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Battlefield 4 connectivity issues continue across 'various platforms'
DICE posted an alert on its support forums for Battlefield 4 to warn players of ongoing connectivity issues across multiple platforms. This is the latest update in a string of problems the game has faced since its launch in late October, which has seen multiple patches go live in the past few weeks. The game's support forums note that the developer is "continuing to monitor some intermittent connectivity issues affecting some players across various platforms." Though no other information is provided in the alert, DICE's Battlefield 4 issues tracker mentioned that it is investigating a bug that is "accounting for a large amount of crashes" on Xbox 360. Among the other problems encountered by Battlefield players are reports that the game's China Rising DLC failed to carry over from PS3 to PS4, for players that made the switch to the next-gen system. As a result of its constant problems, multiple law firms have launched investigations into EA to determine whether the publisher intentionally mislead investors on the game's state leading up to its release.
Russian servers to join EU battlegrounds and arenas
Blizzard EU Community Manager Takralus posted today about a change to the Battleground grouping in the EU in patch 5.4.2. Takralus The winds of change are blowing across World of Warcraft's European Arenas and Battlegrounds. As the next step in what we started with Patch 5.4 and its changes to region-wide matchmaking, Russian and European players will soon be able to face off against each other. Every player queuing for a Battleground or Arena will still join a team with players from realms with the same language designation – German with German, English with English, and so on. However, this change means that now a Russian-speaking team might be pitted against a team from anywhere in Europe. Russian players will still be able to join a cross-realm group with their RealID friends from European realms, and queue with them for Battleground and Arena matches. And finally, so you'll know who cut you down just as you were capping that flag – players using non-Russian clients are now able to see character names in Cyrillic. source This is great news for EU and Russian servers, it will result in reduction in queue times, and a larger pool of players to draw from. But for both sides, there's quite the language barrier.
Battlefield 4 PC update addresses server crashes, frame rate issues [Update: Issues tracker added]
DICE updated Battlefield 4 on PC this week to address a number of server and client crashing issues. The developer patched the game yesterday, addressing "one of the most frequently occurring client crashes" in addition to other bugs related to frame rate and collisions. The update rectifies one particular bug where players were able to be shot while behind cover and changing their characters' stance, as the transitions between poses would occasionally lead to a "multiple frame desync." Among the other fixes introduced in this week's patch is the issue of grenades bouncing back from containers with open doors. Additionally, DICE fixed a bug that awarded teams a win in a round of Defuse mode by killing every attacker without disarming the bomb, providing it was disarmed in the previous round. The developer issued patches for Battlefield 4's PS4 and PS3 versions last week following EA's statement of commitment to fixing the game's numerous issues. DICE already patched up a one-hit-kill glitch in the game on both PS4 and PC. Update: Additionally, DICE rolled out a Battlefield 4 issues tracker thread in its official forums. The forum post includes a rather large list of problems in the game, the platforms each issue affects and their statuses. The status sections include three levels: "investigating," "fixing" and "fix live." The developer noted that the issue tracker is not a comprehensive list of problems in the game, and that while it has always maintained such a tracker behind the scenes in its projects, this is the first time it opted to make it public.
Cross-platform play comes to DC Universe Online... on consoles
It's always been just a little frustrating for players of DC Universe Online that you can't always play with your friends. If you play on your computer and your best friend is on her PlayStation 3, well, the two of you just aren't going to be able to team up. But starting with the launch of the game on PlayStation 4, players will be able to experience cross-platform play, assuming the two platforms are the PS3 and the PS4. Creative director Jens Andersen confirmed that all console players will be able to work together on the same servers, thus ensuring that old-school players and new console players will coexist. Andersen also confirmed that while the launch version will not make use of the system's new controller, it's possible that more controller support will be introduced further down the line. This is good news if your friends are on the same platform, although PC users will still have to simply look on with longing.
RIFT merges away English EU servers, then adds another one
. Remember when RIFT merged servers recently? You might not have noticed, but it also eliminated the last server in the EU region flagged as for roleplaying. The players protested and tried to save that bastion of roleplaying, but the decision was made and the axe fell. So it was that the game's new server list was created, and everyone could rest easily knowing that this group of servers was a stable configuration. And then another English server was added to the mix. According to Trion Worlds the addition of the new server will help to reduce lag and stabilize the cluster in response to increased demand on the servers. Many fans are quite upset that the game removed the last roleplaying server and then simply opened a new one, although it's unclear whether or not the population on that server would have matched the population expected on the new non-roleplaying server. [Thanks to noit'snot for the tip!]
