|
FM6CT -> From 402 blog (1/15/2008 8:07:52 AM)
|
Week in Review: Servers, Servers, Servers A Week of Headaches
This week has been all about servers it seems. From Ps3 to Xbox 360 we've been running down leads on issues all week and to be honest, server problems are the most frustrating, simply because they're not handled by us and means it's not a problem with the game we programmed, but with hardware malfunction of servers ran outside of Infinity Ward.
Regardless of the source of the problem and whether or not we run the servers, we work just as hard to resolve the issue. Regretfully though, since we don't run the servers, the most we can do is ensure we're working with our community to get feedback and keep that feedback going to the server teams (at Microsoft or at DemonWare), so that they can stay on top of the issues at hand and resolve as quickly as possible.
The biggest contributing factor to the frustration and headaches though is that my biggest annoyance is life is the use of excuses. The act of chalking up life's problems to something beyond your control and therefore nothing you can do. I don't believe in passing the buck, just as much I don't believe in taking flack for something that is out of your control. What I do believe in, is truthful communication, identifying the source of the issue, but still working to address it in every way possible regardless.
Which is why I want to make it clear, simply because the servers having problems are out of our control, the means to resolving the issues is not and I will not use that as an excuse to do nothing. No bucks will be passed, as I would rather have a problem we can address directly ANY DAY over a problem I have to rely on someone else to address for me.
With that said...
PS3 Server Updates
Earlier this week, via this blog, Steve Pearce made a comment regarding the status of the Ps3 online matchmaking servers for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The DemonWare team has been working non-stop on troubleshooting and upgrading their servers this past week with the help of the PS3 community providing insightful feedback on their problems. The team rolled out a few major updates this past week, and we were seeing some minor improvements on connectivity.
Late last night / early this morning they rolled out another update to the servers as well as the smaller ones all this week. After this update I'm happy to say we saw a big improvement over the major issue they were having (a lot of users playing at the same time at peak hours). With this latest update we've noticed a 10% increase in users playing at the same time during peak hours with no major incidents or downtimes.
This is great news, because if the major issue has been addressed it will allow the DemonWare team to focus even more on the smaller occurrences and individual unique problems users may be experiencing. This in no way means the task is complete and improvements will stop on the server side, just means its a big step forward in the improvement of online play for the Ps3 version.
We've been getting a lots of reports of improved connectivity and matchmaking which I can vow for myself as I spent awhile last night playing online on the Ps3 version and didn't run into any issues matchmaking or finding games. Ran into a few glitchers on Pipeline sneaking into pipes underground that I'm gonna have to talk with the level designer tomorrow about though. ;)
Xbox Live - Reports of Losing Rank
Over the holiday, Xbox reported record numbers of users online, which apparently resulted in some hiccups in their service (source: Xbox LIVE Holiday Performance) which we're starting to notice some side effects as we've recently been seeing a surge of Customer Service calls, forum posts, and emails regarding lost rank online.
UPDATE: Fantastic news. Just got word from Microsoft's LIVE team that they believe they've fixed the issue. It was apparently an SQL Storage Database issue which has been addressed.
If you experience any future problems with your rank, please let me know immediately so I can make them aware. This won't correct any previously lost rank, however it will prevent it from happening any further.
|
|
|
|