Twitter's contribution to Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has some inspiration from Twitter.
(Credit: infinity Ward)Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 might have been designed by a capable team of Infinity Ward developers, but the company had some help: Twitter followers.
Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling told Develop Online in a recent interview that during the development of the highly-anticipated release, the developer called on Twitter users for help.
"During development, if we are sitting in a design meeting and we are arguing about something, no matter what it is, I can just turn to what is now 60,000 people and post the same question," Bowling told game developer news site Develop Online. "'Do we think players will like this?' well why don't we ask 60,000 of them and get a good representation of what we think they may like?"
But it was the next statement that might cause gamers participating in social networking to rejoice. Bowling told site that Twitter was "fantastic throughout development" and he "would recommend many, many more people adapted that into their design schedule."
Bowling also said that Infinity Ward didn't ignore any responses to its design questions. He said that developers "listened to all" of the suggestions, but filtered out those that didn't match the company's "design philosophy." Suggestions that asked for more gore, for example, ran against the company's design philosophy, Bowling said.
Regardless of whether or not Infinity Ward incorporated every idea into Modern Warfare 2, Bowling told the publication that now more than ever, gamers are getting closer to the development process.
"The average gamer is so much closer to the people who make the games than they ever were before," he told the publication. "And as a result of that they are so much more developer-aware. No longer is it an Activision game, but an Infinity Ward game, or a Treyarch game or a Bungie game. And gamers know where to go to offer their feedback."
Oh, how things have changed. When I was younger, I sent several snail-mail letters to developers asking for design tweaks in some of my favorite franchises. I never heard back. And it seemed that my plea had fallen on deaf ears.
Today, things are different. The developers of one of the most highly anticipated games to be released in 2009 were listening to gamer suggestions on a social network? Amazing. Let's hope for more of it.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Thanks :-)
Just how many hours did you put into building the game?
Kind of like buying a car. They will back you with the warranty as long as you dont change anything on it. You can drive it anyway you want....fast or slow....but you go making it all wonky with turbos or a racing chip and they will drop you.
Dont like it? Dont buy it! I will gladly tell you how awesome it is if you provide me with an email.
My point was that there are things in MW2 developed by modders, such as the AC130 & Tactical Nukes that IW/Acti did not give credit for.
limited 9v9 per server
I think this says a lot:
"Moriarte
Ignoring IW.net, is the PC version a direct port of the console version?
Mackey-IW
No, PC has custom stuff like mouse control, text chat in game, and graphics settings."
I can't wait :-/
Now maybe if they can hold over, and buy Left 4 Dead and maybe wait until some games next year.
The thing is even with all the complaining about the servers. If it does what IW says it does. Thats how Call of Duty games are going to be from now on. The only hope is Metal of Honor.
- by AbhiR81 November 9, 2009 11:28 AM PST
- Beyond the obvious technological breakthrough, Infinity Ward's approach is a feat of marketing and prodcut development methodology. Twitter could be used for many more products beyond video games
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