Trion answers questions about RIFT's server merges
Next week's RIFT server merge is far from the first time that the game has compressed its servers, but it's still producing no shortage of anxiety and apprehension. The game's community managers took to the forums to answer some of the more pressing questions, starting with the (unwelcome) news that the merged EU servers will wind up without a server flagged for roleplaying. Name changes will be necessary; surnames are possible for the future, but they will not be in place for the merges. Players with more than the maximum number of characters after the merge will only have access to the first 12; players will need to delete existing characters to see the characters in overflow, but they will not be lost. Guild banks do not need to be emptied. Players are also reminded that characters can be transferred before the merger. The one bright point is the fact that the EU servers will have an auction house supporting French, English, and German clients at the same time, allowing all players in the region to interact successfully on the merged worlds.
WoW Archivist: A rolled-back history of realms
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? If your low-population realm hasn't been linked up to another one yet, it soon will. This is a drastic step for WoW, but one that should solve the long-bemoaned low-population problem on many realms. When WoW first launched, Blizzard had the exact opposite problem on their hands: realms had far, far too many players. Let's look back to 2004 to the earliest months of the game and remember just what players had to endure -- and what Blizzard had to do to fix it. Uncharted realms The servers that run the game's realms have always been shrouded in mystery. Technical details have never been shared. In a 2005 interview, producer Shane Dabiri deflected questions about the realms hardware: "Well, I really can't get into how we structure or build our infrastructure," he said. "Much of the information is proprietary and complex."
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's launch week
It's been a week now since the start of early access in Final Fantasy XIV, and it's been a weird launch. Partly because it's not really a proper launch, it's a relaunch of a game that hadn't been playable for several months and is now back in a form that has changed so much that it's almost unrecognizable. And partly because the servers have sort of been a force of unfettered malevolence; that's definitely an issue as well. Playing the game this week has ultimately been a verbal tug-of-war between two separate but equally important groups. There are the players who can't get in and hold very strong opinions about not being able to get in, and there are the players who can get in and are just playing the game. So it's impossible to talk about the launch week without talking about the launch issues and the servers... which also requires a bit of perspective on MMOs as a whole.
Final Fantasy XIV dev talks new servers and access restrictions
It's no secret that the long-awaited re-launch of Final Fantasy XIV hasn't gone very smoothly. In fact, the servers are taking such a beating that Square Enix has temporarily shut down online sales of the game. Despite the game's current woes, the FFIXV team wants fans to know that it is working overtime to get things running smoothly. In a lengthy forum post, producer and director Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P) outlined what steps have been taken to stabilize FFXIV's game world. Yoshida noted that all Final Fantasy XIV servers now have login restrictions to prevent a flood of logs and re-logs from causing them to crash. Login restrictions are most likely to be implemented during peak times, which Yoshida says are between 9:00 p.m. and midnight. Each server can support a theoretical maximum of 5,000 concurrent players.
Massively's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launch impressions
I failed to save Final Fantasy XIV. Back in November, the launch version of the game had its final event. I was there, fighting against the forces that would ultimately bring Dalamud crashing down upon Eorzea, but all those efforts were for nothing. And I knew it. All veteran players knew that this was a losing fight, that Eorzea could not be saved. The moon fell, destruction rained down upon the land... and the launch version of the game was no more. Now, nine months later, the MMO is relaunching to an unenviable task. Final Fantasy XIV doesn't just have to be a good game; it has be such a good game that its original launch is no longer under discussion. It has to turn itself from a punchline into a praiseworthy title. The end result, much like the launch version, is a game that's not going to be for everyone, but it's going to be just right for a lot of people who might never have expected it.
Final Fantasy XIV's Yoshida issues an apology to players
Final Fantasy XIV's Early Access period hasn't been a smooth ride if you're playing in North America or Europe. The server cluster dedicated to these players has had to undergo several periods of maintenance and unexpected downtime, with several players entirely unable to log in on Sunday. Producer/director Naoki Yoshida took to the official forums to issue a personal apology to players affected by these issues, explaining the problems faced by the team and the steps being taken to correct them. Yoshida states that several of the load-related issues are still persisting, so the team is currently placing restrictions on logins to try to relieve some congestion and better identify server failure points. He goes on to apologize to players for any wait experienced and asks for patience as the team strives to deliver the best possible experience for all players. There's no word on how long these restrictions will be in place or what form they will take, but with the official launch tomorrow, we can only hope that the issues are largely sorted out soon.
