The good, the bad, and the ugly. Infinity Ward announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will not be delayed for the PC. Infinity Ward announced they will be using a new matchmaking service called IWNet giving the developer “a lot more control and structure”, and ending the ability to play on dedicated servers. Fans doth protest, with 25,000 signatures on the first day of the online petition, over 100,000 signatures today, its second day.

According to Infinity Ward’s Robert “FourZeroTwo” Bowling, “IWNET is an improvement” over the dedicated server options PC gamers have become accustomed to. Bowling posted details today on his website to try to quell the uprising.

He cites making playing COD: MW2 user-friendly: “IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own”.

On questions and outrage on the matchmaking service and gameplay he writes:

“When you want to play a multiplayer game on PC, in the past, you’d have to scroll through a Server Browser which listed every available server which was hosted by individual server admins. Each had their own private rules, mods, or ways of playing the game. Most players would also use the server browser to find just the best quality game (based on PING). With IWNET matchmaking, it takes all that into account for you. All you have to do is select the playlist (pre-set gametypes with custom rules) that fits the style of play you are in the mood for. When you do, it will automatically find you a game with the best performance, ping, and preferences based on your location and individual connection as well as matching you with players of your same SKILL. So you’re always guaranteed the best game performance for where you are and what connection you’re playing on as well as an equal game with other players of your same skill level, not rank, but skill level. It doesn’t mean you’ll just be thrown into a random game! It will put you in the game that will give you the smoothest gameplay possible without you having to manually find a server with the best ping.”

Players will still be able to create Private Matches where they will gain control over rules, who can join, the ability to boot players and ultimately “tweak it to your liking”. “This now allows you to play custom games out of the box without the need to install mods, find a modded server with the rules you like, or worry about not being in control of the match.

On friends and party systems, Bowling writes:

“Modern Warfare 2 on PC also makes it much easier if you want to party up with your friends, or again, with your clan for a match. You can utilize the friendslist to see when your friends are online, and invite them to your Party. A Party allows you to move from game to game as a group. It’s great for clan matches, because you can party of with your clan and move from public game to public game together. Or if you’re doing a scrim, party up and invite the other clan (who is in a party) and they’ll all join at once. Set up a private match together and play. It makes setting up scrims or games with friends easier and hassle free.”

According to Bowling, the biggest benefit from IWNet will be the use of VAC (Valve-Anti-Cheat) system. Players will no longer have to worry about joining a game full of cheaters or rely on server admins to police it.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be available November 10th for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The Prestige Edition of the game (available for PS3 and Xbox 360) features working night vision goggles.

To see the full post from Robert “FourZeroTwo” Bowling: http://www.fourzerotwo.com/?p=745
To view the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?dedis4mw