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SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has claimed that upcoming multiplayer shooter MAG can only be built on PS3.
“MAG is a 256 online-player game which is spectacular,” he said, talking to VG247 at GDC last week.
“If you look at that competitively, it’s something that’s only possible on PS3. The processor speed, the ability of PS3 to showcase 256 players at any given time, and their actions.”
Koller went on to detail the Zipper Interactive game’s concept.
“It’s basically like an iteration of SOCOM, where you’re maybe commanding the SEALs, and someone else has the Rangers, and the Green Berets, and so on,” he said.
MAG was Sony’s “big” announcement at the end of its 2008 E3 press conference.
A movie was shown of the title, featuring soldiers, vehicles and lots and lots of guns.
It’s planned for release late this year.
Update: John Koller’s sent us the following statement as clarification to the comments made in this story:
“I wanted to clarify my comment as the broader point I was making is that our biggest franchises and our best developers from PlayStation 2 are continuing to transition to PlayStation 3, which will help spur PlayStation 2 fans to move toward next-gen gaming on PS3. Zipper Interactive is best known for its great work on the SOCOM franchise, and they’re building on their development experience to create a brand new IP in MAG. MAG is not a sequel to nor built upon SOCOM, and when the title launches this fall, PS3 owners will be able to experience intense 256-player combat, which is something that’s never been available on console before.”
Viewing 79 responses
Grimrita said:
Erm, I am sure that the PC could more then match this turd of a console in terms of ability and online numbers. Either way, its not going to make me rush out and buy a PS3.
Its great to shout about the fact you can have 256 players in this game but its all kind of pointless if the game is crap.
FeaturePreacher said:
This would be as hilarious as the “big announcement” of the ps2 price cut if this game turned out to be a real-time strategy game.
davidkenobi said:
MAG was Sony’s “big” announcement at the end of its 2008 E3 press conference.
And one year later…still nothing. Remember me when GT5 was announced .
Tonka said:
OMG, the PS3 really is shit; isn’t it?
Shatner said:
You need to update your link Tonka. Your copycat laziness is quite out of date.
G1GAHURTZ said:
FAIL
Newbie101 said:
I think this could be epic. I’m not saying it can’t be done on another console/PC but why hasn’t it been done on the PC yet then?
The last SOCOM was a turd which worries me but 256 players??!?!?!? Sounds awesome, please get it right I need something to play on my PS3.
Shatner said:
I know G1GA. But if I’d said that then Tonka might not have understood WHY it was FAIL. I’m helpful like that, see?
Nice to see you in a Sony topic again G1GA, I look forward to your balanced and constructive yet-in-no-way-blatantly-antagonistic-lol input!
G1GAHURTZ said:
Yeah, but if the game is turd, how is having more players going to save it?
I’ve played COD4 on PC with up to 64 players and it’s not much different to playing with less.
Gekidami said:
Zipper didnt make the last Socom Newbie101, they’ve been working on this instead.
Tonka said:
$hatner: Hitlerisms on the internet are so done. I stick to the old ways.
/something about contradictions and disappearing in them
Michael O'Connor said:
Tonka, GIG, as stated before, there’s a greasemonkey hack on the forums that you can use to block certain users.
Try it. This place becomes quite liberating once you do. <3
Shatner said:
The last SOCOM game got a pretty poor reception and had network issues aplenty. Hopefully Sony first-parties are sharing their libraries and experience so that all games can benefit from improved performance. It also can’t hurt that something like Insomniac’s Project Nocturne is around – especially given their proven ability with handling large numbers in online play.
Tonka, I’m bringing Hitlerism’s back. Just like Jay did with “Porchmonkey”.
LOL I can’t believe that “I’m unable to follow my own advice O’conner” is still dishing out ‘advice’ that he himself is unable to follow. Poor chap!
There’s a word for that sort of behaviour isn’t there? Yes. I’m sure there is. I wonder what it could be?
Tonka said:
I never understood the heart smily. If you rotate it in the same way as a smily face it becomes an ass.
