BIGGER than Battlefield 2042, why did it FAIL? - The Tragedy of MAG
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2021
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Microsoft changed console gaming by launching the original Xbox with a built-in Ethernet jack in November 2001, a move Sony wouldn’t follow until the PlayStation 2 Slim received an embedded Ethernet port in 2004. The American-based console manufacturer also shifted the state of things with the introduction of Xbox Live and Halo: Combat Evolved’s robust online offering. But Sony took its share of unique multiplayer-related strides upon investing heavily in Zipper Interactive and the genre-defining SOCOM franchise. Thus, though it lagged behind in terms of network services, the PlayStation brand doubled down on innovating in the software department. Nowhere was this more apparent than in 2010’s MAG.
The Zipper-developed Massive Action Game once held the Guinness World Record for most players online in a console FPS, courtesy of its ability to simultaneously host a then-unprecedented 256 users. Above all else, MAG emphasized teamwork, which Zipper underscored with an inventive command structure that brought a sense of order to the expansive online conflicts. The intricate leveling system additionally proved impressive for the time, as did the relatively minimal server hiccups.
MAG struggled out of the gate in some respects, however, due to a lack of map variety, balancing issues, clunky controls, and a faulty spawn system. Zipper addressed most of the shooter’s shortcomings across several post-launch patches, ensuring the multiplayer title matured into a PS3 favorite. Yet, MAG’s online-only status ultimately culminated in its downfall, a slippery slope that began during the infamous PlayStation Network outage of 2011.
This is the tragedy of MAG.
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Do you think MAG would have survived if it were released today? Sound off in the comments below!
I think so. The factions, guns, maps and game modes were amazing!
If they could keep it with minimal lag/interruption, sure!
Most assuredly. To reiterate To The GAMES point the connection and lag issues where ever present. The only thing I can think to “modernize” MAG would be graphics upgrade of course, maybe some battle destruction a la frostbite engine type physics, and, not to forget, micro transactions for skins cuz we live in the modern era of gaming and every “live service” game needs MTXs
Edit: maybe if they included some sort of “meta game” like in For Honor with battlefield “frontlines” and strategic hold points (I think MAG had hold points, too). Maybe also more drones and robos. Kinda feels like I’m describing a pseudo-Battlefield 2042. There’s potential there but MAG was certainly a one of a kind.
Shadow Ops Red Mercury video?
Hell yeah! It had fun factions and big ass maps. Alll themed for the factions. SVER for life!
I was a QA tester on MAG at Sony San Diego back in 2009. We were part of that external team they referenced in the video and took part in stress testing the game. I felt like at some point around June/July of that year, the game had a pitch perfect balance of level size and design. At some point after I moved on to MLB ‘10 The Show, the devs smashed the levels into smaller versions and at launch it was totally thrown off balance because of the mass carnage of spawn camping. It was my first experience working in games and is one of my most cherished memories.
Shit, I think a teacher cheated on her son.. also don't click that link, probably not a genuine TH-cam link and actually a virus
Cool Scott you still in game dev?
That is so Cool man! I loved that game would love to see it come back in some form
@@onionheadguy7094 Yes! I’m currently a senior user interface artist on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Also working with the team on Last Epoch.
@@superscott597 Thats dope good for you man!
This game was WAY ahead of it's time. Valliant effort.
I remember hitting max level on all 3 companies! Only thing I ever remember being rough was sometimes the netcode being dodgy and the starting levels weren't very fun. I'd sit at the top of the stairs on that factory point with the ammo crate and shoot anyone that came in and keep smoking the doors.
@@BlazemanGuitarX you and everyone else, a good strat but a very very scummy one at that
This is what happens when you release too complex product for casual console market. It simply can't work!
@@1Orderchaos You know what they say about love and war, though. Same thing with the idea of "camping", or a sniper hunkering down and sniping -- literally what they're intent to do is.
Valorant Effort.
MAG in my top 3 of all time, the revive system was balanced and the fact you could hear the enemy on Comms when they were close by was something I’d never seen done again to this day in an FPS
Kill zone 2 had it in the clan battle mode, and the it was taken out of the massive battle mode
You can hear enemy comms in Insurgency:Sandstorm
It's in Vr and Hunt showdown
Its a really common feature in tactical pc shooters, defs havnt seen it on console besides cod4
Dayz had this for years
My son (he was a preteen at the time) talk about how much we miss playing this game. It is the only game we actually played together.
