DICE Sticking With Dedicated Servers For Bad Company 2

Acknowledging "a lot of buzz" around news that Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 for PC would not support dedicated servers, developer EA DICE is declaring that it will stay with dedicated servers for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. "Since Battlefield 1942 DICE has used dedicated servers for all platforms," said the developer on Bad Company 2's official site. "This formula has worked well, and still works well, for us and for the gaming community. We have stayed true to this practice and will continue this tradition into the upcoming title Battlefield Bad Company 2." For Modern Warfare 2, Activision-owned Infinity Ward is building a console-like multiplayer backend called IWNet, a decision that has many PC gamers in an uproar. "Other games use player-hosted or 'peer to peer' solutions, often resulting in a 'host with the most' situation; where the player hosting the match has an advantage over other players connected to their game," says DICE, explaining the benefits of dedicated servers. "Everyone else is dependent on the host's internet connection and if they don't have a great connection neither will you regardless how great of an internet you have." "Also, unless server migration is implemented the game ends when that hosting player quits the game forcing you to find another player-host or start your own," the developer adds. "With dedicated servers everyone gets non-stop action with no connection penalties based on some other player and their internet. This makes dedicated servers the best solution for online PC gaming hands down!"