Gekidami said:
The fanboys are indeed rampant in this comments section arnt they…
Shatner said:
Tonka, if you think about what you just said about heart smileys, I believe you’ll understand it makes perfect sense.
Newbie101 said:
Cheers Gekidami. How no-one is intrigued by 256 player online battles is beyond me…..
G1GAHURTZ said:
Thanks Michael.
I don’t bother reading half the crap he writes anyway.
Redh3lix said:
Given all the press regarding MAG, I get the impression that Sony are making this game JUST to prove a point that the PS3 can handle 256 players simultaneously, with absolutely no mention of the actual gameplay and it’s features. If it played like Battlefield 2 with 256 players, now THAT would be an achievement.
I doubt I’ll be buying this.
DrDamn said:
I think the key part of this story is the guys job title … SCEA hardware *marketing* boss.
Quite interested to see how this turns out. The PS3 SOCOM title was alright from the beta but didn’t have great controls, a few nice ideas though.
Retroid said:
I think only reasonably modern hardware with dedicated servers could manage this game.
….
Anything but the Wii, then!
B3yond said:
When will PC gamers just shut-up and admit that the PS3 is simply awesome for games such as these. Not only Graphically but Technically as well. I mean really now, how many people around the world owns a PC that can run Crysis at maximum settings? Not many… Don’t even get me started on the Xbox 360. It has reached it’s limit, not only with on-line play, but Technically too. Sigh. Is it that difficult to admit that the Playstation 3 is a magnificent piece of hardware?
G1GAHURTZ said:
SDF FTW!!!
Shatner said:
MDF UNITE!
wz said:
I just understood how fanaticism works. It’s wishing something to be true, really much.
get2sammyb said:
The game seriously has some potential. I hope it’s shown off in more detail at E3. I’m more interested in God Of War III, Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2 though.
Tiger Walts said:
A Cloud computing system could support a few thousand players.
/runs
Samoan Spider said:
The problem we’re seeing is that the PS3 has some great titles announced for it. But thats just it, they seem to be announced, and then in a perpetual development cycle.
I’ve played PC games hacked to take a massive number of players, and as someone else says, you don’t notice the difference much because the space has to be so much bigger to accept that many people. By which time its becomes a waste of time, and not much fun!
I’m afraid my PS3 will not be switched on for some time to come it would seem. Great machine, but simply doesn’t have the catalogue of the 360, the online capabilities are a long way behind (explains why its free) and all AAA multiplat titles seem to end up FUBAR!
/Flame suit activated
El_MUERkO said:
clouds don’t support anything, anyone that’s tried to put anything on a cloud would know that!
G1GAHURTZ said:
Here they come!
Samoan Spider said:
‘clouds don’t support anything, anyone that’s tried to put anything on a cloud would know that!’
lol
Retroid said:
“wz said: I just understood how fanaticism works. It’s wishing something to be true, really much.”
Yup. And probably having a bit of a crywank while writing posts of forums about THE TRUTH and asking WHY WON’T PEOPLE ADMIT IT.
get2sammyb said:
@Samoan Spider: It’s your fault your Playstation 3 is not getting turned on, not the Sony or the consoles. In the past 12 months Sony have delivered us with – Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet and Killzone 2, among others which don’t spring to mind. At least one of those games (LittlebigPlanet) is majorly original, and should, in the very least, have you switching on your console.
Retail releases aside: the PSN has provided – Wipeout HD, Noby Noby Boy, Flower, echochrome, Pixeljunk Eden, and there are many more.
As far as multiplatform releases go — the only game that was significantly inferior (and my significant I mean, you don’t have to pause the video and compare pixels) to the 360 is Fallout 3. I daresay there are a couple of others you can churn out back at me, but I still found playing Fallout 3 an enjoyable experience — even though I played the “vastly inferior” PS3 version.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is – the owner decides whether he wants to make his system worthwhile. I have a DS upstairs that never gets switched on – I could pretend there are no DS games but I know this is not true. The reason it doesn’t get switched on is because I don’t CHOOSE to buy games for the platform.
