"I have to rent them? Nooooo!"
After proclaiming its committment to dedicated servers with Bad Company 2 on PC (much to the delight of fans), developer DICE has taken a bit of a step back. We learn now while the servers will still be dedicated for more or less optimal online play, hosts will have to rent servers through one of their authorized hosts, meaning it won't be possible (or difficult, at least) to make your own. Hosts have already been picked for "all major regions of the world."
Before anyone gets up in arms, producer Gordon Van Dyke notes this is to "protect the game's integrity on PC." We're taking this as a roundabout way of saying it's their means by which to hurt piracy numbers, which is a good method, sure. It's unfortunate server features have to be compromised because of pirates, but be sure to put the blame where it belongs. And on the bright side, this likely means no limited installs or anything of that nature.
Van Dyke adds the company earns no profit from renting the servers out, so there's no conspiracy theory to discuss.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will also not support console commands, a feature many PC gamers appreciate, but there is nevertheless a lengthy list of PC-exclusive features to look forward to.
The PC beta starts January 28, running just under a month. The full game will launch March 5 on everything.
Source:Eurogamer
Section:PC Games
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