Haha, I had the same experience with my dad. We played it all the time together cause it was his favorite game. Miss being a pocket medic for him was really fun.
You're a cool dad, play more with him
@@smash8865 of course. I got him addicted to tabletop miniatures games too.😉
I wish my father played MAG with me! But he got to know MAG since it was my favorite game for me and my brother
me and my dad are the same :( rest in peace mag
"At the time, the crew assumed no one wanted to scour a massive map for resources in an action game"
Welcome... to the desert... of the BR.
yoo holy shit u are right
Well the focus is also entirely different.
@lero marle1 shut up bot
@@nothingtoseehere1221
Bots don't care just report them and they'll dissappear over time.
how about rust?
MAG was ahead of its time. 90% of people back in those days were obsessed with more casual FPS games like CoD, so a game that required teamwork on such a massive scale wasn’t very marketable back then compared to how simple and fun games like MW2 were. Today though, there’s much more diversity in FPS games than a decade ago. If MAG were to release today with updated graphics on the PS5, it’d have a good chance of being a success
True point very true
It would blow up. With games like Squad, Rising Storm, Arma, etc it would absolutely be welcomed with open arms in the current market
This game was awesome imo. The sense of scale and being part of a huge battle was amazing
Xbox Series X*
MAG was ahead of it’s time for a console FPS*
This game was truly something else. I still remember how MAG was after the outage. Pretty much everyday it was harder and harder to find a match. Its heartbreaking when something with so much promise barely has a chance.
I wish they added an offline mode with bots and spilt screen so we would still be able to play the game after the servers were shut off.
the PSN Outage murdered pretty much every multiplayer game that already had a dwindling fanbase. Quake Wars, UT3, MGS4 Online, MAG, Warhawk died pretty hard too thanks to it too. And it didn't help that everyone started moving towards Black Ops 1
I was playing MAG daily when it came out and up until its release. I remember the outage and everything. I guess I didn’t connect the dots that player numbers dropped after everything came back online.
Why? How did the outage affect MAG? I don't get it. People didn't stop playing online.
@@jrrr9219 the outage that had online pretty dead for psn? It was awful man
To this day MAG is still one of my favorite shooters ever. Loved the story, loved the built in team organizing structure, and loved the pacing.
squad has been the only thing to come close for me over the yrs and it still feels to small scale even tho the maps are huge and theres 100 players ive played almost every realistic shooter over they yrs trying to find something to replace mag and i nvr did and now its been blowing up on yt with ppl making these "what happened to mag" or "the tragedy of mag videos" and now its getting some spotlight but it doesn't matter cause we wont be getting a mag 2 or a new socom ever again and if we do it wont be the same as some idiot who wasn't from the original dev team will have some horrible idea to change it
@@onestopgamechannel7846 Is Squad still on PC only? I'd like to play it on PS4 and I don't have a gaming PC
@@caldari_soldier yea sadly pc only
@@onestopgamechannel7846 That sucks. But at least Insurgency Sandstorm is coming to consoles soon
MAG was fun. I remember playing it during 2010 Christmas, I was playing domination and my platoon were mic'd up. We were all strangers to each other but halfway through, our dialogue became more casual and we just started talking about our lives and our holidays. We were just taking our time. A match taking 30 minutes to complete was not the norm back then, and that was MAG's domination timer. So we took our time running to objectives and talked about life.
@lero marle1 shut up bot
That sounds fun! I wish I had internet then :(
The same thing happened to me in Hell Let Loose on PC, forgot what it was like to make friends in online games, usually say nothing and mute all the idiot kids
I remember a time when game brought us together like that.
I feel as though these days are different.maybe it's just me but it's been a while since I got that same interaction.
planetside 2??
I would say that even with today's tech MAG would still be ahead of the times. Absolutely insane how they were able to put that many players into a match and the game didn't explode.
Today’s tech would be able to do it easier, and yet it still would be ahead of its time. I think game company’s just cheap out on projects like this. It’s surprising a ps3 game can have 256 players, and yet we are just now getting a next gen battlefield game to have 128.
