Call of Duty 2 patch silently in test phase?
Technically a rumor since Infinity Ward refuses to comment on anything other than that they are working on a multiplayer patch, but still something that cannot be denied: strange things are happening with Call of Duty 2 online gaming on Xbox 360.
As one of our readers stated:
I played 4 games 12vs12 yesterday on Xbox Live, and only one of them was laggy. So far 8vs8 was the standing record. Biggest game I played so far contained 27 players and was hopelessly laggy, but it was there.
Using the famous system link glitch you should not be capable of getting more than 16 players in one game. So is it possible that this is happening because of serverside changes? Most certainly, because the same thing happened for Halo 2 in the past, where all of a sudden you could join bigger games than was supposedly possible according to the manual. Matchmaking is done by the Xbox Live service itself, so they could easily decide to rig you through to one of Microsoft’s or Activision’s test servers running dedicated code that allows 16v16 games, either for testing game server code or bandwidth requirements. And it makes sense too to test it this way, because it’s impossible to truly test online gaming for a game from within a single office: you need a worldwide audience to test worldwide gaming.
So, it would seem they are working indeed on getting the patch out. Does it mean we’ll have 16vs16 games after the patch? Don’t count on it, if a dedicated server was already lagging on serving a 27-player game. But they are testing things, and 12vs12 seems acceptable in most cases. Let’s pray this semi-public testing is the final testing before the release!
Update: An unverified source sent us the following email shortly after we published above article. Please note that we do not know this person or how reliable he is in contrast to the original article above:
Just read your article about the 27 player CoD2 match your friend played in. I can confirm that I also have played in these bigger-manned matches. I have close ties with one of the developers. Their initial plan for the patch is to have dedicated servers located at Activision, and they will have 64 player games, to be exactly the same as the PC version. They are making sure they keep sales strong when GRAW Launches, they have made a lobby with full customizations (map choice, game type, game length, kill total) Basically, everything we’ve wanted from this game. Their next plans to update (hopefully within 3-6 months) are supposed to include some clan features, but they didn’t tell much info about that. They don’t have a confirmed release date yet for the upcoming patch, but it seems that early March is when we should see this.
Let’s assume this email to have an 80% ‘bogus rating’. There’s a slim chance it might be true, but don’t count on 64-player games just yet, and anyway not on the current maps.
too little too late for me… will play til graw comes out and thats that
Way way too late for me, they’ve had months to sort this. I.W & Activision couldn’t care less about customers once they’ve got the money.
i said it once and i’ll say it again:
bite my shiny metal ass infinity ward.
true that–I preordered GRAW the first time I played COD2 online…too little, too late
Yes, to late indeed. Patch will be released just intime for GRAW. Nice try to hold that jump start on the market, but IW already screwed way to many people and the word is out.
Agree with everyone else, it’s just too late now. As more games arrive players will move onwards towards other online games. They’ve had utterly ages to bring in an update and they didn’t even have the nerve to release a statement telling gamers that they were working on the problem. I’ve yet to even play multi on cod2 because my disc cracked, still awaiting a replacement :/
They are 2 different games. As long as they fix the lag, make good lobbies and friends only games, I will play this just as much as GRAW, if not more. Don’t own any of the GR games so it’s not like I am creaming in my pants waiting for this one to come out.
I guess everyone is jumping on the blame Activision and I.W. wagon… not thinking that Microsoft pretty much wanted at least one first person shooter at launch. Probably threatening to revoke game production rights for 360 if it was not pushed out for launch.
If it would have been GRAW on 11.22.2005… then we might see the same issues or less than the March 2006 release (if memory serves me right, GRAW pulled out at the last minute… oh yes, I had a pre-order for GRAW since 10.8.2005, expecting it on 11.29.2005). Since MS had its first person shooter, it was OK with GRAW not being ready.
I am not 100% happy with COD2… but, for the choices… it is the best game so far. If and when they get it fixed, I will be glad to play it.
Signed
Huge GR Fan… but, thankful for COD2 as well.
i am not saying i won’t play it if they fix it, but in the life curve of this game, it has already peaked. it’s almost over, and as gamers, we pretty much all got screwed. yes, the single player campaign was great, but that pretty much means rental only for me. i payed good ass money for the multi player experience, and it not only sucks in terms of options, the lag is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. this game will be obsolete when the new round of games comes out next month, so one more time…
bite my shiny metal ass infinity ward.
wow…… i think i would have to agree 100% with the posters above, because i dont feel like typing that much.
I don’t give a damn about whether MS wanted a FPS at launch or not. 4 months have passed and still no friggin patch is total bullshit. I agree with you all here, it’s just way too late for COD. GRAW > COD anyways.
Lets wait until GRAW comes out eh, before we pass judgement on it? It could be shit. Yes, the patch is late, but if what is said in the article is what ends up being added to the game, then i’ll be playing, stop moaning. 12 vs 12 makes for a very frantic match in the current levels, so im sure some more bigger levels will be on their way too to compensate for the new player additions. I’m pissed at IW & Activision too, but when it works online its still a brilliant multiplayer game so I’m still glad for a fix.
Once GRAW comes out i will never EVER EVER EVEERRRRRRR play this crap online again.
Let’s hope there is a fix coming out, but I am afraid that I think the e-mail you received from the person with “close ties with one of the developers” is bogus !
Come on xboxic, has no one there played the game on the 360 ? There is no way on earth the existing maps would support 64 players! Not unless you wanted a game of spawn, die, spawn, die !!!!
I know you have this listed as rumour, but surely the e-mail would have been better off just being deleted rather than published on the site !
Steve: added an extra disclaimer that we also consider the email to have an 80% bogus chance
played online.
16 verses 16 with no lag…..
on the and at the top of the list it said ‘xbox server’ ????
About time they did something about it but im not sure i will play it much once a few of these new games are out.
Would have been nice to have worked properly from the beginning for the £49 i paid for it!
Clearly this is not true. 27 people??…Come on…You would have to have a mighty good connection for that type of game. and I highly doubt they will make it a 64 player game when the maps were designed for 8 ppl. Id say 12-16 players max…No way it will be 64…nothing but BS internet rumors
The maps in cod2 were not designed for 8 players because they are the same maps as the pc version, and i have played a 64 player match on the pc, on the same map ive played on my 360. Altho it was a round based game were you didnt respawn until your whole team was dead But ive happily played these maps with 32 players on the pc.
I just look forward to the days, probably in about 10 years time, when we have full scale online wars with 512 odd players and huge maps.
JizMonkey: this very year Huxley, an MMOFPS, will hit your 360. From IGN:
“Huxley is a massively multiplayer online first person shooting game utilizing the UNREAL3 engine to create a world of up to 5,000 players in the same gaming environment.”
Don’t look forward too far or you might miss what’s very near
Do you know if you will have to pay for a seperate subscription to the game. Because some of my mates have told me you have to for some of the pcs mmo games.
Don’t think it’ll be so on the X360 since you’re already paying for Xbox Live.
Man, I hope it gets fixed soon. COD2’s the only X360 game I’m any good at.