My guess is on a few Big Guns who think their game is pure gold and cannot do anything wrong .

Heres the thing:

This limitation, just like most limitations placed on consumers, is really going to only hurt the honest people out there. The cheaters will just work around it by using skype or phones, or whatever other resource they want, while the honest people end up with a gimped product.

Companies are so blind to this sort of stuff sometimes...

well...That's why I hate competitive multiplayer. So friggin' competitive the developers have to take stuff away to "try" and balance things.

Why can't they just sell "Competitive MP" as a standalone product and not drag the single-player or co-op into it?

I. . .

But. . .

Okay. . .

. . . So, let's see. No dedicated servers. . . No ability to Mod. . . No Co-Op Campaign. . . Stale Multiplayer. . . And now, no Party Chat in certain playlists?

I honestly can't believe they've done this. This just absolutely sold me on staying away from this game. I only play CoD 4 to talk with a friend. Otherwise, I don't like the game. They basically just extinguished that little part of me that made me like the game -- the ability to still talk to a friend while playing, and still being private.

You've got to be kidding me.

I think co-optimus should "stick it to the man" by having a CoD:WaW co-op night sponsored on XBL the Day MW2 releases.

Unfortunately we scheduled one months ago with the XBL team for MW2. :\

Switch it up and at the last minute play something else lol.

MW2 is really turning out to be nothing more than a cash cow so to speak.

I think it will still have some redeeming qualities, just not for us as semi-casual co-op gamers.
Hardcore console competitive gamers are loving it.

Ironically enough, they've effectively killed the competitive game for the PC version.

That's why I said "console". I wouldn't touch the PC version with a 40-foot pole if I were a PC gamer.

I have no doubt the CoD console fans will love it but for me its just not enough to warrant a 60 dollar purchase, it will be one of those maybe games when I see it going for like 19.99 used at the store.

I just don't like the arrogant attitude IW has given to the fans pretty much saying well this is what we feel you guys want, instead of listening to the what the fans enjoy.

Didn't they just do a poll about what features players wanted in the spring? Wasn't co-op the winning choice or one of the top winners?

I bet none of this was in anyone's mind as possibly happening.

Oh no doubt, but it just floors me that they removed dedicated servers from the PC ver, and after the users complained IW was just like our way is better so STFU.

Companies like that I refuse to buy from. It's one of the reasons I am staying away from Blizzard games they really let me down with Starcraft 2.

Just saw this Ars Technica article linked on Joystiq. PC gamers were only getting warmed up with the whole dedicated server thing:

No console commands
Limit of 9v9 at most on maps
No known way to mod, so not even custom maps with larger sizes
No choice in who hosts games (Really??? WTF? Since when is that not standard)
5-second pause if host quits to switch to new host (annoying)
No leaning around corners (previously present in IW games apparently)
No recording of matches/highlights
No way to kick players from a match (for cheaters, hackers, crybabies, etc)

It would be hard for me to fathom why any PC gamer would choose this over any number of other FPS games at this point, given the attitude that IW is taking towards them.

This was my favorite quote from AT on the matter:

@Roland

Yea I was reading all that, it just seems like a silly Business decision to do that to one of the biggest user bases out there.

I can't believe people are even talking about this.

Just get L4D2 and forget all about this nonsense!

Silly? Silly?! I'm not even a PC gamer (played MMO first, then just kept with consoles since Xbox), and I wouldn't call that silly.

A silly business decision was them wanting to make it Modern Warfare 2 and not Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This...this is just stupid. It's like the PC game wasn't just an afterthought it was a punching bag!

At this point, I'm just pretty amazed at the constant stream of negative news. I can't remember the last time that a game launch has been handled this badly.

And, to add to the stream of news, now Steam will be the only major online digital distributor to carry the game, because IW/Activision didn't realize that companies wouldn't like selling games that have their competitor's software bundled with it. Impulse, GamersGate and D2D are all refusing to carry the game.

I know Steam is the big dog of digital distribution, but it does seem rather shortsighted to thumb your nose at other retail outlets that would have been happy to sell and promote your game for you.

i saw that... one distributor went so far as to label steam as a trojan horse. can't blame them though. they obviously don't want to distribute steam to all their client base and hope they hate it and don't switch for future game purchases.

So if party chat is blocked, then what happens to Private Chat?