Modern Warfare 3 PC questions answered

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 21 October, 2011

"We value the PC player," says Infinity Ward.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 developer Infinity Ward has outlined the features specific to the PC version of the game and reiterated its commitment to PC gamers and the PC platform.

Creative strategist Robert Bowling took to the Call of Duty forum to answer a number of questions relating to the PC version of the FPS.

"We value the PC player and have gone to great lengths in providing a more rich experience for our players," he said. "We keep our ear near the ground and try to deliver items most requested.

"The big feature for MW3 we are supporting is Dedicated Servers, this includes a server browser, voting, RCON, and more.

"Lastly we are embracing the Steam platform by integrating fully with Steam including friends list, Steam achievements."

Bowling said MW3 will allow PC gamers to tweak the game's visuals. Options include enabling and disabling new rendering features, such as SSAO. You can also modify DOF, Shadows, Anti-Aliasing, Texture Resolution and more.

"We do wide testing across all tiers of PC," Bowling revealed. "In our office we have an old min spec machine that receives just as much care as our top tier PC. We've also engaged the hardware manufactures for wider compatibility testing for us to ensure an optimised bug free launch."

Bowling also addressed the thorny issue of cheating, rampant in previous Modern Warfare games.

"Security is a major focus for Modern Warfare 3, especially coming out of Modern Warfare 2," he said. "We will be utilizing multiple methods of Anti-cheat and Security methods, including Steam's VAC system, CEG, and our own propriety methods implemented to provide multiple layers of defence in keeping online multiplayer fun, fair, and secure for all players without limiting the control they expect on PC."

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About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • gribb #1 7 months ago

    We'll see if you care so much about the PC community after Modern Warfare 3 is released. Black Ops post-release support was a joke!

  • Toothball #2 7 months ago

    Did they manage to squeeze 3D support into there too?

  • ectotropic #3 7 months ago

    "We value the PC player" - FTFY

  • amfamaster #4 7 months ago

    this guy is funny, talking about implementing basic stuff in a manner i almost appreciate them doing so.. thats how they show their comitment.. they succeded mw1 but failed mw2 so hard im never gona buy 3rd . Especially with their addons pricing

  • bobfish09 #5 7 months ago

    Don't see it mentioned above.. but dedicated servers are for non-ranked matches only.

    If you want to level up and unlock stuff, you need to play peer-to-peer.

  • bogie170 #6 7 months ago

    Are you for real???

    NO RANKED DEDICATED SERVERS FOR PC

    NO MAX FPS

    18 PLAYER MAX MP

    RANKING ONLY ON SHITTY IW.NET

    VAC SECURED (SAME AS MW2 WHICH WAS A HACKERS PARADISE)


    IW HAVE YET AGAIN SCREWED OVER THE PC GAMER

    READ THIS:
    http://community.callofduty.com/thread/4682

  • marmaduke #7 7 months ago

    @bobfish

    That doesn't sound remotely true.

  • marmaduke #8 7 months ago

    Also, and I'm going to get burned for this, this game looks to be more fun that Battlefield 3. Uglier, yes, but probably more fun.

  • geeza2020 #9 7 months ago

    How have you quantified "fun" levels from looking at a trailer? Magic? I'm not staking a claim for either game yet, but it seems a bit premature to be making such statements.

  • crazycris271 #10 7 months ago

    The day after Gaddafi dies , theres an advert on this page for Global Ops : Commando Libya
    Strange coincidence or shameless tie in?!

  • Kenny79 #11 7 months ago

    @marmaduke

    Does Modern Warfare 3 on PC support an in-game Server Browser? Can you also use matchmaking?

    Yes! In addition to the public matchmaking system for finding Ranked public games, you can use the in-game server browser to find and favorite unranked Dedicated Servers to join, which can be filtered by a number of options mentioned above.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #12 7 months ago

    You would expect no ranked dedicated servers to avoid exploits. People could set their servers up however they want.

  • FireMonkey #13 7 months ago

    @marmaduke - "That doesn't sound remotely true."

    Seeing as IW have been avoiding answering the question of ranked dedicated servers for months now I have a feeling it is true.

    Also, in answering a question about servers they said:
    "In addition to the public matchmaking system for finding Ranked public games, you can use the in-game server browser to find and favorite unranked Dedicated Servers to join, which can be filtered by a number of options mentioned above."
    [link url=http://community.callofduty.com/message/44398#44398
    ]http://community.callofduty.com/message/...[/link]

    Which does suggested no ranked on dedicated.

    Edit: Damn you Kenny!
    Edited by FireMonkey at 21/10/11 @ 12:29

  • Nova1977 #14 7 months ago

    Oh no they made it perfectly clear what they thought of pc gamers it was pretty much a "F*** all of you". They're still touting things that are standard on pc games as "features". They're still gonna make a helluva lot of money though, just not from me.
    Edited by Nova1977 at 21/10/11 @ 12:29

  • TeeHee #15 7 months ago

    What activision wanted to say:

    "We value the PC players at 90£ a head"

  • Pehmu #16 7 months ago

    In 2001, these were normal features in every PC game. Nothing special about them, nothing to write home about.
    In 2011, dedicated servers and the option to tweak graphics are considered something special and you can tell everyone how you've really put some extra effort into your game.

