…except your own need to kill. That’s what Zipper Interactive told us at M.A.G.’s hands-on event in London.
When asked what was hardest to code for the 256-people online multiplayer game, Seth Luisi, director of development at Sony Computer Entertainment America and working on M.A.G., told PlayStation University:
“Well we knew from the begining that doing 256 players, networking all those players and delivering a high action experience was really going to be the most difficult task. And we front loaded that; the first thing that we worked on with the title was the back-end server and how we can keep all those people playing, how we can keep the action fast, and keep everything running smooth. So we were able to do that and get that done pretty early in the development cycle, which allowed us to build everything on top of that.
“However, a lot of other things came up in that process; just organising all those players; how are we going to organise them? How are we going to guide them? We didn’t just want 256 people to run around in mass chaos, because that wouldn’t be very fun. So we had to do a lot of work on the design, the level design, and then with the renderer, making sure that when you do have a lot of people in close proximity the framerate isn’t really poor.”
There isn’t another video game on consoles that can stretch to 256-player online multiplayer, with the greatest generally being 64. So to the question of whether it would be possible to have all these players on screen at the same time in M.A.G., Luisi responded:
“It is. There’s nothing to stop people, other than their need to shoot somebody else. But if you had a truce, if you got all 256 people who can all stand in the same area, it is possible.
“I don’t think it’ll ever happen, because there’s always that one guy who has to throw a grenade…and once that starts, that’s it. We have done it in our internal tests and everytime somebody has to do that.” Luisi adds, laughing, “It’s been really challenging.”
Truce for a screenshot, anyone?
LOL, oh dear. Joe the retard cheerleader is back with his pro – Microsoft agenda. Gears Of War and Halo are the single most retarded on – rails shooters ever. Which is why Uncharted 2 won GOTY, too bad butthurt 360 crybabys like yourself can’t understand why no 360 exclusive gets rated as high as Uncharted 2 on Metacritic.
@ Rocky – only losers go around the net trolling and showing how badly they flunked English class. Maybe it’s YOU who should practice on your homework so that, if you try really hard, you might graduate from High School by the time you’re 30.
Oh yeah and Mass Effect 2 isn’t native 1080p – you must be mentally retarded to think that it is. How many games in general are native 1080p? Shows how ignorant you are about the gaming industry. Hey, how about you go and play Gears Of War 2 in native 1080p too? LOL…….you ignorant fanboys crack me up.
Hi Joe, going to have to disagree with you about Uncharted 2. The reason the game scored so well was just because it wasn’t anywhere near as linear as Uncharted 1. There are a number of routes to go in many of the levels, and quite a few ways for the player to get there – ie. by using stealth or all out action. Trying to play the game stealthfully opens up quite a few different paths you may not have seen your first time through.
OK guys, I’m going to have to warn both of you. Rocky, stop trolling. David, stop falling for his bait. You’re not doing each other any good and your arguments have little to no validity because of it. Can’t we all be friends? Anymore idiocy and you might find yourselves banned.
McFail,
Mass Effect 2 and its 96 on Metacritic says hi
oh and IGN just reviewed White Knight Chronicles…….. 5.1/10. lol. only the best for the PS3 hey?
Patrick, i disagree about uncharted 2. in my playthrough of the campaign there was never more than 1 way to go. you always had to climb the same wall, make the same jump, etc etc. the only things that change are the shootouts, and sure you can try and take people out stealthily, but its still just killing the enemies and then moving on to the next on-rails platforming section.
oh and mcfail:
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1064323p1.html
titled: “PS3 Perspective: Mass Effect 2 is Better than Uncharted
Deal with it, fanboy.”
“The thing that a lot of people missed, however, is that Mass Effect 2 is indeed a better game than Uncharted 2, and I don’t know how readers can be so blinded by their fanboyism to deny it. “
“Now, let me remind you of who’s writing this. I’m Greg Miller. I’m the guy who writes articles telling you that Trophies are better than Achievements, the guy who is desperate to win IGN’s Great Trophy Whore War, and the guy who bought a PSPgo on day one and doesn’t regret the decision in the least. I’m all those things, and I’m telling you that Mass Effect 2 is better than Uncharted 2.
I need you to accept this.
Before I get going on breaking down with Mass Effect 2 is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I need to tell you that I still love Uncharted 2. It’s a great game, it’s totally deserving of IGN’s Game of the Year 2009 Award as well as its 9.5 rating from Chris Roper, and I can’t wait for the third installment. The trouble is that Mass Effect 2 is better. “
Thanks Joe. This isn’t IGN and we don’t take one person’s opinion as gospel. At PSUni we respect all people’s opinions and understand that they are simply subjective. Miller’s opinion that Mass Effect 2 is better than Uncharted 2 is not an objective fact. It is a subjective opinion. It is also an irrelevant subjective opinion that plays to fanboys on both sides of the “war”, used to make you repost it in an irrelevant argument on a website where it has no place, in order to prompt hits and thus revenue.
Thanks.
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Zipper has created a great game with their M.A.G. project. The game can handle 256 player battles without lag, which is awesome.
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