Homefront dev explains the importance of dedicated servers

Following the wildly negative reaction to Modern Warfare 2's lack of dedicated servers on PC, one of the marketing bullet points for THQ's FPS Homefront has been its promise of suchdedicated servers -- not only on PC, but on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, as well. But how important are they?

"You have to think about your constraints when you're making a game," Homefront senior designer Brian Holinka, of developer Kaos Studios, explained to us at a recent press event for the game. "If we host a server on a console, all of a sudden, that console is both server and it's playing the game. That really lowers everything: player count, the number of vehicles, everything. Dedicated servers allow us to offload all that work and basically all the client has to worry about is running the game."

Through dedicated servers, Homefront will support a chaotic 16-versus-16 online mode, whereevery player can summon a vehicle at will. "It means everything is bigger -- there's more players, more vehicles, more targets, more airstrikes," Holinka hyped.

"It really helps us offload a lot of work," he reiterated about the servers, "and now our scope is a lot bigger." But can you really call a 32-player match "a lot," when a game like MAG has littered the virtual battlefield with 256 players? We asked Holinka why Kaos wasn't using the dedicated servers to expand the number of players per match even further, and he reminded us that "we had more in Frontlines," the studio's previous game. Apparently, the team tested out larger battles for Homefront, but "it just didn't work," Holinka said. "We just found it wasn't fun. It just plays better at 32."

"If you played a level with 50 or 60 people in there," the developer found, "every time you turn around, you'd get shot."

Via:Joystiq

Homefront DLC maps to debut on Xbox Live, 'Suburbs' exclusive to Xbox

Homefront is following in Call of Duty's footsteps in more ways than one. As Activision has done for its FPS franchise, THQ is partnering up with Microsoft to offer Xbox Live members first access to all future downloadable content for Homefront, Xbox's Major Nelson announced today at a THQ press event for the game. In addition, the Xbox 360 version of the game will include an exclusive map at launch, dubbed "Suburbs."

Additional details about the map and partnership will be revealed on "Inside Xbox" next week.

THQ logo revamped for a new focus on 'innovation and creativity'

You know that old, silly THQ logo? The one where it looks like the letters are going high speed? That is now, officially, old and busted. As seen above, the publisher unveiled its new logo (aka "the new hotness") this morning, with company head Brian Farrell noting, "Our new logo epitomizes the change, innovation and creative growth that are the cornerstones of the new THQ." Farrell is of course speaking to the past few years of major changes at THQ, kicked off with the hiring of core games VP Danny Bilson in early 2008 and followed by several successful business choices in the subsequent years -- everything from achieving cost-cutting goals early on to brokering deals with top talent.

The new logo will start making retail product appearances this February and "will be rolled out over the next few months" in other venues. Goodbye speedy THQ logo, hello crazy future-font THQ logo!