Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Wards Farewell to PC Gamers

I have purposely avoided reading or talking about MW2 for a few reasons. One, I didn't want spoilers, and two I wanted to give Infinity Ward a chance to make good on the PC version. Well, the cat is out of the bag.

Without rehashing the hate and anger towards IW over MW2, I will simply say this: It's a way to get Activision to skip MW3 on the PC. IW obviously didn't want to do it as can be attested to by their absolute hate for the PC Gaming community. The PC version was purposely gimped to hurt sales and thus become a clearer non-viable option for Activision (or whatever publisher) in the future. The massive sales that this title will bring funds the throwaway PC version and paves the way for them to stop PC development completely.

Capping player counts, killing dedicated servers, and disallowing any kind of real customization is a strike at the very heart of PC gaming and a sure fire way to cause the controversy IW needs to quell their PC development all together. The reason COD:MW became the juggernaut it is was thanks to the clans, ladders and general hardcore player base that gamed the hell out it and COD1/2 on the PC. Consoles don't allow that kind of customization and standard gameplay types simply ware out interest before long, driving higher the desire to pay for those map packs of course.

Hacks are an unfortunate staple of PC gaming and this is why dedicated servers and player kicking is required. Banning keys/users/IPs is the only way to stop it and that requires the players input, not some 3rd party guesswork. IWNet is meant to address this but as the above link shows, it's obviously just a content pipe for those map packs that IW may or may not be providing for PC users.

Piracy is of course the root of all evil and had I cared to, I could have played MW2 on my 360 a week before release. I wanted it on PC, wanted to pay for it on PC and when a hack to raise player caps, have dedicated servers and make simple changes like FOV arrives, I may purchase it yet. In the meantime, I will stay the course in Dragon Age and Resident Evil 5 where developers don't hate me for owning a PC.