Halo 3's multiplayer: let's party!
by Ross Miller 
{ Nov 22nd 2006 at 9:59PM }
As part of their month-long Halo 3 marathon, 1UP sat down with a few Bungie developers to talk up the upgrades being made to the upcoming shooter's online matchmaking system. The central focus of their system will be parties and how to get your friends to play with you in both ranked and unranked matches. This method differs from the current XBL king Gears of War, which does not (officially) allow friends to play ranked matches together.Gears developer Epic has stated that the reason its title lacks a clan-friendly matchmaking system for ranked play is Microsoft's certification process. Bungie producer Allen Murray counters that notion in the interview, however, by explaining that Microsoft does allow parties of friends in ranked matches but does "not provide that feature as part of the core set of matchmaking services." In other words, it's up to the developer to program the system, and Bungie feels it has learned enough from its Halo 2 experience to optimize the system they already have in place.
The interview talks a lot about custom rules matches and their efforts to promote the play. There aren't a lot of specifics, and much of what is said is subject to change between now and then. If you want to get a feel for the general design philosophy Bungie has, this should satiate you.
[Thanks, RGuy]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LordMinogue @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:23PM
I love Gears multiplayer, but Bungie's "Dynamic Hosting" takes the cake. Several times already I have lost skill points and kills towards achievments when the loosing "Host" disconnects in the middle of the game.
Unranked play is still amazing, though. There are supprisingly few pre-pubecent teens on my server, and about 50% of my teemates have been coy and friendly. I think that the need for cooperation and tactics drives most "sours" away.
aDub @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:45PM
It's nice to hear that Bungie is tuning the matchmaking system that made Halo 2 so great. I wish Gears of War had a similar system in place (maybe Gears of War 2 will?) but I will be satisfied with the current Gears of War if they release lots of maps and additional play types and make them available for little or no charge.
Yaktastic @ Nov 22nd 2006 11:32PM
What i think is interesting (and a bit refreshing) is that this is the first post i have read in a while that was about competition between developers and had nothing to do with differing consoles.
bladev1 @ Nov 23rd 2006 1:33AM
What I think is nice is how good my ass looks in these pants.