We reported yesterday that Shadowrun will feature a party based matchmaking system, flying in the face of Epic's claims that Microsoft does not allow the feature. It looks like we might owe Epic an apology. 360Arcadians revealed in an interview with Knuckles Dawson, who had a chance to actually play Shadowrun, that the game will not use TrueSkill. TrueSkill is Microsoft's in house matchmaking system, and according to Knuckles, it was tossed by FASA -- creators of Shadowrun -- because it does not allow friends in ranked matches. FASA has opted instead to use their own matchmaking system.
Gears of War uses TrueSkill, so it looks like Epic's reasoning for not including a party system is valid after all. The interview also contains lots of information about Shadowrun. If you're interested in Shadowrun, you should definitely give it a listen.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2006 @ 4:27PM
J.Goodwin said...
I thought TrueSkill was a TRC on 360.
12-07-2006 @ 4:28PM
David said...
Their reason isn't valid, it's just as lazy. Yes trueskill is the default matchmaking API that microsoft provides. However, if the developer wants to, they are more than able to create their own matchmaking system (Halo 2, shadowrun)
If Epic would have taken the time to impliment this then they too could have had their own team matchmaking. I assume that they must be doing this for UT2007 on the 360.
Also microsoft should just force bungie to sell their matchmaking as middleware, they own them anyways.
12-07-2006 @ 4:38PM
VeHeMeNcE said...
I highly doubt Microsoft forces companies from having ranked friend matchmaking....
12-07-2006 @ 5:47PM
Knuckles Dawson said...
Well, EA's Burnout Revenge for 360 used ELO, and Farcry Instincts: Predator used something along those lines as well. So the whole TRC thing for 360 games may not be as true as you believe, J.Goodwin.
12-07-2006 @ 10:14PM
Insomnious said...
I've never been particularly fond of ranked matches, as leaderboard standings never really held much meaning for me. I was much more keen on Halo 2's matchmaking, or Burnout's ELO where you were ranked for ALL games you played, but could play with friends or the same group of people constantly.
Ranked matches kinda ruin the 'community' feel of Xbox Live, and become more of a hassle than enjoyable when you're kicked out after each match and have to look for a new lobby again and again.
12-07-2006 @ 11:35PM
Stormy151 said...
Microsoft should sell licenses or even adopt Bungie's as the standard matchmaking system- it works so well.
12-08-2006 @ 3:09AM
DaKing240 said...
Great news Knuckles... keep up the good work... (a proud member of, say it with me now... http://www.x360a.org)
12-08-2006 @ 3:10PM
Aryzona Bay said...
Saints Row allows friends/parties in ranked matchmaking - and also uses trueskill.