Modern Warfare 2 Comes With Steamworks

[Evo]

Modern Warfare 2 (already up for pre-order) is going to be using Steamworks and Steam Cloud to provide anti-cheat technology, auto-updating, achievements and the ability, using Steam Cloud, to use your multiplayer profile wherever you go without fear of losing it. In the announcement Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling said:[br]

Steamworks will make it possible for us to have a closer connection to our fans, and enable us to support our community much more than ever before,. Steam is the hands down leader in offering a community focused experience on PC and the inclusion of Steamworks has allowed us to deliver the most feature-rich PC version to ever come from Infinity Ward, which at the end of the day will mean the most to our fans."

[br]Gabe Newell had this to say:[br]

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be one of the biggest releases in video game history. Having a game as significant as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 using the suite of back-end services in Steamworks is a signal to us that we're making the right kinds of choices for triple-A developers like Infinity Ward."

[br]It will be interesting to see how the game will utilise Steamworks along with Infinity Ward's custom matchmaking tools and how the lack of dedicated servers will impact on how the game performs. You can pre-order now ahead of its launch in the week commencing 8th November.

 

[Marler]

due to this, I presume we will be able to add retail keys to steam?

 

[phatfish]

due to this, I presume we will be able to add retail keys to steam?

Yup, means it will be easier to pick-up as a bargain in 3 months time. Making full use of Steam sounds great, Steam Cloud integration especially.

This must be the biggest launch Steam will have handled by miles. Lots of people will be wanting it working immediately on launch day. Given the problems with the L4D DLC recently (it was a good 4hrs after availability before i got that loaded) i wonder how Steam will hold up.

If people who have bough the game in a store -- and maybe don't know it requires Steam -- have problems activating, i can see a lot of confused and frustrated gamers.

 

[Marler]

yeah was just wondering as it's so much cheaper retail

 

[Warped]

Steam needs to start adding more servers if they want this to run smoothly.

 

[Krynn72]

Yup, means it will be easier to pick-up as a bargain in 3 months time.

lol, the first modern warfare is still the cost of a normal full price PC game. COD is a moneybag, and it doesnt have bargains. Not while Activision is in charge.

 

[AtomicSpark]

But does it come with dedicated servers?

 

[63]

the most feature-rich PC version to ever come from Infinity Ward

Yeah, about that...

 

[Kadayi]

I don't think the PC sales are going to be that strong on this one, given not only the issue with the servers but also the attitude of the developers to the PC community as well as the overpricing (Borderlands is £9 less and that's a much bigger game in scope).

 

[hool10]

No, nothing can compare to Half-Life 2 and I'm surprised Gabe Newell said otherwise. But this is extremely good though. COD4 would delete all your ranks and everything if you didn't back up your save file. Plus there is no Punk Buster which has shown time after time that it doesn't work.

 

[Lobster]

The issue that could arise, is that allot of people are'nt gonna know about the IWnet changes untill they install the game, and if the system lets these people down, Steam will likely get the blame, as its the first time some of these people will have used it.

I know of quite a few people that play CoD religiously on the PC, but never use steam, the sudden requirement, combined with the (possibly) disastrous IWnet changes could prove explosive!

On the other hand, we dont really know how its gonna work, and maybe IW will offer a dedicated server option afterall.. time will tell.

 

[Sierra Oscar]

Steam needs to start adding more servers if they want this to run smoothly.

What are you referring to? Content downloads, game servers/matchmaking related stuff?

Steam has seen quite a number of large releases over the platform over the last few months, and the content servers have held up pretty well.

On the achievements front - interesting to note they are not listed on the games store page yet.

 

[Krynn72]

What are you referring to? Content downloads, game servers?

Steam has seen quite a number of large releases over the platform over the last few months, and the content servers have held up pretty well.

On the achievements front - interesting to note they are not listed on the games store page yet.

Pretty sure Warped knows that steam doesnt run game servers. And I'm pretty sure hes talking about how their servers get destroyed when a big game comes out, and everyone has problems activating and downloading the game for pretty much the entire first week of release.

 

[Sierra Oscar]

And I'm pretty sure hes talking about how their servers get destroyed when a big game comes out, and everyone has problems activating and downloading the game for pretty much the entire first week of release.

That would have been true back in 2006 or so, but to be honest the problems have not been that serious since then (although the vocal minority still make it seem as if not one player can play when a big hit game is released).

Admittedly some users still experience issues - but most dont. Big releases such as L4D, FEAR & Empire Total War (where Steam is mandatory for all) indicate this. Heck, The Orange Box was not even that bad.

And I am basing this all on feedback from the official Steam Forums. There has been a noticeable decline of users complaining about release day download/authentication issues since Half Life 2's release. Valve have continually added content servers since HL2's release also, and continue to add content servers.

Now MW2 is sure to be a big hit, but I am confident the vast majority of users will not notice any issues when they go to register their games.

 

[Apocalypse89]

I have a feeling MW2 for the PC will sell much less than either Valve or IW expect.

Oh well, less Bandwidth costs for Valve.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

On the back of the success of the previous MW game, it will sell enough for everyone to give each other a large high 5.

 

[Apocalypse89]

I don't know, I wouldn't underestimate the effect of internet rage that easily after what happened to Spore last year.

 

[Sierra Oscar]

I don't know, I wouldn't underestimate the effect of internet rage that easily after what happened to Spore last year.

No doubt they will loose sales, but the game will be a huge success already I would expect. It is already climbing on the Top Sellers list on Steam for example.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Best news ever. Given that I was thinking of pre-ordering, and now I have a faster download speed, so I cannot lose.

Just hoping there are better achivements that the Vandalism Achievement

Also with VAC capabilities does this mean there will be no punkbuster? Hope so

I don't know, I wouldn't underestimate the effect of internet rage that easily after what happened to Spore last year.

But Spore offered larger scope early on in development and didn't deliver. Special Ops coop had only recently been announced, and I have just got more info on the multiplayer and looks like it will be a richer experience

 

[Nemon]

€ 60 is still preposterous...