BioShock 2: No LAN or Dedicated Servers

[Raiser]

How dare 2K Games turn its back on the PC multiplayer community that made BioShock ... oh ... uh ... that's right. Well, they confirmed that BioShock 2 won't support LAN gaming or dedicated servers anyway.

In a Q&A on multiplayer posted at the Cult of Rapture, 2K explained their absence as a matter of ordering priorities within a limited time for development:

Bringing Multiplayer to BioShock was a daunting task between the tech (there was no multiplayer support in the codebase from the first game) and the expectations of the community. Either you try to do everything and so nothing feels finished or you focus your efforts to do a smaller number of things really well like an accessible online experience.

The rest of the Q&A offers more details on how multiplayer will work on all three platforms for this game, which releases Feb. 9.

Source

 

[asdf]

Well that made up my mind on whether I'm buying it or not. $60 I'm saving.

 

[Bladexdsl]

what a load of bs has nothing to do with not enough time they just dont want to do it cos it will cost them $ where as it won't on consoles. the game will already be watered down cos of multplat now it's ruined PC multiplayer too SO it's consoles fault AGAIN

i'll prob still get it to play the Sp missions than after that I'll be DONE with it.

 

[Elritha]

Sounds like utter nonsense. If the multiplayer code is there to play across the internet, LAN wouldn't be too difficult to implement. Both communicate via tcp/ip. More like a way to stop people playing pirated versions multiplayer.

 

[Jeff88]

I don't know what's wrong with you guys, but with or without LAN, Bioshock2 will be a great game.
And heh, as if pirates' opinions matters

 

[asdf]

I don't know what's wrong with you guys, but with or without LAN, Bioshock2 will be a great game.
And heh, as if pirates' opinions matters

It's ironic that you say that. Looking through your posts shows that you're a pirate too. Look's like your opinion doesn't matter either, eh?

And I WAS going to buy this game until this came up. And while it's true that it will be a fun game, no LAN or dedicated servers take out half of the fun of the game, the multiplayer. If I'm hosting a server, and I want to leave, but everyone else wants to stay, I don't want to have to leave the game open, I want to turn the damn thing off.

 

[Jeff88]

Never say I wasn't.

 

[Celice]

Did the first game even have multiplayer?

 

[Hadrian]

Limited time? Its a PC game just do what others do and either let another dev do or RELEASE A FUCKING PATCH IN THE FUTURE.

I can't say that multiplayer on this game meant anything to me, the first game was great because of the story its just a piss take seeing yet another game miss out on what the consoles get.

 

[zeromac]

xD i havnt played the first bioshock but i might just for the epic storyline

I bought Fable 2 today but i was deciding on that or bioshock but bioshock didnt have multiplayer so we went with Fable 2 cos i love being an achivment whore

 

[Minox]

I fail to see the problem. The first Bioshock was a singleplayer experience and was a good one at that. Now for the second game they will still throw in the singleplayer experience and a possible less good multiplayer experience.

But the question is, why are you complaining? Did you really expect this multiplayer mode to be as good as games that are mostly multiplayer only?

Well, I sure as hell didn't and that is why I'd still be getting this even if they'd decide to drop multiplayer completely (which would be a shame). Now, the above scenario will most likely not happen, but as I see it - Bioshock 2 is a singleplayer game with a nice little multiplayer plugin.

 

[zuron7]

You can always set up your own.

 

[BlueStar]

SO it's consoles fault AGAIN

But it's the fault of the weaknesses of the PC platform and the attitude of PC gamers which has lead to the PC becoming the leper outcast of the games world, feeding almost solely on crappy afterthought console ports.

Used to be a PC zealot about 10 years ago. Now, meh.

 

[PettingZoo]

SO it's consoles fault AGAIN

But it's the fault of the weaknesses of the PC platform and the attitude of PC gamers which has lead to the PC becoming the leper outcast of the games world, feeding almost solely on crappy afterthought console ports.

Used to be a PC zealot about 10 years ago. Now, meh.

So it isn't about lazy devs wanting to reuse stuff?

