With 127 people on your team in a M.A.G. Domination match, how the monkeys are you going to organise the troops? Communication is key and Seth Luisi, director of development at Sony Computer Entertainment America and working on M.A.G., told PlayStation University that the team worked hard to make the game’s vocal communication as intuitive and deep as possible:

“We did a lot with MAG to utlise the headset. We have proximity chat, team chat, we also have leadership chat; so platoon leaders and squad leaders can talk with one another. We even have the ability for the OIC to talk to all 127 people on his team, so we’re doing some really interesting things with voice chat, and we hope people utilise it.”

The question is then, why wasn’t a headset bundled in with every copy of M.A.G.? Luisi explains that Zipper Interactive also did a bunch to make sure the game was easy to play without voice communication:

“But at the same time we did add a lot into the game to make it easy for people to play without a headset; a lot of indicators if your team mate is down, where he is and how you can revive him and making it easy for squad leaders to designate objectives with them coming up in the HUD. So we still want to make it so people can play it without a headset, but we highly encourage people to play with a headset.”

You hear that? Highly encourage. So although it’s regrettable that the game didn’t come with a mic, please go and get one. S.V.E.R. needs your ear and your voice.