Then vs Now: Infinity Ward On Dedicated Servers, Mods In 2007

Kotaku writes: How time changes men. In 2007, Infinity Ward were gushing over the important things in Call of Duty 4 PC, like dedicated servers, "fat pipes" and the involvement of the mod scene. Wonder what, in the intervening years, has changed?

[saint_john_paul_ii]

Activision Changed them,thats what.

[kaveti6616]

I think that having to deal with the massive amounts of cheating going on in consoles versions and possible complaints about modded abilities in the PC versions took its toll on Infinity Ward. They took drastic measures by creating a proprietary matchmaking system so they could have further control of the multiplayer situation. It got rid of dedicated servers which will be hurting people who don't want to deal with lag caused by people with poor internet connections, but at the same time its IW's way of making sure cheating is monitored.

Infinity Ward's priority is to keep the game cheater-free. But their system sacrifices the smooth, lag-free experience. What to do? What to do? I'd hate to be in their shoes. They garner so much hate. They're called greedy bastards but I'm not so sure. We're all just a bunch of whiny brats who feel entitled to so much, we hardly ever stop to think how hard these guys work, and how talented they have to be stay relevant in the industry. And I hear they don't get paid very well, either.

[Elven6]

Activision changed them? You mean the same Activision that offered them a huge budget and development team to make Modern Warfare 2 which Infinity War declined?

IW Net or what ever it's called can still exist with dedicated servers, mods, etc. Just take a look at the Xbox Live, PSN, etc games that use dedicated servers with the latter allowing mods more freely.

[paul0388]

That's what it's all about, paid DLC. Not about cheating or piracy, it's only about paid DLC because the only time paid DLC works is when implemented into a system such as IWnet.

Ever not get map packs in CoD 5 on Xbox? It says your name in big red letters at the bottom outlining that you did not buy the DLC, and if you want to continue to play with your friends, it just short of forces you to buy it...

[LukaX23]

I love Infinity Ward, the 2007 Infinity Ward... CoD4 will always have a special place in my gaming heart.

[evrfighter]

The background music in the beginning and end is what you'd hear when remembering a fallen hero.

RIP Infinity Ward and Call of Duty.

PC gamers will truly miss you.

[PrimordialSoupBase]

Hilarious. Almost seems like someone did a recent edit job with that music.

[mephixto]

Cheater freee???? are u crazy, there are tons of players right now using aim bots.

[mastiffchild]

IW HAVE changed in a few ways and seem to have forgotten just who pays their wages in reality. It isn't Activision at all but us poor slobs(and Acti made sure we paid a premium, or they at least got it anyway, in the UK AND on PC too-wouldn't that suggest we get a premium game? With at least the features we got last time out and preferably dedicated servers on all platforms as it makes THEIR work shine that much more, no?)putting our mitts in our wallets for their games.

We aren't being over entitled whatsoever as it's natural to expect more or better when the publisher makes the game a premium release. It's batural to expect, to me, dedicated servers of the biggest game ever released esp when it leans so heavily on it's online MP. IW just want to control everything so there are no mods and all future maps can be sold by them at a price and that's it. They care much more about the bottom line than the quality of the game we play online and then they lie about why into the bargain, lie about hating fanboys when many were caught hating on the PS3 and started making videos that offended a lot of people and the terorist level was a hamfisted stab at making more controversy and more PR to sell yet more games and damn the quality(who couldn't have thought of a far better and more affecting way of showing the dilemma of undercover operatives? My 8 year old could've made a better fist of it, seriously)again. They seem to have forgotten what it is to be a gamer.

I don't buy any of the "we're doing it for you and to stop cheating BS either-why would I when they lie and change their tune constantly to whatever suits them? No, if I had made the game I would have wanted my game to BE the nest and not just sell the best. These are supposed to be creative people AND gamers to boot-so why have they stopped short of making the online game of the year the best online game of the year? We should all have had a game that moved on from MW1 and in many ways on PC this is a backwards step and makes dedicted COD servers for consoles even further away-esp now we rolled over for them just like Acti said we would. WE pay these guys so why can't we expect the best selling game ever to also have a feature seen as a natural thing on PC and working way better than P2P games for way smaller games on PSN and Live already? You think this stops cheating? No. You think this makes the game run better?Don't make me laugh. You think the absence of a PS3 beta helped the game run well at release? Rather than the cheap option of letting paying gamers do it for them? I think they behaved shockingly and because we not only allow it but have folk apologizing for them we better get used to pared back online games as every greedy dev and publisher will have seen how easily Acti and their dancing monkeys at IW have pulled of the divide and rule trick on our "community". We'll keep on getting shafted and paying more for getting less until we start to stick together a bit more and stop forgetting we have the ultimate power here-it all dies if we refuse to accept their BS. They would HAVE to listen and give in but sadly too many of us seem content to let the tail wag the dog while constantly doing their PR for them too!

