14 DAY TRIAL // Sony caused quite a lot of hype when it announced one of its biggest titles prepared for the end of 2009, MAG: Massive Action Game. The title, which promises to deliver a Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter experience, will feature support for online battles consisting of up to 256 players due to a unique server architecture.
Now, Sony Computer Entertainment America's ever present hardware marketing direct, John Koller, has revealed that this future game is only possible on the PlayStation 3 due to its unique hardware capabilities and networking features, vastly superior to its current rivals on the console market.
“MAG is a 256 online-player game which is spectacular,” Koller said. “If you look at that competitively, it’s something that’s only possible on PS3. The processor speed, the ability of PS3 to showcase 256 players at any given time, and their actions. It’s basically like an iteration of SOCOM, where you’re maybe commanding the SEALs, and someone else has the Rangers, and the Green Berets, and so on.”
SOCOM was one of the best franchises ever to hit the PlayStation console lineup, but sadly the latest iteration, SOCOM: Confrontation, failed to meet fans’ expectations due to its poor multiplayer service, which kept failing time and time again. Even though subsequent patches tried to fix it, the damage was done and shooters on the PS3 didn't impress a lot of people.
Hopefully, MAG will give players the online experience they were expecting from SOCOM and go on to become a benchmark for online interactivity in terms of shooters. With things such as 256 online matches and a big amount of classes to choose from, it is certainly very interesting to see if the team at Zipper Interactive will deliver on its promises in the near future.