Yesterday we reported that the soon to be released PC version of Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) will not support the same online multiplayer structure as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4).
CoD4 is currently the most popular online first person shooter in South Africa. The traditional multiplayer protocol allows third party service providers to run public servers for PC gamers to play on. This makes finding an online game exceptionally easy, with players simply saving server IP addresses, which then enable them to drop-in to games at any given time. The fact that the game is so popular means that it almost always easy to find an active game.
It would seem that developer Infinity Ward will not incorporate the same system in MW2. Instead, PC gamers will have to use IW.net in conjunction with STEAM to play online.
Firstly, this means that it will not be as easy to jump into public games as it has been in the past.
Secondly, and a problem that is of greater concern to local gamers, is that IW.net is hosted internationally, and local gamers can expect to play with around 400ms ping times using it. These high latencies will render the game basically unplayable, and will mean that South African gamers will effectively not have online MW2 functionality.
This has lead to a number of local petitions being passed around.
The problem with many of the petitions that are currently circulating is that they are aggressively attacking the developer, when in all likelihood, publisher Activison is behind the decision.
There are a number of possible solutions that will allow local gamers access to the online component of MW2. However, the aggressive and petulant sentiment being voiced by many local gamers is likely to alienate the developer, and make negotiations for service providers that are trying to find a resolution difficult.
Leading online gaming service provider, iGame, has contacted Infinity Ward, and is looking to find a possible solution that is both inline with their announced strategy and is also capable of being efficiently implemented in a territory such as South Africa.
MyGaming will continue to follow this story, and announce any new developments as soon as they happen.
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