Small bits of news continue to trickle out regarding Uncharted 3’s multiplayer, which was shown to select members of the press earlier this week. The newest bit that’s come to the attention of the media is that Uncharted 3 will not be using dedicated servers for its multiplayer. According to UnchartedCentral.com, it was Community Manager, Arne Meyer, that confirmed Uncharted 3 will go with a P2P connection, just as Uncharted 2 did.
While dedicated servers certainly seem like the best route for a lag-free experience, Uncharted 2 was one of the smoothest online games I’ve played to date. Granted, that changes from region to region and matchmaking was a little slower than I would’ve liked, but as long as Naughty Dog delivers a smooth experience, does it really matter how it’s being handled on the back end? Probably not.
Source: Uncharted Central
Kev
This is sad news for me. I was really hoping for dedicated servers as p2p is why I don’t play UC2 online as much as I’d like to.
There have been too many occasions when I’ve sat twiddling my thumbs waiting for a match. You’re only real hope of getting a team together being deathmatch as any of the other more interesting scenarios don’t appear popular enough. And trying to do the survival stages actually only worked a couple of times.
The only guaranteed ‘good times’ were from the planned UC nights at TSA :-)
teflon
Um, that’s got nothing to do with whether it’s P2P or dedicated. Either way there’s still going to be a master server that you call into to see if there’s any lobbies being formed, etc. etc. etc. P2P and Dedicated servers are when you’re actually in a match and running around having fun times.
Kev
I take the point, but when you’re dependant on someone else hosting the match they all too often bail before there’s enough players for the thing to start.
Dazbobaby
I find it difficult to believe in this day and age that a game developer or publisher wont use dedicated servers, it’s just wrong.
Too many are opting for p2p to increase profits rather than making a better online experience for the customer.
Given the massive sales that U3 will generate I’m pretty sure they can afford dedicated servers.
It’s one of the main reasons that CoD fails.
heywoodstock
Don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure it costs thousands, if not millions to run dedicated servers every year. If P2P works smoothly, as was stated above, surely it wouldn’t make business sense to have such a large, annual expenditure.
clone555
It didn’t run all that smoothly for me. For a long time there were a lot of complaints on the playstation forums about players characters freezing on screen. You will always encounter som lag with p2p because you just can’t control everybody elses connection speed/quality. With dedicated servers, as long as you take care to get a good internet connection, you will probably never experience lag.
Dedicated servers are no doubt expensive to run. But it costs upwards of 50 million to build a game like uncharted, and uncharted 2 sold over 4.5 million copies + all the DLC. So I think they can afford a few million for dedicated servers. They just don’t want to spend it.
It’s disappointing but not surprising as that’s how they did UC2. And although the match making has nothing to do with dedicated servers, the fact the ND never really resolved those issues says a lot about their approach to multiplayer support.
TURRICAN-808
Bad news, BFBC2 has dedicated servers, the online games are good. Black ops doesn’t have dedicated servers, the online matches are shat, oh, and theres the ‘host migration’ thing that destroys the game!
Sympozium
Warhawk has dedicated servers…… and the best matchmaking, a list is best than that stupid auto-matching thing
Foxhound_Solid
It will rock no matter what :-)
clone555
Yes it will. And that’s why ND can get away with something like this. The execs who make decisions like this also know it. And it will still scoop up all the awards… I’ll still buy it even though I know I’ll be frustrated with MP.
Bilbo_bobbins
Massive fail on ND part here. MP will be a complete nightmare. Every single company that has moved from Dedicated servers ends up with a laggy complete pile of crap of a game online.
This is a real shame to be honest, although I buy this for the campaign mostly, it means the quality MP will now be a waste of time. There is no denying, that MP with be a lagfest with crap matchmaking.
Bilbo_bobbins
JUst to mention that matchmaking for me last time was a complete nightmare at first and I nearly gave up on the game. It seems ND are putting MP as a secondary part of the game…hmm
Akuar
I find it weird that you’re saying that Uncharted 2 offered you one of the smoothest online experiences to date, as to me, lag was its biggest problem. A shame to hear they’re sticking to P2P, though I honestly can’t say I expected otherwise…
Still my number one game this year (now that TLG has been pushed), bring on the lagfest, I’ll be there.
jcor
I don’t mind them not using dedicated servers as it was the matchmaking was what ruined the onlinemode on the last game for me. Once I got in to a game it would be fine, but you could be waiting 5-10 mins for a game sometimes.
Bilbo_bobbins
agreed, thats what happens with matchmaking and P2P. It will be the same for the next game I would of thought.
cnutard
I’ve got to say that I’ve had a completely different experience from everyone else here it seems.
I played U2 a couple of months back and as one poster said there was no point even trying to play anything other than deathmatch as I would sit there for awhile hoping to get an elimination game.
Since the TSA meet last Saturday it’s been a completely different story though, I’ve had no problem getting into any matches, be it deathmatch, elimination or plunder, and I’ve hardly experienced any lag. Granted there was 1 time that my whole time froze on my screen and a time 1 guy was lagging pretty badly, but apart from those I’ve had a very positive experience.
cnutard
I’ve got to say that I’ve had a completely different experience from everyone else here it seems.
I played U2 a couple of months back and as one poster said there was no point even trying to play anything other than deathmatch as I would sit there for awhile hoping to get an elimination game.
Since the TSA meet last Saturday it’s been a completely different story though, I’ve had no problem getting into any matches, be it deathmatch, elimination or plunder, and I’ve hardly experienced any lag. Granted there was 1 time that my whole time froze on my screen and a time 1 guy was lagging pretty badly, but apart from those I’ve had a very positive experience.
Jack6
Matchmaking was garbage in Unch. 2. I really hope they improve/fix that.
If matches are 5 vs 5 again, there shouldn’t be more lag than the previous game.