CoD: Black Ops Will Have Controllable Vehicles

Infinity Ward spawned one of the bigger controversies in gaming last year when they announced the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would use peer-to-peer matchmaking in lieu of traditional dedicated servers. That’s a history that won’t be repeating itself with Call of Duty: Black Ops, though, as Treyarch president Mark Lamia has confirmed they’re sticking with dedicated servers.  “I think dedicated servers are excellent. I don’t see any reason not to see them unless… well, I just don’t see any reason not to,” Lamia said to PC Zone magazine (via CVG). “It seems people like them and we’re excited about what we’re doing right now.” Even still, Lamia also said they’re working on bringing some of the console matchmaking features to their dedicated servers, while maintaining the customizable nature of the dedicated server experience. “We do work very hard to reconcile the desire to manipulate and modify those dedicated servers with offering them the persistent experience and benefits that the console system provides,” Lamia said. “We’re working very hard to marry those two things, so people can run dedicated servers and also participate in the communal experience the console players get to have, given they’re all on first-party servers.” Meanwhile, CVG also reports that a new Black Ops preview in the Official Xbox Magazine reveals the game won’t just have vehicles the player rides in, but can control entirely. This apparently includes the SR-71 Blackbird we’ve previously heard about (and which was previously unclear whether it was entirely in the player’s control or not), as well as helicopters that the mag “stresses” are fully controllable, which will even provide helicopter-vs-hellicopter air battles.  – 1up Controllable vehicles makes me think of one thing and one thing only: Battlefield Bad Company.  Are Treyarch a little scared of what EA are doing these days with the FPS genre, or am I reading too much into it?