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Author Topic: GameCenter - A different approach that may be brilliant
[GSF]Holliday  1025 posts
5264_shifty
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GameCenter - A different approach that may be brilliant 7/17/05 9:50am
Ok hey there. Remember that awesome custom server we ordered? We had some good times, woo woo. Now its dead sad I don't think anybody has been on it in a month and it was even running BF2. I guess the issue with our community is we go from game to game to game so quickly its hard to have the server keep up. Not only that but just one person can't constantly change the game and keep up.

I am going to cancel the server so it will run till the end of this month or so. I just see no point in letting it drain cash. Thankfully I held off on paypal donations, I thought this might happen :P

However! There is hope! Hope from a very unlikely place. I was cruising around Gamespot (yes I know, devilish) the other day and something caught my eye. Gamespot has launched a beta to their new gaming app called "GameCenter". At the moment it is only available to Gamespot complete members however complete is only $30 a year and you get 10% off EB Games as well (6 games purchased a year pays for itself). I will try not to sound too salesman-ish but I am really excited for what Gamecenter does and could do.

Basically it is GameSpy Arcade but less bloated, a lot more pleasing on the eyes and farrr more functional (in the ways that count). At face value its a server browser for multiple games, a stat counter and community hub. But the real gem of it is the dedicated server launching. With Gamecenter you can launch a dedicated server (run from gamespot east or west locations) in about 1 minute. It can be any supported game and is very high quality. Low pings, incredible performance and the same amount of customization expected from owning your own server.

It is completely dedicated and you set the rcon password. You can join and leave and it will stay running as long as people are playing. If the player count drops to zero for a certain amount of time the server gets removed.

It can run BF2 ranked servers on the fly.

And the best yet. Before launch you can invite your friends into the server. This will guarantee them a spot since they will be the first to join on launch. The whole process is amazingly fast and easy.

So far I have put up a UT2004 server, several BF2 ranked servers and a CS:S server. The servers fill up amazingly fast because the ping is top notch. You can even make the server "invite only" which is basically making it a private server.

Now I don't want to get too ahead of myself but this may be the solution for us. A dedicated server is what we need but we need it to be flexible and we need to be able to change games quickly. We also need to be able to have anyone launch the server.

It also has a friends list just like Xfire but it also contains its own VOIP channel. It seems like everything we use (xfire, teamspeak, server, IRC) all rolled into one package that is a lot more versatile.

I am on the 2 week beta trial that is, apparently, the only way it is available at the moment. I can't find any information on the plans for Gamecenter when it goes public. I am not sure if it will be a Gamespot Complete feature. Or if it will be available as a seperate entity. What I am really hoping for is that that GameCenter will be free to the public as a server browser/friend list/community hub. And the dedicated server launching will be a feature of the "premium" version for a reasonable price. That way if just a few of us are premium we could have all bases covered (hell maybe we can even just share one account that we all know the password to to launch things, if they don't check for things like that).

Actually what I would really want is this to be free, but that is unlikely. But if it is with gamespot complete ($30 a year) its really fuckin' worth it. What do you niggas think? And if any of you have it already or have complete what is your user name so I can add you to my friends list.

 
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NH04  770 posts
5069_ut
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RE: GameCenter - A different approach that may be brilliant 7/17/05 5:47pm
I believe only the beta requires you to be a complete member.

The final version of GameCenter will be completely separate.

 
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[GSF]Holliday  1025 posts
5264_shifty
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RE: GameCenter - A different approach that may be brilliant 7/18/05 8:15am
Oh, can someone move this to clan gaming? I fucked up.

 
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Haaaardflip  8197 posts
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Posts: 8,197
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RE: GameCenter - A different approach that may be brilliant 7/21/05 6:06pm
The problem with the server we rented was we only usually max at about 5v5 in CS:S, and that is rare. Even when BF2 came out, not everyone bought it. That, and it's Summer now, so people aren't as active as before, such as Dr Sarcasm, MHMike and Ocelot.

GameCenter would be good, yes. But I'm not sure if we'd just be better off going pubbing for games like BF2, CS:S. It's cheaper, and although not the best, readily available.

 

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