Following the furore over Infinity Ward's retraction of dedicated servers
for Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield developer DICE has now committed
itself to providing dedicated servers for PC users in games such as its
upcoming sequel, Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

"A lot of buzz has
been floating around the internet lately about dedicated servers and we
wanted to make sure our all our players have the best understanding of
how Battlefield will be played on the PC," said DICE Producer, Gordon
Van Dyke. "Since Battlefield 1942 DICE has used dedicated servers for
all platforms. This formula has worked well, and still works well, for
us and for the gaming community. We have stayed true to this practice
and will continue this tradition into the upcoming title Battlefield
Bad Company 2."

Van Dyke also went into some of the server
solutions provided by other developers for PC games and explained why
DICE believes that they don't provide the same gaming quality as
dedicated servers.

"Other games use player-hosted or 'peer to
peer' solutions, often resulting in a "host with the most" situation;
where the player hosting the match has an advantage over other players
connected to their game," he said. "Everyone else is dependent on the
host's internet connection and if they don't have a great connection
then neither will you, regardless of how great of an internet you have."

"Also,
unless server migration is implemented the game ends when that hosting
player quits the game forcing you to find another player-host or start
your own," continued Van Dyke. "With dedicated servers everyone gets
non-stop action with no connection penalties based on some other player
and their internet. This makes dedicated servers the best solution for
online PC gaming hands down! So rest assured PC players, Battlefield
will stay true to its roots by offering dedicated servers to all its
players and continue the tradition of the ultimate FPS gaming
experience!"

Let us know your thoughts on this and the ongoing IWNet controversy in the comments section below...

Source: Battlefield blog