With the somewhat amazing news from Infinity Ward but less then 48 hours ago providing us all with the less than satisfactory information regarding the flat out statement of "There are no dedicated servers, I have been asked by numerous people as to what my thoughts are. I have mentioned these on the Gamestah eSports Weekly show, however due to sound issues, I thought it best I provide my thoughts in writing.

So what did I think of the news that came out of the Bash and Slash podcast (which can be found here). The key points raised through this podcast and as placed in Jock's article are as follows:

• We're doing a lot on the backend to make the game accessible for everyone.
• There is no delay for the PC version of MW2
• There's prestige mode
• Jason West at the MP event, said that he was dead on, on the matchmaking servers. We've been building a system on the backend called IW.NET.
• You are completely reliant on IW.NET. There are no server lists. There are no dedicated servers.
• You have private matches where you can customize the game
• You cannot put MW2 on a dedicated server.
• This is the first time we've ever done something like this and the team has huge plans for what IW.NET develops into.
• Customizing your game...you have quite a few options in a private match
• You're getting same game (as in Console), plus matchmaking and private match.
• Server admin point-of view, NO DEDICATED SERVERS

So with these points, and a little bit of other knowledge, I went trawling the net to find what I could in readiness for what would be a veritable onslaught of queries. I'd also like to apologise for not actually being on the Bash and Slash show - I was invited but having to get up at 5am meant I slept through my alarm, and woke at 7am - only for my email and twitter to have gone nuts with updates....... Anyway, very soon as the day progressed I would have around 40-50 conversations with people seeking more information, or exclaiming how MW2 was now going to fail harder than me playing TF2. To this I say wake up. Not because I can actually play TF2 - I can't. I fail at TF2 harder than Treyarch fail at making an out of the box game that is playable. So obviously, I must be saying wake up to those of you who are now condemning Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward, and fourzerotwo.

I do admit, not having the Dedicated Servers is going to be an issue, but this is not a new issue, and certainly one that will be worked with or around to ensure we get the best game possible. Games like DotA, Starcraft, Diablo, and others have all used a third party service or peer to peer. XBOX players currently use this exact system, albeit they do so without the third party service which we will come to know as IW.net, they still use it with refined success. Anyway, I'm digressing - thoughts are as follows.....

Point number 1. The game looks great. It does show excellent promise, and until we play it, we can only say that it will indeed be a very pretty and action packed game not to be ignored. Single Player will be fantastic, and Co-Op will be just as fun - especially at LAN when you can yell at your mate next to you for failing in a various shape or form. The inclusion of vehicles is going to be great, and it would even appear IW has thought about everything the little kid inside us wants with the Spec Ops Mode and Snowmobile Racing. This will be epic.
Point number 2. The introduction of XBOX-esque peer to peer private server hosting. You wanna play? Log in to IW.net, find a game, and off you go. Supposedly with match making also involved. That's fair, as the last thing the little softie pub noobs want is to get taken apart by Team Immunity, Qlimax or Team Uprising when they're keen to just learn the game and play through a MP map or two. I'll get to competitive play in a moment.
Point Number 3. IW.net is here because of hackers. We can blame this predominantly on the Asian market where the lack of keys is rife, but it is not exclusively their fault. The fallout of lost revenue is now the Steam Distribution, and also the introduction of IW.net which will no doubt keep a good eye on your Key codes or protection in what ever form it comes. It is IW.net alongside peer to peer that brings the question of ping, and lag - how will locally hosting players be muted so they don't rip all joiners to their server apart as they bounce round corners higher and quicker etc etc. This is a question, that can only be answered when the game comes out.
Point Number 4. Competitive play is now in the air for the previous reason. And also because we are unaware of exactly how far we can mod for the PC. That's right - how far - not if. We know we will be able to mod, so if you didn't catch that news, you now know. This also brings to question the nature of mod maps for map makers, and also download hosting, and the likes - refer server hosting issues for when some mofo joins my game where we're playing a mod map, and he downloads off my connex...... lag-a-thon anyone? Again just like how competitive and private server set up and setting modifications, there is nothing here but speculation, and will no doubt need to be answered over the coming few weeks, or on release.
Point Number 5. There is nothing in the news that was delivered by fourzerotwo that is of any concern outside of the dedicated server aspect for PC.

In fact, news that the game is still on time, has matchmaking, and also the ability to prestige up in the Modern Warfare variant has to be classed as good news in a way. So, the possibility of LAN still exists, just like Steam games we'll have to poke a hole in a firewall to make sure IW.net gets pinged no doubt, but that lagless environment is bound to be the favourite arena of this game with what we know of the server set up. The server aspect still hangs in the balance, as there are too many unknowns about the IW.net system, and also about the peer to peer and matchmaking aspects. There are a number of potentials, and sure when you read between the lines, I think there is a lot fourzerotwo has left a community in waiting. Is this on purpose? He's dropped a bombshell for sure, but that will mean one of two things - either they have an amazing IW.net system, or there is more bad news to come (i.e. soften us up with the big news before telling us we can't play Co-Op or similar) -I hope they have it sorted, but we can only but wait and see.

So, in summary, stop and think about what is being said people - don't just take your mate's word that the game is fail. Look for yourself to the ambiguous and still unknown information, and look at what you know, make a judgment on the game when it is appropriate that you have all the answers. Time will tell, and I'll do my best to attempt to get as much new information as I can, but in the meantime, look to your information sources before you judge a game off the previous post made by some sped in a forum thread which has a host of uninformed speds involved.... Oh, and GET SOME!