Sod their greed and sod their feevle P2P excuses-why aren't they moving forwards with the incredible profits we've given them-is it unfair to ask the biggest online game of the year(it's 2009 btw. P2P in 2009 from the biggest game of the year allowing a feeble 9v9 and tons of lag!)to have something PC gamers, Live gamers(to a lesser extent) and PSN gamers(with several Sony published games much smaller than MW2)have come to expect of the best online games. Mainly, though, the fact it would make their game BETTER and they won't allow it shows me they realy care only about the money. Do NOT start me on the paper thin nonsense they called a story this time round after last time was so much better.

[Millah]

COD4- a labor of love and a game for the gamers.

MW2- a cash-in off the huge success of the original, focused solely on milking money, not the hardcore gamers that got the series where it is.

[mauleriscool]

none of the console versions of call of duty uses dedicated servers. It's all peer 2 peer

[ThePostalDudeX]

Mods, dedicated servers........this makes me sad.

[snaileri]

Money changes people.

[SKUD]

Indeed. Everyone has there price.

[badz149]

R.I.P. CoD! (at least for me) or...is it "RIP" CoD? =D I can see many is doing the later if you know what I mean!

[kornbeaner]

Looking at this video, makes me almost sad. Modern Warfare had so much soul in it, looking at it again makes me want to install on my PC and give it another go. Same can't be said with Modern Warfare 2, the game has no soul, no real feeling, it was made to cash in. Sad really, I never liked IW for certain reasons (personal reasons) but one couldn't deny that they made fun soulfull games, then MW2 is released and now I just hate everything about them.

[Salvadore]

2007: "Oh sh*t, if this turns out to be crap we are screwed".

2009: "Speak up! I cannot hear you over this money showering all over us".

[Lemon Jelly]

I personally think MW2 is a good game but because of this I think most of the PC crowed will move on to something better, sooner then later. It won't have the longevity as COD4 did. Something will come up more suitable to are needs.

[GamerSciz]

The PC crowd that which misses the modding, and dedicated servers, and non-rehashed engine will be playing the free demo of BFBC2. I am already playing it on my PS3 and it needs some work but overall it's a lot of fun and looks and plays better than MW2. But the issue was that BFBC wasn't on PC, it was only on consoles but DICE learned their lesson and are jumping at the opportunity that a big PC shooter opening is now there because IW fcked up with MW2.

In short, the PC crowd will be moving towards that for their big PC war shooter...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[QQcrybaby]

Well this proves that IW flat out lied about the importance of dedicated servers and mods in MW2. I'm not sure if console only gameres are aware that mods can expand a games life by thousands of hours. Or infinite in the case of half-life.

[Pandamobile]

Brings a tear to my eye :'(

[tdrules]

wow that cod4 dude is like awesome and totally not fake, which i like.
kinda reminds me of exclusive devs, and Valve/Blizzard, they always seem to strive for customer enjoyment.
look at Bungie, look at Naughty Dog, look at Valve, they all support their products really rather well

[Pennywise]

CS has mods & dedicated servers. 15 years old and still the best FPS on the PC.

[Pandamobile]

On any platform, let alone PC.

[fireplace]

CS is from 2000.

[CrippleH]

CS goes back to 1998 I think.

[Pandamobile]

The original CS mod came out in 1999.

[CrippleH]

Oh well I was close.

[Blaster_Master]

Them not using dedicated servers makes it a crappy online experience for anyone who pays good money for good connections, but has to play with people from other countries or have a 700k advantages. People with 80 ft. ether net cords or lag switches are damn near impossible to kill. Dedicated servers is a must when it comes to shooters so that nobody has to deal or worry about other peoples crappy connections. p2p FTL!

[bcooper56]

we have valve so we don't need iw they prefer consoles any way.

[sbstncstllo]

R.I.P IW

[The-Director]

Greed, that's what happen.

[rocky212]

BRING THIS GUY BACK!!! he actually seems like he understands the true PC community, and not just think it works the same as consoles.

[SRuN4]

What happened to Grant Collier? I mean the guy was president and ceo of Infinity Ward and he just disappeared from the company.

[Pandamobile]

He probably jumped ship while he still could. I don't blame the man.

[Digital Commando]

He showed is loved for PC gamers and when he left, well IW was infested with console gamers.

[TABSF]

This is why Infinity ward fail simply because cheaters are all over the PC version of MW 2 and the rest bite for Lag is heavenly but only for one or two games.

Wall hacks.
Aim Bots.
No clip.
Jumping hacks.
Unlimited Ammunition.
Invisibility.
Invincibility.

And did I mention LAG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since L4D 2 came out I have only played 2 hours of MW 2 before contemplating suicide