Yeah i miss it too for ps3 no lag nothing
*cough* planetside 2
*cough cough* Planetside 1 in 2003. MAG even copied Planetside with having three factions.
Bruh, the hell are you talking about? All MAG did was borrow from Planetside, which was even larger and way more chaotic.
Sunk a good 250 hours into MAG. I really liked their progression system with unlocks. Way ahead of its time!
This was one of the most fun I've ever had playing an fps, it truly made you feel like you were fighting a big battle that you could make a difference in
Sure man I miss the game for yrs!
MAG is, to this day, my single favorite FPS game ever made. Can you imagine if we had this game during Covid? SO many people could still be playing it.
Itd be bigger than destiny 2 or WOW
@@Lrules364 Absolutely!
@@Lrules364
🧢
i stopped playing fps shooter games since mag disappeared. My favorite fps shooter of all time
@@MrHellrider9 I feel like that's a great reason to give up the genre. No FPS game will ever be it's equal.
MAG was crazy good! I had three accounts for each faction...damn i miss that game
Mag, socom confrontation and Warhawk were my most played games on ps3 great times.
@@fuentesjuanjose90 Warhwak was best! Socom was great too but I had no time to play it much alongside Warhawk hah
@@fuentesjuanjose90 Socom was the only way to actually play with my dad when I was a kid. I could only see him about once a year. Good times for sure.
@@fuentesjuanjose90 warhawk actually ran ok, but mag was a nightmare in frame rate and screen tearing
Same here. I still have my copy.
MAG was ahead of it’s time and I always say that if the right devs (re)attempted it today, it could turn out to be an amazing game especially on these new consoles.
Hopefully we see a reboot of both MAG and Warhawk.
I would actually buy a console again to have a true successor to either of those two.
I heard some people were able to plya Warhawk again through reverse engineering
bro I haven't heard of Warhawk for a while jesus
I can only imagine that and could you imagine if they added cross-platform compatibility it'd be the biggest game if they kept everything the same and only added that, updated the graphics and gunplay and kept fucking battlepasses and lootcrates out of it
Sony fired the developer of MAG right before PS4 launched. Very few can make games like this.
You can make a FPS for 10 years and still don't get it right. You need the right people like Zipper, but thanks to Sony Zipper is no more.
I remember this game fondly I actually had a positive KD on this game. SVER absolutely dominated all game modes for a long while there, quick revives and quick kills is what made the difference. I remember confidently running into 3 to 1 fights because I knew my team would back me up. Really wish I could go back and play this game again :(. Good times.
Who asked
@@yourmomnom I did
Good times indeed. And yes, if you weren't in a clan, SVER was the only faction you were getting picked up after going down in a fight.
@@GrandPrix46 too true man, luckly I was in both.
@@GrandPrix46 I had no problem finding good teammates in Raven, or any faction. Most people listened to the squad lead, or at the very least followed the team.
Used to play this game with the bois. The world wasn’t ready for a FPS game on a massive scale
You mean console gamers weren't ready
@@mondaymurder23 yeah which was majority at the time
*laughs in Planetside*
@JanoschNr1 that's the charm of it.
@JanoschNr1 Planetside hasn't been laggy for me at all, and I play on PS4, which proves that a big player count game can work on console
I was telling my friends about the game a month ago, and none of them had heard of it
Frankly, they didn't believe me when I told them a PS3 shooter had 256 players and ran decently
What a shame the stars aligned to shut it down. Really enjoyed my time with it
There's still gameplay clips of MAG online. Maybe send them a video? If you still have the physical copy, you can show them the player count on the back of it.
Many hadn’t heard of MAG because of the poor advertisement.
@@ShapeshifterOS Yeah, unfortunately Sony didn't invest that much into the game.
I think it's my most fond memory of online gaming.
Planetside, as an example, doesn't even manage to reach its knees. Dust514, on the other side, has its merits. And Mordhau seems interesting.
Can't believe how much gaming has changed since 2010.......RIP old Sony, Zipper Interactive and MAG.
Remember the sweet MAG intro?
MAG zipper interactive RESSURECTION
The major reason I stopped playing was how unbalanced the factions were. When I was playing Raven I didn't win a single match in my whole time playing the game. The weapons unique to them were just vastly inferior to the other factions and made it a huge struggle to win firefights.
