Epic commits to dedicated servers for UT3

by Dustin Burg { Jul 2nd 2008 at 11:30AM }

In a move we never thought we'd see coming from the studio who birthed our Gears of War, Epic Games has confirmed that they'll support the 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 with dedicated servers.

According to UT3 forum admin WarTourist, Epic will be setting up a "similar number of official 360 dedicated servers to what we provided for the PC and PS3." And our inner skeptic says that Epic is only doing this to add a bullet point to UT3's multiplayer so it can differentiate itself among the 360's already hotly contended FPS genre. That said, who really cares the reason they're doing it, we fully support and embrace the dedicated server move. You hear that Epic? We fully support dedicated servers and wouldn't mind you doing the same thing for Gears of War 2. Sound good?

[Via Gearheads of War, Thanks dongcopter]

Tags: epic, epic-games, unreal-tournament-3, unreal-tournament-iii, ut3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

DarthVicious82 @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:51AM

Maybe dedicated servers is the "fix" for the host shotgun advantage?

TORO @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:01PM

That's what I was thinking!

Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:53AM

Sound great to me! Now we'll see how much different the game will play versus the P2P connections we've been using.

Although I say P2P is really the future, especially with the gradual increase in bandwidth from most ISPs.

DaveC @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:04PM

We still need to hear about mods.

Sean @ Jul 2nd 2008 1:25PM

If we haven't heard about them by now, I doubt they're coming. Mods would be a huge selling point and the fact they are not mentioned at all is a bad sign.

Unless...

Microsoft make somes changes to the Live service that will be annouced at E3 to make stuff like mods a possibility. Epic persuaded Microsoft to put in more graphics memory into the 360. Why not mods?

Procris @ Jul 2nd 2008 2:16PM

There aren't any mods Dave, Epic say they may bring the most popular over as DLC but the 360 version certainly won't support user content, it always have to be brought over by Epic. Another reason not to buy this version of the game sadly.

I don't see the fuss with P2P. Games with good network coding theres not a huge amount of difference. CoD4 and Halo 3 are fine examples (although CoD4 really should select a new host if someone leaves). Gears of War had sloppy netcode and as a result the shotgun host advantage was noticable, not to mention the game does not select the best connection, people host the games themselves.

Dedicated servers aren't really a good bullet point to buy games on. I couldn't care less that Resistance: FoM for example has dedicated servers. P2P is the way forward because after a few years they will never have servers to take down because players themselves are hosting the "servers".

RyanBlack @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:08PM

This isn't costing Epic anything. They are just taking the unused PS3/PC servers and putting them to use on the 360.

Mike @ Jul 2nd 2008 2:58PM

Unused PS3 servers LOL..

They get plenty of use, idiot...

Gamertag: GOPAL892005 @ Jul 2nd 2008 3:58PM

sure they do - whatever helps you sleep at nite ;)

dub @ Aug 14th 2008 7:43PM

i think p2p is garbage for one reason.. people exploit it, forcing host,ip flooding all that crap. somone mentioned halo 3 is a great example of p2p working good.. it is an example of why we need dedicated servers. i have stopped playing h3 because of all the network cheating.

x Shadow @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:11PM

They Have to do that for Gears 2....!!

Plz >.

MC Double Def DP @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:14PM

Even though I have both 360 and ps3, when it comes to gaming, 360 is my favorite console.

I would really like to see the 360 version of this game become way more successful than the PS3 & PC version. I guess I just wanna see this game succeed at some point.

Neil @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:33PM

Dude its really unlikely it's going to do much better on the 360 than it did on the PS3 or the PC. It struggled on those platforms because the game play is dated and people have moved on, not because the PS3 is sucky, or the PC is dead as a gaming platform or anything like that.

uh-oh polio @ Jul 2nd 2008 2:30PM

Yea, everybodys already been past this game. As i read in some article a while ago they were wondering why noone was playing it anymore. And thats easy because its not that good of a game and got boring fast. A plus side on the ps3 was also the mouse and keyboard support so that helped it along to. I doubt the 360 will bring higher sales then those two platforms, it just isnt gonna happen.

Cutty @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:21PM

This is cheaper then the PS3 version, it has exclusive features, all currently available downloadable content is being put on the disc as are most mods, user created content is being made as DLC and we get extra maps and characters all running with an upgraded version of the engine.

I havent bought the game on PS3 because i don't have that, and i don't really do a whole lot of computer gaming, so i havent bought it on there either....and there are a lot of xbox live members in the same boat.

I don't see why it can't be successfull, it's going to be pretty much the only game this summer, besides Bad Company....

I think it will work out.

ZEBRA NINER @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:25PM

They are probably offering dedicated servers because there will be 30 people playing this game!

ZING!

Just kidding, I hope this becomes the norm for them. I would love a GOW2 with dedicated servers.

Crackrjakk @ Jul 2nd 2008 12:30PM

They've already nailed this down, kiddos. . .

Gears 2 will NOT have dedicated servers. They stated it again and again.

ZenGaijin @ Jul 2nd 2008 2:00PM

I cannot wait just one more week till I can blast people into the past.

JohnHeist @ Jul 2nd 2008 2:38PM

I dunno WHY they wouldn't give Gears 2 Dedicated Servers.

Sure, some people will play UT3, probably a lot during the summer lull.
But when Gears 2 come out, it will no DOUBT take #1 on Live (at least until COD5 comes out, then who knows)

Why "fix" what can be fixed by giving UT3 P2P, and Gears 2 Dedication?

Dwag @ Jul 2nd 2008 3:19PM

Its cause they want people on Gears 2 everyday they have a chance and people are always hosting matches so thats no problem and plus servers take money and servers also fail so why put servers that could fail or go down when you could have a person host and split up the duties so he's not the only one processing the info I think Epic has a good solution for Gears 2.