Not only do I like raising my gamer score, but that's where all my friends are. None of them have good gaming rigs and you never have to upgrade the 360 to get the newest game on the block. PC gaming for me goes as far as MMO's and stops there, with the exception of Civ 4.

[starthorn]

Now that I have had time to think about it, Its not all bad but far from good.

I hate the xbox360 match making. It comes down to AI picking a game for me or me picking a game. I fear (justly) that I will get lag or other problems by using match making. When I can look at the stats myself and pick from there It always turns out better.

I would rather an updated browser list and a gui built in for server admins, so you can kick and ban people without complex commands. Also having the option to make your own game using the computer you are playing on, just by clicking create game would be nice.

[fieryfrog]

All I know, is that myself and most of the PC Gamers I know have cancelled our Pre-Orders of the game. And IW can suck it.

And I realize that they dont care about the players that made them what they are. And we are a "small" percent of the purchasers, but this is still os big FU to us.

But the number is growing.
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?dedis4mw

[dolson]

Canceling a pre-order is one thing; not actually buying it anyhow is another. I don't necessarily doubt you in particular, but I think a lot of people in the world are all talk, and many will cave in and just buy it anyhow.

Even myself, I had planned to not buy it until I found it for cheap (used or new, mainly because I hate the fear other publishers have of Madden and COD, and also, I don't like COD online), but there was a one-day sale at FutureShop to save $20, and so I went ahead with the order.