I ended up switching off Raven thinking that, while I'm not the best, there has to be a reason I can't control as to why I've never won a match in MAG. I swapped to the guerilla faction and immediately won my first match and had triple the kill count I'd normally have.
This was the major reason I didn't like the game. The game needed more balancing .
Mmmm I would have to agree, but to a certain extent. When the DLC came out that introduced the new 45 ammo capacity rifles, the game got more balanced, on top of maps not being faction specific anymore, the game got a lot more balanced. I remember Valor having an almost UNBEATABLE sabotage map because the last attack points, you had to parachute in on and the capture points were eye level with where you released your parachute from so people would get sniped left and right on that map. God I miss MAG just thinking about it
I miss this game so much. 256 players with three unique factions on ps3. Absolutely ahead of its time.
SVER best faction. Fight me. (Jk)
Medic class main
(Hey, someone had to be the medic)
Raven for life... also a medic🤷♂️
@@molitva8832 SVER coming at you with high firepower/ high mag cap. Get Sh¡t On!
(JK Raven Corp was legit)
@@molitva8832 brooo the Attac 2000 with a suppressor was the shit!! Such a great gun
I loved mag. If only more people followed the command structure. When people would it was amazing seeing the different tactics you could use. Simplest and best was to focus on one objective, then when they are all going to one spot you switch to another really quickly before they could react. You'd have 100 people just run into B and take it.
Occassionally you can see this done to some effect in Battlefield games, it's really hard ro react to when your team is full of randoms and the whole other team is squadded up
MAG needed to have commanders be able to compel players to follow objectives
Dude, this isn't a new concept to mil-sim games, rising storm series had MAG beat by a mile, only difference being that Rising storm games are played way more seriously and had the sim gameplay mechanics.
I think huge MO or MMO style FPS games seems to fail managing customer's gameplay flow, since most of the FPS playerbase only care about shooting each other and K/D rate, when half portion of the game is actually about tactics, just like real war.
I just fucking loved watching how the battlefield on that game evolved over the course of 45 minutes.
Starts out as a fairly typical 16v16 shooter, as the players tried rushing the bunker. Nothing too insane or difficult.
Then the defenders get pushed back, and you got 32v32(or was it 64v64? God it's been too long lol). Things start heating up, you hear more shouting coming through mics, explosions are fairly contained though and both teams still have some degree of tactic and strategy to their methods.
Then the defenders get pushed back AGAIN, and all hell breaks loose. 128v128, airstrikes EVERYWHERE, constant screaming and shouting in the mics, and it's just a fucking bloodbath of insanity as people just sprint past a hundred players, arm an objective(by some insane miracle) and EVERY fucking player, airstrike, grenade, rocket launcher and bullet all flood that one objective, and while that happens, somehow another player will arm the objective AAAAALLLLL the way over here, and the cycle repeats, as all players rush over to the new one, opening up another, and it repeats again for the duration of the match, all to the soundtrack of the OIC absolutely losing their shit as no one ever fucking followed commands because FUCK ALL THAT SHIT!!!!!
Goddamn this game needs remade. Why did Zipper of all developers have to get shut down? I remember subscribing to Qore, a shitty digital gaming magazine type app just so I could get into the beta, and being so fucking hyped just to test out Sabotage(64V64)
It wasn't just the player count that made it so great though. The domination game mode was fucking perfect for having that many players put in the game.
Now I'm getting carried away, I gotta finish with my favorite memory from the game:
I was playing Sabotage on the Valor map(a giant sawmill i believe) and me and my cousin were sniping(on team raven, so we approached from the bottom of the map) from the church steeple all game. We got the same 3-4 players like 8 times in a row, and they were definitely sick and tired of our shit and decided we were their mission for the rest of the game.
We set up claymore and sensor detectors inside, and all of a sudden we hear through the opponents mics(my favorite feature from the game, just hearing any player who happened to be nearby, instead of being flooded with the whole team, or being reduced to a party chat, I wish more games had some way to force players out of party chat so the game could have like COMM's blockers, and shit like that to heighten immersion, imagine an EMP in game going off, and now you can't even communicate with your friends for the duration)
"Yeah, there's those two assholes up in that church building...... yeah wait up and we'll all go in and rush them at once...."