  • marmaduke #17 7 months ago

    @geeza2020: mostly because Battlefield games have lots of snipers, and snipers != fun. What can I say? MW3 will have lots of unfair knifings, but you'll die for reasons other than 'someone on a hill a mile away saw you standing still for two seconds'

    And, again, I fully expect to get negged for saying this.

  • marmaduke #18 7 months ago

    @FireMonkey- unranked doesn't necessarily mean 'no experience'. I can imagine that being ranked due to skill has nothing to do with what level you're at, given that people go through it at different rates. Someone might be Prestige 15 in a month; someone else might take two years. It doesn't impact on how well you can actually play the game.

  • dsmx #19 7 months ago

    Snipers in battlefield games are piss easy to avoid and even easier to kill. Snipers by and large stay in one place so you can avoid them easily enough, you can jump in a vehicle and drive to there location and kill them, you can spot them for your team and someone else can kill them. Anyone who complains about snipers is an idiot who is not willing to use the tools available to them to get rid of them or at the very least nullify them so there not actually killing anyone.

  • rtk79 #20 7 months ago

    "Options include enabling and disabling new rendering features, such as SSAO. You can also modify DOF, Shadows, Anti-Aliasing, Texture Resolution and more."
    And this is bullet-point material ?

  • cheeky_pete #21 7 months ago

    There is barely any actual information in there. As usual.

  • Stratix #22 7 months ago

    If a developer ever mentions a bug free launch I call them a liar. There is always something.

  • marmaduke #23 7 months ago

    @dsmx

    So it works like that when you're already dead, right? And when no-one else is trying to kill you? And when you're supposed to be chasing objectives and working as a team?

  • deadstoned #24 7 months ago

    No ranked dedicated? You lazy buggers!

  • dsmx #25 7 months ago

    If your working as a team then spotting the sniper means that the sniper will be killed, if your chasing objectives then your losing because in battlefield games it's more about the defence of control points then taking new ones, which means you defend, which means the snipers will be near the flags which also means if your working as a team you will take the sniper out at the same time.

    Again if a sniper is causing you real problems then either your an idiot who doesn't know basic anti sniper tactics or your on a team that's not working together so your going to lose anyway regardless of what you do to the sniper or the sniper does to you.

  • arcam #26 7 months ago

    What is the problem with dedicated servers? They are by far the best way to get the best experience, so why are they always trying to discourage people from them? Was there major problems with MW in this regard or something?

    They seem to be saying if you want to practice you can do that on an expensive powerhouse server with no lag, but if you want to play for real you have to do it on someone's residential connection, probably in another country while the host is downloading torrents in the background. How is that a good idea?

  • Trigg3rHippie #27 7 months ago

    MW3 is using obsolete tech. This is a fact. 18 players? Wow, what an improvement over first MW which had... 18 players as well!

  • PaulieWaulie #28 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:23:40 06-01-2012

  • bad09 #29 7 months ago

    Meh, I got burned buying BLOPS at launch. It may be different teams but it's all under the COD name and money in Activisions pocket so they can do one, I'll not bite on MW2 at launch, even if I do get it that will be months after so I can see whether the platform gets another clusterfuck slap in the face for 3 months.

    Oh and I have to join others at laughing at the sad pathetic attempts by this industry to show "effort" in a PC port by highlighting stuff that should be standard. Rockstar had the best one though with LA Noire "you'll be able to use keyboard and mouse or a joypad". I kid you not they actually put that in the press release for the announcement.

  • dsmx #30 7 months ago

    No I just get sick and tired of people moaning about snipers when they are so insanely easy to avoid if you have any level of intelligence and knowledge of the map.

  • NeverEatYellowSnow #31 7 months ago

    I'm so sick and tired of BF v COD arguments, hasn't anyone got any games to play?

    BATMAN

  • Caimbeul #32 7 months ago

    good job i will be playing Battlefield 3 then!

  • Zaiz #33 7 months ago

    Am I the only person unexcited for both of these games? I'm not spending a penny on them. o_o

  • DwarfyP #34 7 months ago

    @ectotropic

    While Xbox 360 sells millions of more copies than the PC version and gets pirated less can you blame them or any developer for making games with a console focus?

  • aphex187 #35 7 months ago

    We value the PC player and have gone to great lengths in providing a more rich experience for our players," he said.

    You feckin lying sack of shit!

  • azic #36 7 months ago

    @marmaduke
    Snipers == fun
    Camper != fun

  • ectotropic #37 7 months ago

    @DwarfyP

    I don't blame any developer for focusing on consoles - right now I'd do exactly the same. I do, however, get annoyed when they pretend the PC is anything other than a second class citizen (to them) - we all know that CoD PC will be pretty much a Xbox 360 port, for them to pretend otherwise I find insulting :)