14 DAY TRIAL // Section 8 is marketed as being one of the games that will revolutionize multiplayer shooters on the Xbox 360 and the PC. It's being developed by TimeGate, which fought with Paramount over the idea, and published by SouthPeak. With the game set to be released on August 28, the developers are trying to emphasize what makes Section 8 different from other multiplayer-oriented shooters.
Robert Siwiak, who is the producer on the game, sat down with Gamasutra for an interview and one of the most interesting aspects revealed was that players would be able to run a dedicated PC server for Section 8 where owners of the Xbox 360 version of the game could connect in matches taking up to 32 players.
Siwiak justified the move by saying that “Meanwhile on the 360, you don't have that same sort of feel. First-person shooters started out on the PC, and they've only recently in the past few years became very popular on the Xbox 360,” before adding that “Likewise, on the 360, we want to afford players the ability to have these favorite hot spots, these favorite pubs. Clans have the ability to download this client to host these dedicated servers so that they can have their favorite hideaways that they can all play together on. It also affords the player to expand the scalability of the game.”
It's quite an interesting idea and aims Section 8 squarely at those players who are looking at a very hardcore experience on the Xbox 360 and playing with their buddies in an enclosed space rather than connecting to Xbox Live and jumping into a random match with strangers.
Section 8 has other things going for it, like a dropship spawn point for multiplayer, which allows players to drop into the battlefield wherever they wish via orbital insertion, creating a more fluid combat experience, with the players themselves determining the way the match is shaped.