Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Networking PC Games (Games) Games

CoD: Black Ops To Get Dedicated Game Servers 69

roh2cool writes "The seventh Call of Duty game is being planned, and it has been dubbed Call of Duty: Black Ops. This game will be developed by Treyarch instead of Infinity Ward. Mark Lamia, Treyarch studio head, confirmed with CVG that in CoD: Black Ops, players will get dedicated game servers for the PC version of the game. Finally, PC gamers will get a chance to rejoice."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

CoD: Black Ops To Get Dedicated Game Servers

Comments Filter:
  • Not unexpected (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hansamurai ( 907719 ) <hansamurai@gmail.com> on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:10PM (#32228740) Homepage Journal

    With the storm of bad press Activision has been under the last few months this almost comes as no surprise.

    Too bad it's too late for them to win me back.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by sopssa ( 1498795 ) *

      And besides, historical shooters kind of lose to modern ones now. I would love this for new modern warfare, but since new Medal of Honor that is based on modern times is coming out too, I don't think I will be buying this one. And I'm one that still plays MW2 multiplayer about 20 hours a week (sabotage)

      • by soppsa ( 1797376 )
        20 hours a week? I think its time to get laid.
    • by v1 ( 525388 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @03:12PM (#32229212) Homepage Journal

      I wonder if this will quell the cheaters?

      I tried to play CoD online for months and was constantly having to deal with wallhacks and other cheaters. Contacted Infinity Ward and they said "not our problem, it' s Activision not policing their servers, contact them." Contacted Activision and they said "not our problem, we didn't write the server app, contact Infinity Ward". I actually went back and forth several times but neither of them were willing to accept any responsibility for the problem, and there were a lot of people with similar complaints.

      So, at least this means they may not be able to do the infinite pass-the-buck if Infinity Ward is writing the game AND running the servers?

      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I have a feeling there was no cheating and you're just really suck at the game.
        • by v1 ( 525388 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @05:39PM (#32230272) Homepage Journal

          Many of the less policed servers had blatant advertisements from the people writing the hack. You'd login and start playing and every few minutes someone would just come out of nowhere and you'd just die instantly. You see them make an obnoxious ansi color text down in the public chat line something like

          Scrooge just got a HEADSHOT on FreshMeat using BabyBot 2.0. visit us at www.babybot.com

          They would say other things when it was the hacker "manually" killing someone while they had their wallhack on. Autoaim for headshots, autoknife, auto grenade return, and wallhacks made it a very unpleasant experience.

          I saw maybe five different varieties of bots on a pretty constant basis. Google "call of duty bots" for all the bots you care (not) to see.

          But you got one thing right, ya I do suck ;) But this made me suck MORE and enjoy it LESS. I don't mind so much getting tooled, but when it's a script kiddie with a $15/mo subscription to one of these bots delivering me a headshot every time I so much as see them, it's really annoying. (yes, many of them work on subscription basis)

          • $15/month to be able to shout BOOM HEADSHOT! at your own monitor with no real-life benefit (such as knowing that you're an uber-l33t twitch gaming God, ready to take on Fatal1ty / Kapitol at the next World Cyber Games) seems a little... Well, let's just say I don't feel so bad about paying roughly the same to play WoW anymore. At least it's me being the nerdy (let capable) gamer.
      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Threni ( 635302 )

        there's no solution to cheating, so who do expect to fix it? You can hack the exe, the drivers, run the game in a VM and hack the input/output. The devs aren't going to police it. Punkbuster is shit and just causes problems without really solving anything. You're just going to have to stump up for a private server and police it yourself.

        • Well, wall hacks are relatively easy to prevent; the server shouldn't be giving position information to clients for objects are not visible. Auto-aim is a bit harder to prevent; if the client has a copy of the model, it can find the relevant part of it and automatically aim there. You can possibly use Fitts' Law here though. If the client sends a stream of orientation information to the server, then the server can see if the client's aim quickly flicks to a particular point, without the acceleration and

      • Did you send the game back for a full refund? It sounds pretty "unfit for purpose" to me.

        Want breaks that don't squeel like a stuck pig when you pull up? Sorry, we didn't make the pads. Or the shoes.
        • by v1 ( 525388 )

          Have you tried returning software lately? Especially, software with a network play registration number?

          impossible

    • by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

      More likely that Treyarch gives more of a fuck about people outside the PS3/360 consoles. They're also making a Wii version that releases simultaneously with the others. Infinity Ward dumped the dedicated servers and ignored the Wii, that seems to be a matter of developer personalities.

