One of the biggest console shooters is getting a little dose of PC for its third outing.
Dedicated servers are an interesting thing. On the one hand, they’re a fairly simple, straightforward technology for matches of multiplayer. On the other hand, some gamers worship the idea with a passion that seems just a little bit too, uh, dedicated. But while dedicated servers have traditionally been a PC thing with console games preferring to go the peer-to-peer route, Gears of War 3 is giving the ol’ dedicateds a thumbs-up (sort of).
To help soothe the Gears-less gap in gamers’ hearts left vacant by the title’s delay to Fall 2011, Microsoft announced that it would be holding a multiplayer beta for the title in the interim. “We plan to host a public multiplayer beta for Gears of War 3 in 2011 featuring dedicated servers.”
They’re still a console-ified version of dedicated servers – the game will still handle matchmaking itself, and there won’t be any fan-operated servers like you’ll find in TF2. Even so, Epic and Microsoft believe that the change will go a long way towards eliminating latency issues and the dreaded “host advantage” that many criticized Gears 2‘s multiplayer for.
So warm up your thumbsticks, 360 owners, and get ready to chainsaw people in the face before you can officially chainsaw people in the face. On dedicated servers.
(Via Joystiq)
