Command and Conquer 4 community manager APOC has revealed that the game may require an ‘always on’ internet connection to function.
APOC, who answered a few questions at Command and Conquer Den, explained that the game’s player progression feature requires a constant internet connection.
“As of right now, you need to be online all the time to play C&C 4. This is primarily due to our “player progression” feature so everything can be tracked. C&C 4 is not an MMO in the sense of World of Warcraft, but conceptually it has similar principles for being online all the time. While some may be taken aback by this, we’ve been testing this feature internally with all of our world-wide markets. We wanted to make sure it wouldn’t take away any significant market or territory from playing the game. We have not found or seen any results that have made us think otherwise.”
This may see South African players up in arms due to lack of widespread ADSL and Neotell coverage and unpredictable 3G connectivity. Despite this APOC assured users that a high speed internet connection would not be necessary.
“You won’t need a fast connection; in fact, you could be on age-old dial-up, and have the same single player experience as everyone else. Online all the time won’t cause lag for single-player. We’ve also heavily worked on the online infrastructure such that people with slower connections will not lag other players with faster connections in Multiplayer.”
Gamers can also expect the same requirements from Blizzard’s upcoming Starcraft 2. It seems as though RTS developers are increasingly adopting MMO traits in the hopes of expanding player experience.
Unfortunately it seems that countries such as South Africa, where a reliable internet connection can be a rather costly affair, have not been considered.
Loading ...