 

[Maz7006]

Mw2 now this. heck on my cnxn it takes around 5 mins to find a game for MW2, with a dedicated im off and away to go

Meh fuck it, seriously wtf is going lately with this

I mean ok, no dedicated servers OK i can live with that.

But no LAN ?

.....

 

[Kerian]

Unreal 3 Engine has no Mulitplayer Support?! uhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[BlueStar]

SO it's consoles fault AGAIN

But it's the fault of the weaknesses of the PC platform and the attitude of PC gamers which has lead to the PC becoming the leper outcast of the games world, feeding almost solely on crappy afterthought console ports.

Used to be a PC zealot about 10 years ago. Now, meh.

So it isn't about lazy devs wanting to reuse stuff?

There's several problems with PC gaming and developers not seeing it as worth the effort is kind of a chicken and egg thing. There's the rampant piracy, the fact that a fair section of the PC market is made up of snobs who previously branded any attempt at and innovative PC game (ie any game which wasn't a po-faced FPS or RTS that pushed their rig to the limit) as "console style crap", the huge amount of testing and after-sales patch work devs have to do because of the massive amount of different set-ups people have (and of course making the game scale well to different set ups, even though you'll always have people who have slightly underpowered rigs which the game hasn't been well optimised for and huge uber-rigs which are not being used to its full potential), and so on.

Devs don't produce enough original content, PC gamers don't bother keeping their machine up to spec for gaming, market shrinks, devs don't produce enough original content... It's a vicious circle that's going to keep getting smaller and as I say I think PC gamers have to take some of the blame. Soon PCs will only be any use as games machines for playing things like Bejewlled and Pop Cap stuff.

 

[playallday]

Four words: Infinity Ward caused this.

 

[PettingZoo]

SO it's consoles fault AGAIN

But it's the fault of the weaknesses of the PC platform and the attitude of PC gamers which has lead to the PC becoming the leper outcast of the games world, feeding almost solely on crappy afterthought console ports.

Used to be a PC zealot about 10 years ago. Now, meh.

So it isn't about lazy devs wanting to reuse stuff?

There's several problems with PC gaming and developers not seeing it as worth the effort is kind of a chicken and egg thing. There's the rampant piracy, the fact that a fair section of the PC market is made up of snobs who previously branded any attempt at and innovative PC game (ie any game which wasn't a po-faced FPS or RTS that pushed their rig to the limit) as "console style crap", the huge amount of testing and after-sales patch work devs have to do because of the massive amount of different set-ups people have (and of course making the game scale well to different set ups, even though you'll always have people who have slightly underpowered rigs which the game hasn't been well optimised for and huge uber-rigs which are not being used to its full potential), and so on.

Devs don't produce enough original content, PC gamers don't bother keeping their machine up to spec for gaming, market shrinks, devs don't produce enough original content... It's a vicious circle that's going to keep getting smaller and as I say I think PC gamers have to take some of the blame. Soon PCs will only be any use as games machines for playing things like Bejewlled and Pop Cap stuff.

Many PC gamers keep their system up to date or leave it at a good spec until the next generation of games requires more for them, you really should stop with this whole PC gamers are snobby. Sure there are people like that but there are people like that on pretty much all platforms, there are people who appreciate video games and a majority of them are PC gamers. The massive different set-ups thing is most bullshit, there are pretty much standard requirements for normal games these days and if you're not up to spec then run it on a lower quality or upgrade. You can't really go saying stuff about games like that for the PC it is a different platform and there are some different varieties of games on there that people appreciate, and that goes for all platforms pretty much.

 

[BlueStar]

Yes, there are standard requirements, but as a dev it's still very easy to ship something and then find problems with a certain os and a certain graphics card that you didn't anticipate - whereas on a console if it works, it works and you can make sure you get the very best out of the system. There just seems to be a very narrow scope in terms of PC games thanks to the narrow-mindedness of the audience, look at the lack of beat 'em ups, 3D platformers, quirky titles like 30 Second Hero and Warioware. You get the odd innovative game, but they tend to be very small budget, small price independent stuff because no-one's going to put the time and money into a full price PC game that's not your standard RPG/RTS/FPS fodder.