Zipper Interactive's 256-player FPS, MAG, playable

02.06.2009
We saw it being played, in real time. A full server with 256 players marching through a collective mission that, for the first time ever in gaming, feels like it could be a real simulation of an actual, massive-scale military assault.

The commander started off the gameplay demo by leading his small party of players against an enemy bunker. His team was one of a dozen scattered around a massive installation, together comprising an allied force 128 players strong. But, the installation they assaulted was itself defended by another 128 players, and the result was pure, unadulterated combat.

He tried calling in an air strike, but it was knocked out by an anti-air battery. The new goal became the battery itself, and so he moved his team forward on foot against an unknown enemy entrenched in bunkers and dilapidated ruins. Climbing up onto the roof of one of the buildings and looking out on the battlefield below, he showed the audience exactly what we wanted to see: hundreds of soldiers spraying bullets across the 40-foot screen.

MAG: Yet another reason to own a PlayStation 3. Don't worry, folks, we'll get you footage as soon as possible.

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