    • by shnull ( 1359843 )
      i'm sure as hell not paying for it , battlefield 3 on the other hand might get a bit of sponsoring
  • To bad. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dyinobal ( 1427207 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:14PM (#32228766)
    To bad I won't be buying from this franchise again. They already screwed themselves over with COD MW2, and I've no faith that activision won't pull some douche move later on after they release the game.
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Tigersmind ( 1549183 )

      To bad I won't be buying from this franchise again. They already screwed themselves over with COD MW2, and I've no faith that activision won't pull some douche move later on after they release the game.

      My exact thought. No matter what a game from Activision would have at release, they have proven they cant be trusted. What will it have a month after release? Who knows.

    • Re:To bad. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by zwei2stein ( 782480 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:54PM (#32229088) Homepage

      Oh, REALLY!? Not playing game on principle, eh? Not buying games from evil publisher, eh?

      It sounds like ... boycotting. Which kinda does not work at all: http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/6062/1258035395841.jpg [imageshack.us]

      It is not like nerd tears matter because they dry when *shiny* becomes available.

  • Rejoice? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by theY4Kman ( 1519023 ) <they4kman@gmail.com> on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:16PM (#32228786) Homepage

    After the firings, every Activision-produced Call of Duty title will be destitute.

    • The series already is destitute. It's the same game, for the seventh time, with different graphics.
      • It's the seventh edition, but only the sixth in PC (CoD, CoD2, CoD4:MW, CoD:WaW, MW2, BOps).

        I've only payed the first three, but although CoD2 was CoD1 plus pretty graphics, CoD4 was different enough to be a new game on itself.

        • At least it's worth playing. I can't say the same about updated sports games. Tiger Woods 08, 09, 10 anyone?

          PGA Tour 2011 new features include: plaid golf bags, new range of OZ rims for the golf cart and increased selection of perk-based apparel (hats)!

  • For Now (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WrongSizeGlass ( 838941 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:17PM (#32228794)
    They're going to provide "dedicated game servers" for now. As soon as the next installment nears release they'll trim back the servers to shared servers in order to "encourage" players to buy the new version.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      I don't understand. "Dedicated servers" generally means they release a server executable/package that lets anyone host a server. Does it mean this no longer?
      • Re:How? (Score:5, Informative)

        by haystor ( 102186 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @04:16PM (#32229634)

        It does not. It now means that a server runs just that program, instead of a client running the client and server.

        Take Bad Company 2 for instance. You can rent servers from their approved vendors. So, while they are technically dedicated servers, they are someone else's servers that are just being rented. The traditional commands available to server admins are no longer there. Basically, for BC2, "dedicated servers" means that we get to pay for their servers.

    • by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

      That doesn't work, dedicated servers and P2P matchmaking are very different approaches. With servers you get a list of servers and pick one (or the game automatically does), with P2P players are grouped into playlists and then into actual matches with a host chosen at random among the pool of selected players.

  • "Another reskinned sequal in exactly three second after the currentl product is launched" -Pure Pwnage

  • by iamapizza ( 1312801 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:43PM (#32229014)
    Let us rejoice, fellow PC gamers, as we are wont to do upon an occasion so splendid. Partake in a feast, that we shall, on yonder banquet in honor of this occasion.
    • As this will be a nerd banquet, I expect tortilla chips, plenty of salsa, fizzy caffeinated drinks, and most importantly of all pizza.

      Are you getting a little worried, my eminently nibble-able friend?
  • Activision found out that it's more profitable to be able to shut down game servers when they're done with the new skins (aka "next fullprice version").

    • Big game franchise regresses, then tries to catch up to better games.
    • by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

      They can do that with match making too, possibly even with less effort. Match making cannot work without a central server grouping people into matches. Turn that off and the game is dead.

  • Good job people (Score:4, Insightful)

    I know that I am one of many people who decided not to buy the last game because taking dedicated servers out of the game basically took out one of the few advantages out of playing a PC game. The reason I prefer PC games when it comes to online first person shooters is because
    1. A mouse is just better suited for an FPS.
    2. I have a really good PC that I painstakingly built myself.
    3. Because of the sense of community you get from going to same server over and over and playing with the same people.

    Without a sense of community a game gets boring after a while and it is just the same cycle over and over again. I have joined a few clans but even when I didn't join the server's clan it was still fun to have a loose connection to the regulars on a server.

