Call of Duty 2 Patch Details

[Evil Avatar]

Activision and Infinity Ward send along a short Press Release announcing that new multiplayer maps and the Punkbuster anti-cheating software will be included in an upcoming Call of Duty 2 patch file.

Activision, Inc. and Infinity Ward today announced plans to release new multiplayer maps as part of a Call of Duty 2 Windows PC update that will also include PunkBuster anti-cheat software and additional support enhancements. The download is currently scheduled for release in early 2006 and will be available at www.callofduty.com (http://www.callofduty.com).

“Our team at Infinity Ward is committed to supporting Call of Duty fans,” said Grant Collier, president, Infinity Ward. “We’ve worked hard to deliver the most epic and immersive experience ever with Call of Duty 2 and look forward to delivering new content such as multiplayer maps, tools and anti-cheat software that will further enhance the gameplay experience.”

[Frogleg Special]

Yayy!

Expansion please.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

The patch comes out after 25% of the CoD2 servers go on strike, I think they won.

[ÜberJumper]

Another game that is NOT Battlefield 2.

[Borys]

Another game that is NOT Battlefield 2.

And didn't ever TRY to be.

CoD series is all about SP, what was your point again?

[Twigmaster]

Has anyone even been able to hack CoD2 yet?

[Evil Avatar]

The patch comes out after 25% of the CoD2 servers go on strike, I think they won.

If I read your post correctly, I would disagree. The patch isn't even coming out until sometime in 2006. I doubt that the big "server strike" (that never really happened) had any impact in the patch development at all.

The decision to patch a game comes on the heels of game sales, not fan outcry. If a game isn't selling then the publisher isn't going to fun the development and testing of a patch no matter how much the fan base cries about it.

You don't see Activision patching Vampire: Bloodlines, do you? They even let that developer just die off when the game didn't sell.

It sucks ass, because a lot of times there are glaring errors in a game that should have been found and corrected before the game release (Anyone remember how Starfleet Command III's dedicated server won't even stay online for more than a couple of hours without locking up?) and often those games don't get patched anyway because the games don't sell.

[Evil Avatar]

Has anyone even been able to hack CoD2 yet?

I don't know, I haven't seen anyone cheating on Xbox Live. ;)

[dead]

CoD2 was waay too short for my liking. it was probably even shorter than the original. I think i finished it in less than 5 hours.
I was also hoping for more of a story in CoD2 as well, but was largely disapointed.

[bone_matrix]

CoD2 was waay too short for my liking. it was probably even shorter than the original. I think i finished it in less than 5 hours.
I was also hoping for more of a story in CoD2 as well, but was largely disapointed.


Yeah, its beatable in 5 hours...on easy. Try the hardest difficulty level. It is not beatable in 5 hours that way. It feels like real war. You take more than 1 shot, and you start at the checkpoint.

[Gaz]

You don't see Activision patching Vampire: Bloodlines, do you? They even let that developer just die off when the game didn't sell.

That's not why Troika Games shutdown at all... They just couldn't make any money anymore. V:tMR-B doing poorly wasn't why Troika closed it's doors, but seeing as Troika are the party responsible for patching the game, and seeing as they no longer exist, it's quite hard for any official patches beyond 1.2 to be released. Again, Troika games could no longer be profitable, due to a lack of interest in their wares by publishers, and seeing as they had new IP in the works they were hardly forced to go to Activision. Still, as for IW taking their time to patch Call of Duty 2, did anyone think that how they were recoding the existing engine to function on a multi-core PPC architecture for the Xbox 360 may be taking up more of their time? Seeing as how Call of Duty 2 for the 360 has sold 250,000 units at the very least, don't you think they're more interested in getting the extra cash in from a new userbase than pleasing the existing userbase? I sure do. Not that I care for Punkbuster anyway, to be honest anti-cheat software is miles behind the actual cheaters.

Oh, and dead? A story? In a WWII game? You may like to read this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II). Apparantly, this bloke called "Adolf Hitler" did somthing that other people thought was bad. As bone_matrix said, try playing Call of Duty 2 through on Veteran difficulty, it's going to take longer than five hours.

[ÜberJumper]

Borys:

I got most of the bang for my buck from the CoD and CoD:UO games from playing online.

CoD2's online play just feels so "meh" after playing so much BF2 lately.

The CoD series certainly has excellent Single Player, and from that standpoint, the game is hands down awesome.

However, to pretend that this game doesn't depend on Multiplayer for a lot of it's sales is silly. To back my point up, I wave my hand in the general direction of the actual news post, which seems to me to be allllll about Multiplayer.

[Montolio]

I don't know, I haven't seen anyone cheating on Xbox Live. ;)

Evil, have you had any problems with save game corruption or laggy multiplayer so far on 360? I'm one of the rare people who didn't pick this title up with the new console last month. I could use some reliable feedback before I pick this thing up with DOA4 later this month. I'd ask my friends here but they haven't been able to even sniff a 360 yet even though they paid in full months ago. Thanks.

[Gaz]

It's only laggy because the host is the initial user who joins the game lobby. Because the matchmaking is forced, you can't create your own lobby, and few users realise that the game is hosted on the first users 360, lag is commonplace in quite a few games. You either wait it out until others leave, or rejoin and hope to get a game hosted by someone with an upload speed higher than 5KBps.

To be honest, I think the multiplayer of Call of Duty 2 was an afterthought on the 360, it could have been done so much better. The gameplay itself is brilliant, I've not had that much fun on an FPS for a long time... But the lobby system (Practically non-existant), laggy hosts and a complete lack of game options has marred the experiance for everyone. Still... The only change from CoD is a few more guns, including those damn trench guns. I'm still waiting for a decent 360 multiplayer FPS then.

[Montolio]

Thanks Gaz.

I've come to realize how much Bungie has spoiled me and I imagine many, many others with Halo 2's multiplayer design and functionality. It's kinda too bad that Microsoft couldn't make that type of thing standard (at least in a bare bones state) across all games on 360 like they did with the Live intergration. Publishers like Ubisoft and EA seem to be lost when it comes to this stuff, not in everything but a lot.

[Franjo]

I originally bought COD2 for multiplayer, yeah I was happy with it. That is until I got my hands on BF2, and special forces. I need no other multiplayer game ever. This is sitting on the shelf along with the rest of the games I own.

[Morratut]

Montolio. I'd buy CoD2 because the SP is amazing. I'm on the last few levels of the american campaign and i'm loving every minute of it. I'm playing through on hardened currently.

I've been dissapointed with the mp because of all the lag and lack of options. I hope this gets patched.

It really makes you appreciate what Bungie did a year ago with Halo2. I was right in my thoughts that Halo2 will still be THE 360 online shooter after launch :D I'm glad they upgraded the graphics. It's still a fantastic online fps.

[Montolio]

Appreciate it Morratut. It seems like PDZ multiplayer is slowly starting to catch-on with the few 360 gamers out there. I just finished my first run through the game and I'll be jumping into that very soon. I have to say I had WAY more fun playing the CoD2 kiosk demo for 10mins than I did will all of PDZ's single-player story.