Dedicated servers - once, they were the de-facto standard, but a wave of console-itis has made them rare than hen's teeth... but why?
It was only a fortnight ago when the strange word came through that the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo would be an Xbox 360 exclusive. Not that we have any particular issue with the specific console that it was released on mind you; but the concept of a console-only version of a once PC-specific franchise wasn't just insulting, it was stupid. While it may allow our console brethren to see some decent first-person shooter graphics, it really only proved to highlight the limitations of the online issues with console gaming.
Naturally, we are referring to the backwards standard of peer-to-peer gaming.
When Activision chose to take this path not so long ago with Modern Warfare 2 on the PC, it highlighted just how much of an issue it is for publishers/developers to overlook the superior stability and extended functionality of a dedicated server model.
So when EA recently released its Crysis 2 demo on Xbox 360 with all of its pretty graphics (by console standards), Nanosuit-powered abilities and an experience/achievement system, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that there were some online hiccups. We spent a decent chunk of time with the Crysis 2 demo and were among the "few players [that were] having technical issues with the demo." Long connection times, connection stability, questionable hit detection and good ol' fashioned freezes were on our list of problems.
It makes one wonder how prevalent these issues would have been on a PC dedicated server model. But then, Crytek is remaining mum on whether our beloved platform will even receive dedicated server support.
Thankfully, time will tell on a yet-to-be-disclosed date when the Crysis 2 demo will be hitting the screens of keyboard + mouse combo lovers before the game hits shelves. But in the words of a random character in every Star Wars film, "I have a bad feeling about this," mostly because of the lack of a proper dedicated server announcement that leaves an ominous Modern Warfare 2 taste in our mouth.
Another recent downloadable release serves to highlight this point further. Breach hit the Arcade section of Xbox LIVE and was available for download through Steam on the 27th of January. The Xbox 360 version is nigh unplayable thanks to a rather heinous peer-to-peer connection model that often results in ridiculous ping. Unfortunately, you have to guess at what your ping may be by the lack of hit registry, teleporting players and general sheer frustration as there's no way of telling both in-game or at the server browser screen (not even by way of the console standard 'coloured ping bars' system.
The PC version, on the other hand, may not allow for in-game ping tracking, but the server browser is certainly easier to use and offers ping results for all available servers; resulting in a much more accessible and playable experience. Oh, and did we mention that there's dedicated server support?
Well, kind of. There are some unfortunate convoluted kinks that make setting them up a tad harder than they should be, but the developer has assured inquisitive forumites that a solution is in the works.
Either way, the PC version of Breach was absolutely playable and upgraded our initial judgements of the Xbox 360 demo as a terrible game to a title that we're definitely interested in spending more time with. There really are some interesting and different ideas at play in Breach.
When titles such as Homefront are touting 'about bloody time' dedicated server support for consolers as the great new thing, hopefully more publishers/developers will steer away from this peer-to-peer mentality or limited dedicated server support model (a la, Black Ops) and back towards a tried and proven system that has worked on the PC for years.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012