CoreOS looks to fork Google's Chrome OS to help tame the web
Luckily, most of us don't have to think about the tangled infrastructure that keeps the internet ticking along. But, as profiled by Wired, that's the obsession of the crew at CoreOS, who are building an operating system it ambitiously hopes will help make the web tidier and more nimble. It's underpinned by Chrome OS, which the team aims to fork so that it can run every web service imaginable. That'd give smaller players in the web server game access to modular web infrastructure tech, like that used by Google on desktops and laptops with ChromeOS. It would also keep servers up-to-date automatically without the need to install brand new versions of an operating system -- a peril-fraught hassle administrators often postpone as long as possible. If successful, the project could result in better server security, quicker response to evolving web technologies and less downtime. CoreOS is still early in its development, but the group has already sold another of its open source projects to cloud player Rackspace, and counts Linux kernal specialist Greg Kroah-Hartman among its collaborators. For more, check Wired's in-depth take on it at the source. [Image credit: Wired]
EVE Evolved: The battle of Z9PP-H caught on camera
If you're the kind of person who loves reading about the political shenanigans that go on inside EVE Online, you should be aware that a colossal war has erupted in the wake of the Odyssey expansion. The expansion redistributed the value of nullsec moons and gave the two largest alliances in the game, the Reddit-based TEST Alliance and Something Awful-spawned GoonSwarm Federation, a good excuse to go to full-scale war. Allies have piled in on either side, and nullsec has erupted into full-scale region takedowns, spy-jacking, and more of the lovely political tomfoolery we love to hear about. EVE News 24 has been doing a good job of keeping players up to date on what's happening in nullsec, and its reporters are not the only ones keeping tabs on the war. Streamer Mad Ani has been setting up cameras in strategically important locations throughout the contested regions and providing live coverage of huge battles whenever they happen. A few days ago, the war came to a head in what could have been the deciding battle of the entire Fountain invasion. Over 4,000 people watched the stream as TEST's entire capital fleet of over 100 carriers was taking a pounding in Z9PP-H, when suddenly the server crashed and disconnected everyone in the fight. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at what happened in the battle of Z9PP-H, how CCP crashed its biggest piece of PR in months, and how player livestreams are changing the face of EVE Online for the better.
Respawn Entertainment talks Xbox Live Cloud, praises its multiplayer servers
Microsoft's been quick to point out how it's beefing up the Xbox Live Cloud in preparation for its next wunderconsole, and now Respawn Entertainment is stepping in to detail just what Redmond's architecture means for multiplayer on Titanfall. The firm's Jon Shiring, who works with the game's cloud computing integration, says that the next-gen title boasts vastly improved online play since it leans on Ballmer and Company's cloud hardware instead of users to host sessions. By taking advantage of Microsoft's servers, the futuristic shooter benefits from more reliable bandwidth, snappier matchmaking times, extra CPU power and the elimination of latency-based host advantage and hacked-host cheating, to boot. Naturally, using dedicated servers can cost a ton, but Respawn says Microsoft managed to keep things comparatively inexpensive for developers, in part thanks to its Azure tech. For the dev's comprehensive write-up on just what this revamped Xbox Live architecture may mean for gaming, click the source link below.
Community Blog Topic: Should servers be merged?
The last Community Blog Topic discussed what features we wish WoW had. Many people had wishes that would be solutions for the current low population server problem. Mine was to have one free character transfer per month. Others suggested that realms be merged and there was also much talk about making WoW one giant server. Many pointed out that my idea of free transfers would help people leave low pop realms, but everyone might move to the same popular realms that already have queues. Leaving it up to each individual player might be too haphazard a way to handle it. But there is a certain appeal to letting people chose where they want to move their characters. Perhaps the highest population servers would not be available for free transfers. What about merging servers? One of the main problems is perception. If Blizzard decides to save low pop servers by merging them, they will be admitting two things: that Cross Realm Zones aren't working for what they're trying to do and that subscriptions are so low they have to adjust the realms accordingly. Merging servers would definitely hype up "the sky is falling" mentality.
