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(E3) Sony Unveils a 256 player Massive Action Game

July 16, 2008 in News comments 12

From the guys who brought you SOCOM, we have a MAG that will cater to 256 players. That's right, 256 players simultaneously. 2^8 players. One can only hope that there won't be as much lag as we see in a basic 8 player match in Halo 3. That's 256 / 8 man teams (32 teams) in an all out free for all environment.

At their E3 press conference today, Andy Beaudoin from Zipper Interactive (known for the SOCOM series) revealed a new project called MAG, short for Massive Action Game. The game will break up to 256 human players into eight-man squads fighting each other simultaneously in a total free-for-all. Characters will be able to advance their statistics as they play. More as we get it.
Deathsythe via joystiq.com »
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  • 0
    Slumpy monkey Jul 16, 08
    Whats with the potshot at halo? I play 16 player matches fine on it.

    I guess you have a crappy connection or something/
  • 0
    auctoria Jul 16, 08
    this is going to be the biggest lagfest tbh.
    • 1
      tekmosis Jul 16, 08
      Lets be a bit realistic here. If it was going to be such a lagfest it would hurt the company / sales / profits.

      There was an article on this technology a couple of months back. Your client doesn't load all 256 players at once. You only load a certain threshold (say 25) within a certain visual range. When others come into your range your client will then render them. The AI "emulates" the other players in the background so while you're only rendering X other players you still get the sense that you're in a game with 256 others.
  • 0
    redneonfish Jul 16, 08
    Depends on connection, and what they do on their end. I hope it works personally. Although 256 players would bump up the liklihood of meeting people who are annoying, cheating, racist, homophobic etc.
  • 0
    RKRigney Jul 16, 08
    I'm willing to bet that voice chat will only be established with the other members of your squad, and if you're a squad leader you'll have voice chat connection with all the other squad leaders. Squad leaders could communicate effectively and the entire 256 man army could work as one using minimal voice chat interference.

    Just a theory. And I hope it works. I really do.
  • 0
    lord of vice city Jul 16, 08
    this is what GTA4 should have done

    256 players in liberty city, would've worked well
    • 1
      Dance Floor Killah Jul 17, 08
      As much as it sounds like it'd be fun, I'd rather not be chased or gunned down repeatedly on my faggio by a crazed 13 year-old boy every three minutes.
  • 0
    Jaw Knee Jul 17, 08
    All I have to say is: "headache".
  • 0
    Storm Jul 17, 08
    Pretty curious about this one, let's just hope they dont' blow it. Quite a few disappointing 'hyped' games on the PS3 such as Haze and Lair.
  • 0
    Solid Snake 4Life Jul 17, 08
    God just the 266 player thing alone makes me think it'll lag worse then SSBB.
  • 0
    Deathsythe Jul 17, 08
    I believe they were working on something similar to this when Hellgate: London came out.

    I remember speaking with one of the professors at my school who was in the industry - and he told me of some new way to incorporate gratuitous amounts of players with ease. (Probably something similar to what tek said above ^^

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