2K revealed in a Q&A that BioShock 2 will not support LAN play nor dedicated servers. The reason for the lack, apparently, is because Digital Extremes, the developer behind BioShock 2's multiplayer, just didn't have time. They could have either focused on adding that functionality or focused on creating a high-quality gameplay experience, and they chose the latter.

"There is always a finite amount of time for the development of a game," the Q&A reads. "Bringing Multiplayer to BioShock was a daunting task between the tech (there was no multiplayer support in the codebase from the first game) and the expectations of the community. Either you try to do everything and so nothing feels finished or you focus your efforts to do a smaller number of things really well like an accessible online experience. We chose to spend the time we had creating a solid game foundation and unfortunately that did not include LAN play or dedicated servers."

Players will have to rent a dedicated server if they want full control over the game rather than build their own because DICE is withholding the files necessary to do so. Why? It will "protect the game's integrity on PC." Thus, players will have to rent servers from DICE-authorized vendors, but according to DICE, this is not a profiteering move.

"This does not earn DICE a profit," said producer Gordon Van Dyke. "But we will see where the game goes and support it post launch."

This is the first time a Battlefield game has implemented such a policy on the PC.

Following the likes of Modern Warfare 2, Aliens vs. Predator, and RAGE, Ubisoft mentioned in a Q&A session that Splinter Cell: Conviction will not support dedicated servers.

Will there be a dedicated server for Splinter PC?
No, there is no dedicated server mode.

So naturally, you might be wondering about the matchmaking, which Ubisoft also addressed in the Q&A.

How does the matchmaking work exactly? (PC and Xbox)
The matchmaking system attempts to put two players together that are looking for the same type of match based on the selected Map, Difficulty, Language and Ping.  If no good matches are found, the player can create a match and wait for someone to connect.  Players can also create private matches.  Additionally, in the event where we don’t find an exact match to your preferences, we gradually and automatically start widening the search parameters until we find the closest best match to what you were looking for.  There are no match listings in Conviction, you are matched with the best possible person out there.

Conviction will have a lobby system as well where players can negotiate match settings.

Fear not, the bearded man featured on the box art of the new Medal of Honor game, will be an in-game character. Although he was absent in the premier trailer shown at the VGAs, Executive Producer Greg Goodrich confirmed he will make an appearance in the game, to what extent, we don't know.

"The character on our box cover was not featured in our first trailer," said Goodrich in a Q&A. "But I can confirm that he is indeed a character in our game and will be revealed (along with his highly skilled and very specialized Tier 1 unit) in the near future."

Goodrich also advocated that they are taking PC gamers fully into account with Medal of Honor. We take the PC version of our game as seriously as we do any other version," he added. It's already been confirmed that MoH will have dedicated servers, so could this be a CoD killer on PC?

Valve performed a massive server upgrade on their Left 4 Dead 2 servers, giving Xbox 360 gamers lag-free matches. The developer also added more dedicated servers to the infrastructure. Valve is still monitoring the situation, but it's already been reported that latency issues have been vastly improved.

[via L4D Blog]

It's funny how people change, or is it how money changes people? Anyways, right before the launch of Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward was talking about the lack of dedicated servers in the game. Now take a look at this video of Infinity Ward praising the use of dedicated servers in Call of Duty 4.

PC gamers have been up in arms as of late over Infinity Ward’s recent announcement which said it will not be supporting dedicated servers in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Shortly thereafter, id Software revealed that they too would not be utilizing dedicated servers in their upcoming shooter, ironically named RAGE. Why are these developers moving away from what has been the standard in PC gaming and will it become a trend? Is PC gaming going the way of console gaming? The answer is a resounding “it depends.”

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