    I play most non-FPSs on my xbox now in days, but you just can't take the PC away when it comes to FPSs.

    Good job voting with your wallet everybody.

    • This weekend was a bust due to weather. I was board and cleaning out the applications folder on my mac of any apps I had downloaded and no longer use when I saw I had Halo CE still installed. I probably haven't played it in a couple years. So I fired it up, played enough single player to get a feel back for the controls and then went online and was shocked to see about 100 servers. (most of them modded apparently). I figured I'd try to connect online and find "This game is no longer supported".

  • by Whatsmynickname ( 557867 ) on Sunday May 16, 2010 @02:54PM (#32229090)

    ...does this game allow LAN play? This may follow the same model as Battlefield Bad Company 2 where they say "we have dedicated game servers", but too bad ALL servers are hosted on THEIR hardware ONLY and no LAN play...

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Yes, hope its ISP server ready.
      In Australia an ISP with support like this is great.
      http://games.on.net/gameservers.php [on.net]
      Low pings and hours of play does not count towards your monthly download limit.
      Thats what most of the US based game developers seem to not understand, outside the USA the 'internet' is pay per play for many.
  • Every single Call of Duty game developed by Treyarch has been utter shit or horribly screwed up in some way or another and touted as "innovation". For this reason, I'm super pissed that it had to be Infinity Ward that got boned by Activision, because they're the only respectable developers affiliated with the entire franchise.

    Sure, this last game has some problems, but it's really not as bad as people make it out to be. Is there really THAT MUCH benefit to having dedicated servers as opposed to matchmaking?

    • by Laz10 ( 708792 )
      I liked World of War a lot better than Modern Warfare 2.
      The sole reason for that is that I find 48 people in a game much more fun than 12 people.

      It's a battle rather than a skirmish.

      Also World of war had free map packs, rather than the 14&euro; MW2 ones.

      I look forward to Black ops. I wouldn't have bought the game if it was like MW2.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      I thought World at War was great. I'm getting sick of the WWII games and the "modern" war games. I'd like some variety. Korean War, Vietnam, whatever. Just some different stuff.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

      Roughly every third game I've been in was lagged (most players getting yellow or red pings), the worst was when the game picked me as a host (my connection is not suitable for hosting) and didn't give me the option to pass that buck, I had to quit those matches to get rid of the hosting position. Matchmaking would usually fail 3-4 times until it would actually start a game, gets much worse when you're in a group with other people (about every second time that it connected for one of us it didn't work for th

  • by Kwirl ( 877607 ) <kwirlkarphys@gmail.com> on Sunday May 16, 2010 @05:14PM (#32230080)

    ...to suitably describe how much I loathe that game franchise right now. I spent 60 dollars and bought world at war on the xbox, loved it and spent another 50 bucks to get it on the PC. I bought all of the DLC for both systems. Then I bought MW2 for the xbox and loved it. Then I made the mistake of spending another 50 bucks to get it on the PC without realizing just how horrible of a choice that was.

    IWnet is the most ridiculous, horrible thing to ever happen to gaming. And what really 'grinds my gears' (Thanks, Peter!) is that they did it for the sole purpose of forcing customers to buy their DLC. Yes, I am guilty, but meh. I played battlefield 2 on the PC for YEARS, and they provided support, patches, new content and game fixes for the most part at an acceptable rate.

    Then MW2 comes out and ... ok, I'm getting redundant. Long story short, Battlefield Bad Company 2 - I will never spend a dime on call of duty again. Sorry, Treyarch, I know this isn't your fault, and god bless you, i STILL love Nazi Zombies, but you happen to be under the roof where I hope the lightning soon strikes. BTW - go to EA or Respawned and I'll take it all back and buy every game you release as long as you aren't with the A team.

    • by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

      Respawn is IW, the fuckwits who foisted that IWNet mess upon us. Wouldn't surprise me if they actually kept their attitude now that they're working with EA.

      • by Kwirl ( 877607 )

        from what i understand the iwnet was a top-down decision from activision, but i don't know for certain :P

    • BTW - go to EA or Respawned and I'll take it all back...

      No, EA with their always-on DRM can stick it where it'll make it uncomfortable to sit down too. I've had enough of both of them.

      Fuck 'em.

  • If they are making a big deal about this, I can only imagine what the overall quality of the game will be.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Have they even thought about how the name will be abbreviated? Anyone here like "CoD: BO"?

Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers. -- Leonard Brandwein

Working...