While many are calling 2009 the year of the PS3, it remains an argument in which we prefer not to get involved. The reason being that these claims are so tied up in subjective experience, that making any sort of rational argument quickly becomes exhausting and pointless, and to be honest, we would rather be playing games, or at least writing about games.
However, what we will say is that Sony is looking to bring some fairly tasty treats to the table, with a catalogue of upcoming exclusives that may just make even the most hardened Xbox 360 fanboy think twice about where his loyalties should lie.
MAG, or Massive Action Game is one such title.
Being developed by Zipper Interactive, MAG is being billed as a Massively Multiplayer Shooter, and immediately brings to mind the popular Battlefield series, on a slightly larger scale. And when we say slightly larger scale, we really mean much larger scale. MAG is said to allow for up to 256 players on a single map at a single time.
Much like other popular multiplayer shooters, MAG will allow characters to progress through an RPG like leveling arch, allowing players to improve their stats and unlock new abilities/weapons. The gameplay will not solely consist of taking to the front lines in first person mode, but will also give players the chance to play a more strategic role and direct various combat encounters.
Like the Battlefield series, players will be able to take control of a number of different vehicles, including tanks, APCs and airplanes. There will be number of classes for players to choose from, including medics, demolition experts and commandos.
Set 20 years in the future, MAG will allow players to participate as one of three classes. Each class will apparently have its own strengths and weaknesses. The available classes comprise of the Raven; a high tech space marine type faction, the Sver; a less powerful but cunning and adaptable race hailing from Central Asia, and the Hammer, of which little is known at this point.
Players will be put into squads of 8 and each squad will be given specific objectives important to the overall mission status. Players with higher ranks will be enlisted into leadership roles within their squads.
MAG will rely on dedicated servers which will be optimized using a newly developed system architecture and are therefore said to be able to accommodate up to 256 players without suffering from lag. There is no word on whether or not we will get any locally hosted servers in SA, by we are busy communicating with local industry partners and should have more on this soon. Obviously the local viability of this game rests on there being locally hosted servers, so here’s hoping.
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