At this point I realized the enemy could probably hear US, so I open the menu and send a text message to my friends playing "DON'T SAY A WORD, WE CAN HEAR THEM, THEY HEAR US, SPAWN ON US ASAP AND STAY QUIET!!!!"
I hear my friends start giggling and simply say "OK yeah good idea".....
Few minutes later a squad of 8 try coming up the ladder to meet us and get fucking pulverized when they see our whole squad just hanging out up there, when only a few minutes earlier it was just the two of us.
Goddamn that game was fantastic.
I never forgot about this game. So many days spent battling in huge lobbies, got me tearing up
and even if you sucked and continuesly lost it was still fun due to its size and Chaotic nature. which i can't really say of any other multiplayer game i played.
@@Ramotttholl yeah man forsure it was just plain ole good arcade plug and play fun man,
I couldn't even remember the title of this game when I thought about it until I saw the thumbnail and title and had major flashbacks. This was my jam when I was younger and the scale of the battles was amazing. I probably played this more than any other shooter at the time. Now I'm seriously missing this game..
MAG was incredible, it had its flaws but that game was something special. The teamwork in that game, how they layed out the teams and the comms. I miss those days so much, the best gaming experience i've ever had.
Shout out to the boys who used to play. All the clans from all 3 factions.
The-System-08 N.T. clan
Former FER here !
This game was so good, the teamwork and community were amazing.
The fact that I was able to play this game and there was hardly any lag when the 256 players converged on each other at the last section of the 128 v 128 game type was mind blowing for me. Also loved the music that would kick on when you were on a kill streak
Really liked MAG, still confused as to why modern shooters dont push massive player counts in online shooters. 64 players max isnt impressive
you ever play Squad its hard to work as team with more than 50 players
To this day MAG is still one of the shooters I have spent the most time playing, only being surpassed by Rainbow Six Siege. I even set up two alternate accounts just so I could have a character in all factions at any given time based on which friends were playing it at the time. I have always wanted a sequel to this for current gen systems but I also doubt any current developer could emulate what zipper did.
Also all the sound tracks for the factions were amazing, particularly SVER with its songs all being performed by Apocalyptica. Still listen to them from time to time.
Can you even still play mag?
I didn't even have this game and I still spent days playing the demo, it was lit, I loved playing with different factions.
It's basically Planetside
Same. I just played the demo a bunch of times and picked up other peoples’ guns since I could never level up.
@lero marle1 shut
This game was the best game I have ever played!!! I have the greatest memories from it!! Teamwork was really important which is really cool. I loved everything about this game! The soundtracks were so great that I bought them on my phone and still listen to them. MAG would really be popular if it would be released today on many platforms and with a graphic upgrade!
Yoooo!!!!! What up!!! :D
I miss Zipper, they gave us some great Mp games. Socom 2 is still the best online shooter I ever played. It was like crack, addictive af!
Whenever a topic of FPS comes up I cannot help but mention M.A.G. This game was truly one of a kind. At least it felt like it at the time. I still carry that feeling.
MAG was awesome. The power trip when you were promoted to an OIC - handing out objectives and watching the teams fulfil them on the tactical map was satisfying in a way no other shooter has come close too.
Try Squad!!! It also has similiar organisation of units!
Uhhh… Battlefield’s commander mode?
As an OG BF1942, BF2 etc player, when this game came out I was impressed as hell, nothing of this scale ever existed until MAG. Good memories playing it until it died and now I have the explanation as to how it did.
Thanks a million for this video. TH-cam recommended it and for once they actually got it right. I was a huge fan of Zipper Interactive and I was a early adopter of MAG when it debuted on PS3. I agree with everything said here, yes, MAG was ahead of its time, yes, MAG could stand toe-to-toe with similar games in the current generation. MAG was one of the games I pointed to on PS3 when friends would ask me why I wasn't on Xbox 360 over the weekend back in the those days. I never played in a 256 player match, but I did play in matches with 160+ people and let me say, it was bananas in a good way. Straight up war in the hot zone. It should also be stated that you could not play MAG effectively without a MIC. Coordination was key or you and your entire squad would get cut to pieces faster than you could say "DAMN!" Sony really dropped the ball by pulling the cord on MAG and worse, not reintroducing it on PS4 or PS5.
