The trailer for a new, modern combat shooter, Massive Action Game, debuted at Sony's event today. There's a lot of guys running around, blowing stuff up and shooting one another. Apart from that, we get the title, a flowchart that shows a chain of command and a maximum player count broken down into squads of eight.
It really isn't a lot to go on. The chain of command first made me think this was some sort of tactical affair, where higher-ranked players would plan out strategies to be executed by ground-pounding players in the squads. If that's the case, this might be the most ambitious online wargame ever attempted.
Of course, there are obvious problems that could arise from having 256 players connected to one game. Not to mention getting even half that many to all agree to cooperate towards a single goal. Still, if Massive Action Game is going to be more involved than our standard shooter fare, I'm interested in seeing exactly what that might be.
Follow the jump to watch the trailer and give me your thoughts on it.
Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work.
Likes
Mega Man 2, Arcade Games, Books about games, Board games, Having cultural interests that aren't games
Meet the rest of the team
Beyond the insanely dumb title, I think this could be the most painful online experience ever. Getting 256 people to coordinate? Better be a damn Eisenhower.
Man, all you people complaining about the title... STFU! Who cares about the damn title? It's straightforward and is not racist - what more do you want?
This looks frikkin amazing. I just hope it doesn't suck when you play with 80% fucktards - ie. any online game ever.
I think some people have some vision issues when it comes to the number 256. If your having a hard time thinking about it heres an example: Just take whatever your most familiar with as an FPS, for this example we'll use COD4. Take that 6v6 map multiply it up in size to about 21 maps each with its own area be it a warehouse to fight in to a small town. Increase each side by 2 so instead of 6v6 you get 8v8. Throw in objectives for each 8v8 side.
Its basically ran like an MMO on dedicated servers. Its like Warhawk except its all connected.
It will basically be a standard 8v8 match but you would be taking place in a larger world a persistent world that changes as objective are completed. Until it is won and reset.
It a merger of experimented techniques, Resistance/Warhawk/Agency, the amazing part is that the PS3 can handle all this. It easily is workable on a PC it will easily work on a PS3.
neat. two things though. 1. there'd probably be alot of waiting for your turn. and 2. what about respawn? unless it was some kind of reincarnation kind of thing i don't see that working and keeping in line with the "real war" feel.
67 guys that went to take a leak just when game starts...
55 that are getting yelled at by their mom...
43 guys playing barely recognizable Kanye West on the mic..
and
everyone else is yelling GAY !!!
Wow, you guys sound like all the idiots you claim that will make this game unplayable.
I'm sure there will be robust communication systems where only squad leaders can cross communicate with other squads. Or proximity communication based on objectives. They are going to do there best to keep this functional I'm sure.
I'm pumped, I love the feel of Warhawk being a real battle and this will turn the volume up to 11!!!
Feel free to criticize once it releases, until then you are not a gamer if this doesn't get you pumped.
Also, really stupid fucking name for a really promising idea. If they can pull this off in a manner that doesn't feel too hectic or generic (it has to offer something other than "256 players!" anymore to truly compete with the cream of the crop shooters these days) then I will certainly look forward to a purchase.
My biggest concern would be bandwidth. Depending on how it's set up (if it's along Volomon's lines then it may not be an issue) there could be major issues connecting that many people (or however many actually get connected for communication's sake) without weighing down the experience for everyone else.
I'll keep my eyes peeled and my fingers crossed, though. It certainly has the potential to blow the pants off every other shooter out there.
I had a dream about this the first time I played halo 2 on turf. idk why turf, probably because the big door on the one end of the map, but it's neat to see someone trying it.
That's cool ChronicLogic. Unfortunately, there has to be that many people actually playing the game to take advantage of that player limit. Considering I've never heard of that game before (and I'm a pretty big PC gamer), I doubt many people own it.
Reminds me very much of BF2 with squad systems commanders and alike. Pubs don't have that much coordination as shown in the video, unless the developers make some way of forcing people to work together.
As someone who actually plays WWII Online continuously, this gets me excited. I mean, I'd love to have a tightly-coordinated fireteam. What else could you ask for?
If the PS3 can do it then I am sure a 360 can. I mean, its not as if the power of the graphics card matters when you have 256 people playing together online. Its all about the servers and the amount of information is being sent to your console from the server. I wouldnt be surprised if MS didnt try and do something like this but most game devs will say that they prefer making small teams of say, 5vs5. So that at least then you can get some team work going rather then a massive cluster fuck of morons slamming into each other.
Like Warhawk this will be fun for a while but I seriously dont see this being a COD4 type online game that stays high on peoples online playlist. I mean SOCOM was a amazing game but it only rocked because it had the best online and game types around on a console. Up until the XBOX came out and games like R6 and Ghost Recon were released.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
1:21 AM on 07.16.2008
| 
I haven't heard "Welcome to ____ville population _____" in a long time.
Also, I hope they're planning on packing in headsets with this game or they might as well call it "Fagtard Chaos Online".
Beyond the insanely dumb title, I think this could be the most painful online experience ever. Getting 256 people to coordinate? Better be a damn Eisenhower.
This looks frikkin amazing. I just hope it doesn't suck when you play with 80% fucktards - ie. any online game ever.
Its basically ran like an MMO on dedicated servers. Its like Warhawk except its all connected.
It will basically be a standard 8v8 match but you would be taking place in a larger world a persistent world that changes as objective are completed. Until it is won and reset.
It a merger of experimented techniques, Resistance/Warhawk/Agency, the amazing part is that the PS3 can handle all this. It easily is workable on a PC it will easily work on a PS3.
Wikipedia says yes. That, Crimson Skies, and an assload of SOCOM games.
Sorry, but this is stupid. The PS3 can do nothing more than highend PCs can do and to claim otherwise is crazy talk.
thats about:
67 guys that went to take a leak just when game starts...
55 that are getting yelled at by their mom...
43 guys playing barely recognizable Kanye West on the mic..
and
everyone else is yelling GAY !!!
I'm sure there will be robust communication systems where only squad leaders can cross communicate with other squads. Or proximity communication based on objectives. They are going to do there best to keep this functional I'm sure.
I'm pumped, I love the feel of Warhawk being a real battle and this will turn the volume up to 11!!!
Feel free to criticize once it releases, until then you are not a gamer if this doesn't get you pumped.
Also, really stupid fucking name for a really promising idea. If they can pull this off in a manner that doesn't feel too hectic or generic (it has to offer something other than "256 players!" anymore to truly compete with the cream of the crop shooters these days) then I will certainly look forward to a purchase.
My biggest concern would be bandwidth. Depending on how it's set up (if it's along Volomon's lines then it may not be an issue) there could be major issues connecting that many people (or however many actually get connected for communication's sake) without weighing down the experience for everyone else.
I'll keep my eyes peeled and my fingers crossed, though. It certainly has the potential to blow the pants off every other shooter out there.
The more likely scenario as I see it right now though is that its going to crash and burn.
That said again, if anyone can make this work I have faith in the SOCOM team.
It's only a placeholder, fer serious. But yeah, the game itself does look a bit blah to me.
Reminds me very much of BF2 with squad systems commanders and alike. Pubs don't have that much coordination as shown in the video, unless the developers make some way of forcing people to work together.
Like Warhawk this will be fun for a while but I seriously dont see this being a COD4 type online game that stays high on peoples online playlist. I mean SOCOM was a amazing game but it only rocked because it had the best online and game types around on a console. Up until the XBOX came out and games like R6 and Ghost Recon were released.