To conclude, the PS3 has an excellent game catalogue – the 25 games stored on my harddrive plus the 32 retail games on my shelf totally disagree with your sentiment. If you’re not interested in those games, it doesn’t make them any less available – if you get what I mean.
Grimrita said:
B3yond I bet there are more PC gamers around the world who do own a PC able to play Crysis then there are actual PS3 owners.
Compared to the xboxes lame peer 2 peer crap, yes the PS3 far out weighs it but lets face it, the xbox is hardly advanced.
I would rather spend the £300 its costs for a PS3 on a decent graphics card and extra RAM that will last a good 3-4 years and be able to play Crysis at full whack.
Personally, I wouldnt use the ‘256 players’ a selling point for any game because there is no guarantee that you will get that many online playing it!
G1GAHURTZ said:
3-4 years!
LOL
That’s funny.
absolutezero said:
Its also true.
Jesus you really are a fucking child. Where the hell is Mr DaMan?
G1GAHURTZ said:
Absolute zero? Is that your IQ?
You try playing Crysis with a 6800GT and see how nice it looks.
The utter stupidity in the world these days really is reaching epic proportions…
Whizzo said:
I wish Sony would bite the bullet and do Planetside 2.
phatb0y said:
Two reasons this reeks of FAIL.
i) SOCOM influence.
ii) 256 players.
Large scale multiplayer in an FPS doesn’t work. You can patch out glitches and exploits, but you can’t patch out human nature.
The only way this could work is if you had organised guild/clan games. It worked in Planetside, but the game was just a seesaw. Log in, take territory, log out, lose territory, log in, re-take territory, rinse ‘n’ repeat. Sure, its fun for a while, but it all got a bit Hamburger Hill.
Clans (hate that word!) don’t seem to work on consoles in my eyes. I don’t know why. They just don’t. I don’t know if thats just a reflection on me getting older or the more ‘casual’ attitude on consoles, but the enthusiasm just isn’t there.
I think this will just devolve into a 256 player mong shower.
If it ever sees the light of day.
Superfrog said:
Why do we have to read/watch/listen to this ‘only possible on PS3′ crap in line with every single upcoming release of SCE-published exclusive titles? It’s getting so old.
SlayerGT said:
I played Joint OPs till they shut the server down. If this is as good or better, I’ll be happy. Zipper is a great Dev. Optimistic I am.
DaMan said:
absolutezero, your screenname goes well together with your insightful and thought provoking comments.
G1GAHURTZ said:
“Clans (hate that word!) don’t seem to work on consoles in my eyes. I don’t know why. They just don’t. I don’t know if thats just a reflection on me getting older or the more ‘casual’ attitude on consoles, but the enthusiasm just isn’t there.”
You get some pretty serious clans on console these days. I play in a COD4 clan, and we’ve developed a really strong level of team work. I’ve also played with clans on the console R6 Vegas and other 360 shooters.
I think many console clans and clan members are probably PC players who’ve just moved onto console anyway.
G1GAHURTZ said:
Oh dear…
ElfShotTheFood said:
“I’m not saying it can’t be done on another console/PC but why hasn’t it been done on the PC yet then?”
Planetside?
Newbie101 said:
Planetside was an MMO so it cant really be compared
.
phatb0y said:
Yeah, it can. FPS mechanics, same as Neocron. It may not be as ‘twitch’ as a traditional FPS but the principle is the same.
Planetside is still just a very large-scale FPS at heart.
Newbie101 said:
I disagree. Planetside wants you to think it’s an online FPS and while, yes, it does have that camera angle
, its not a great example tbh….
No_PUDding said:
I am excited for it…. Doesn’t sound like I am allowed to be though.
SERAPHEMZ said:
I am too, all the people above talking crap about a game that we know little about are idiots. Its like talking crap about Alan Wake, a game that ‘they’ are all excited about, when its only been shown him walking around with a flashlight.
On paper both games look good, lets just wait and see before we pass judgement.