Call of Duty: Black Ops says hi to dedicated servers


Demonstrating that I can, in fact, apply a simple filter to a photograph

One thing you may have noticed: when it’s a slow news day, even the tiniest stories receive an inordinate amount of attention, particular gaming news. “Mario confirmed to be wearing red cap in Super Mario Galaxy 2!” That sort of thing. Here’s another: there will, in fact, be dedicated servers in the PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops. That’s good news for the dozen or so PC gamers who were still considering getting the game after the way Activision treated them last go-round. Us PC gamers have good memories!

Here’s a chilling statement from Treyarch’s Mark Lamia, told to Computer and Video Games:

We do work very hard to reconcile the desire to manipulate and modify those dedicated servers with offering them the persistent experience and benefits that the console system provides.

Yes, the benefits of playing a first-person shooter on a console are numerous: depending on auto-aim (who needs precision in a shooter?) and having to deal with bigoted idiots running their mouths. Lots of fun there.

In all of my hours of Team Fortress 2 on the PC, I have never run into such classless jerks. Knock on wood, I suppose.