CCP gives EVE Online players 50K skill points after DDoS attack
The EVE Online and Dust 514 servers are back online after CCP Games took them down this weekend, following a DDoS attack. CCP says this was the "longest downtime in quite a while," and it's giving EVE players 50,000 unallocated skill points to make up for it. All accounts except for trials received the skill points during today's update of EVE Online: Odyssey, the game's nineteenth free expansion. CCP stressed that the DDoS attacks didn't breach any customer data and the loophole that allowed the attacks has been secured. There's no word yet on Dust 514 players receiving comparable compensation.
EVE Online and Dust 514 servers under DDoS attack, offline [Update]
Update [06/03, 6:30am]: It appears EVE Online and its API have started to go back online. Dust 514 appears to still be offline. Original Story: CCP Games pulled the servers for EVE Online and Dust 514 offline following a DDoS attack this weekend, the EVE Online Facebook page reads. CCP is investigating the attack. "With the highest sense of precaution we have taken Tranquility and associated websites back down for further investigation and an exhaustive scan of our entire infrastructure," CCP writes. "We will update you more frequently via our Twitter feed, however, an extended service interruption of several hours is expected as this process should not be rushed." EVE Online is an MMORPG for PC, and Dust 514 is a PS3 FPS set in the EVE universe and using the same server cluster. Dust 514 launched a few weeks ago, on May 14, and it is free-to-play – though perhaps that freedom is limited right now.
Microsoft details how Xbox One cloud servers will tackle processor-intensive gaming chores
One of the Xbox launch's big reveals was that Microsoft added 300,000 servers to Xbox Live, and now GM Matt Booty has detailed to Ars Technica how that'll improve game play. He said the improved cloud architecture will speed up GPU- or CPU-heavy chores that aren't dependent on latency -- like lighting or cloth dynamics -- by pre-calculating them before applying them to a scene. To make that happen, the Xbox One server cloud will provide three virtual devices for "every Xbox one available in your living room." It'll be up to game developers to manage transitions between console-only and cloud assisted graphics, though, since the first few seconds of lighting in a new scene will need to be handled by the console before servers can take over. Of course, that means many titles may look better when you're online, but he added that you'll still be able to play if the internet is cut and "the game is going to have to intelligently handle that."
TUG offers your own private island with your rules
In Nerd Kingdom's The Untitled Game (TUG), the focus is on complete freedom. One of those freedoms is the ability for anyone to make his or her own server in the form of a floating island with any rules. Official servers are broken into two categories: Survival, where your items are not safe, and Adventure, which follows more of a traditional RPG/MMO ruleset. But in the private servers, your floating islands will be yours to do with as you please. TUG is currently still in its Kickstarter campaign with 9 days and around $75,000 to go before the project is funded. Head on over to its Kickstarter update page to learn more about private islands and the other features found in this sandbox game.
Why do we still have servers?
I was wondering about it all day yesterday, considering the existence of cross-realm play, CRZ, that PvP, dungeon finder and LFR all pull across multiple servers why do we still have those servers at all? Are they a relic of the original game's design? Are they still physically necessary or could we simply have all these different servers exist as one large super-server that everyone in a region plays on? It certainly feels to me that, for better and for worse server communities are a thing of the past - I know a lot of people who play WoW, my friend's list is relatively hopping and my twitter feed even more so, but I haven't run a dungeon with random people on my realm since mid-Wrath and even then I didn't do it very often. Before the rise of dungeon finder groups, I either ran with a guild group or I didn't run, having soured on the experience after tanking BC heroics. The way I currently play, I raid with my guild, run LFR occasionally (not very often) or queue for some dungeons either solo or with some Real ID/Battletag friends, do some retro raiding in the same fashion, and in general to me my server is almost completely meaningless. I play with and chat with people from all over the place, from Sisters of Elune to Norgannon to Malfurion to Kilrogg. If I could add EU players and chat with them, I'd have an even bigger friend's list. The people I know in game are people I've played with, people I've chatted with online for a while, but in very few cases are they people I've actually met here on my current server outside of guilds I've joined. Of course, as I've argued before, personal experience isn't universal and anecdotal data isn't conclusive. I'm just one player. So the question becomes, what about you reading this now? How important is your server to you? It's very possible there are thriving server communities out there that would be damaged by a change that reduces server identity further and if so I think it would be useful to find out. If a single mega-server per region would be detrimental to people's playstyles, let us hear you. Positive or negative, your feedback is desired.
