So MotorStorm Pacific Rift has been out for a week now, and you’ve driven the AI into submission around the testing tracks of the island, and your kid sister kicks your @$$ in split screen. So what next. Well how about a bit of online play? There’s a few different ways of experiencing Pacific Rift online, here’s the low down and some tips –
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Matchmaking
We wanted to ensure that players could find another game quickly, but also that once they got into a game they didn’t have to rely on the host to get the race started. There are two options when matchmaking: Ranked or Casual. Ranked pitches you against players of a similar skill level whilst Casual will put you up against anyone and everyone. Matchmaking will, quite simply, group players together who are looking for a game, pick a Ticket for them (a race setup) and get them into a race as quickly as possible. And don’t worry, if you don’t like the Ticket that is randomly chosen for you – it’s possible to veto it (if you get a majority vote).
If you can’t find a matchmaking game (Ranked or Casual) when you search the reason simply is that no-one else is currently searching for another ranked game. The system relies upon there being other people looking to play, so as the servers get busier it’ll get easier to find games, so don’t be disheartened if you can’t find a game first time around, the more people looking for games, the more games there will be.
Custom
On top of the matchmaking it is still also possible to create a game of your own and let others join (privacy is optional). This session will stay up as long as there is a single person present and you can configure the race at any time in the lobby to create your own experience. Custom games do not contribute towards your ranking, but they still track your statistics.
Ranks
Competitive play is important online, as the best races are most often the closest. So by implementing a ranking system which grades players based upon how many players they have beat and been beaten by, it allows us in conjunction with the matchmaking to gather players of the same or similar ranking together to provide the fairest and most exciting possible racing experience. There is also a Ranked leaderboard which lists every player, showing who really is the best MotorStorm player in the world.
Groups
Playing online is always more fun with friends, and we wanted to make it as easy as possible to do so. We’ve done this through Groups; these are quite simply a way of keeping friends together. They are initiated by sending a friend an invite; when they accept they become part of your Group, and wherever you go they then go with you, until they decide to leave (or if you choose to kick them from your group). Groups can be up 12 players, but when playing Ranked it is only possible with groups of 4 or less (to avoid cheating).
General
On top of these 3 major improvements, we also made online play global, so that wherever you are in the world you can play against anyone else who happens to be online. There is now the ability to check and compare other player’s statistics, side by side, and not just online statistics, either: this includes all the offline ones, too. We’ve improved the voice chat – not just in terms of general quality, but also the number of players that can talk simultaneously: in the lobby up to 8 players can talk at once, and during an event it’s 4 – that’s twice as many as in the original MotorStorm!
MotorStorm is absolutely amazing!!! I’m loving the split-screen and single player modes. I will take it online once I’ve finished the single player. Great job Evolution!!!!!!
I’m afraid to play online because I’m so terrible at offline. Got to improve before I can try going online.
Sweet stuff. Looks great!
Can’t get enough of racing.
:P
I am absolutely LOVING this game. If any of you are hesitant to pick it up because it’s sandwiched between R2 and LBP, Don’t It’s every bit as good as those games.
@ the people who owns the game.
This game really looks that good like some screenshots or like the demo?
Off topic… good job Sony to own the whole Sony bmg now called Sony Music Entertainment. Now bring music videos to the ps3, no excuse now because the BMG part lol.
I’m not usually a fan of racing games, but after playing the demo I may have to get this ;)
awesome game like post 1 stated ill go online once ive beaten campaign i never go online unless i beat the story/campaign mode
@5 cmargary
The retail version is far better than the demo.
@ 5:
Let my photos convince you of Motorstorm Pacific Rift’s graphics:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=motorstorm&message.id=68672#M68672
You stated that voice chat is improved when actually it is not. When you say something the mic doesn’t pick up your voice quick enough, there is a delay and half off what you say does not get transmitted. You usually end up almost having to yell to get it to work properly. I am using the official PS3 headset and have also tried turning up my transmission volume to max with no difference noticed so it has to be the game.
Are you guys aware of this and are you working on a fix?
Nigel, I am so glad that I bought Motorstorm Pacific Rift here in the U.S., and that it plays so much better from the Qore demo. I haven’t had a chance to play online yet since I want to master and complete the offline game first before getting my butt handed to me online. Will the online matchmaking allow me to play with other Motorstorm Pacific Rift players around the world or by our own region?
MotorStorm Pacific Rift is a global online game, so you can play with others from all over the world.