I was also really happy that Unit 13 was mentioned. I played and loved that too. Funny story, I was playing Unit 13 with an ex girlfriend. We had to infiltrate a building and kill a terrorist on the second floor. We cleared the outside perimeter and I was trying to quarterback the breach while going through the rear of the building when my ex girlfriend just ran through the front door and shot up the place, killing everything there. I come out of the kitchen to see bodies everywhere. It was awesome because she looks sweet and innocent but she was so violent when gaming. We were laughing so hard, good times man, good times. This video made my day even though it's sad that Sony doesn't seem to care about their older IP like MAG. You just earned a sub.
FUN FACT: there is a team working on reviving this game as we speak, in the name of preservation. Apparently, all the maps, weapons, and data are all on the disc, it just needs a server to ping to boot it up. I hope I can once again return home to Raven.
I get flashbacks of fighting here, as if it was a real war.
I loved Raven, always went with them man. I miss this game so much
Raven was my faction too, and I still feel a sense of pride in that. I hope to get back to there someday.
A MAG remaster would make me so happy
The only faction I played
Thats true thanks for spreading the facts I need to check my modem
Good God I loved this game. To this day, I've never played anything like it. To have over 250 people in a match in organized squads that actually worked together was something else.
PlanetSide 2
@@KingShibe if planetside 2 wasnt such a janky mess I's agree, but almost ALL forms of "teamwork" in PS2 are just gathering into one massive zerg and steamrolling clusterfucky onjectives
MAG was a fantastic game however SOCOM and SOCOM 2 were unbelievable online experiences. The amount of maps on Socom 2 was incredible. Some of the best clan nights I've ever had.
i feel like MAG was an incredible concept with middling execution. Every time i attempted to play during its beta phase, there was poor cooperation, NO communication and an overall lack of focus or progression to speak of. Sorry to say that at first i was pretty hyped for the game, but I ended up playing games like Resistance 2 for my big battle shooter fix or games like Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3 and Team Fortress 2 for my tactical shooter fix instead. Long story short, there were just two many other viable games that fulfilled the niche that MAG was attempting to go for, just they did it on a smaller scale.
I mean at a basis. It was more like it was against T.F.2, left for dead, and Resistance. But it offered more, and sometimes more isn't necessarily better. Even though Im jealous AF that you got to play it. The ps3 was way out of my price range at that time.
I'm guessing you were mostly in Raven playing with randoms. My time in SVER was quite different than the other factions, even without communication people worked together, you actually got revived, pushed back instead of just staying at the spawn when you lost your AA, etc. Valor had the best guns, though, my best kdr's was while I was in that faction. Good times, was hoping it'd come to PC someday.
@@GrandPrix46 Valor was horrible at Acquisition for some reason. Most of the time they were last on the scoreboard. I remember one match in Domination where everyone in my platoon were focusing on the bunkers instead of the burnoff towers. SVER obliterated us that match.
Valor had the most balanced guns, but SVER had ALL of the stopping power. SVER weapons were OP with the proper skill allocation.
@@ShapeshifterOS The AK of SVER was nuts. They also had the shotgun that was just broken, but that got patched. The AK never got patched and was insanely good.
We NEED a MAG and Socom reboot. I want to see what Sony's current first party studios can do with an FPS and TPS game.
SOCOM reboot is a MUST !!!!!!
I played SOCOM and loved it, but haven’t bought a PlayStation console or game since GTASA. I’d buy a PS5 for a reboot of SOCOM.
@@voxbury It would be a system seller for sure!
They’ll just make it woke trash somehow now. It’s best left to memory.
@lero marle1 shut Up
Just a quick heads up, Halo: CE on Xbox didn’t actually have any online features, wasn’t until Halo 2 for Xbox Live
So that's why Halo CE was always so huge on PC, huh. The multiplayer was exclusive in the first place...
@@Mr440c Xbox LAN parties were still a thing though but only up to 16 players (4 players * 4 consoles)
Yeah that caught me off guard right away and I scrolled down to see if anyone else caught that.
XBConnect and GameSpy Arcade allowed you to connect Halo CE online to find matches through their lobbies.
@@BrightEyes8513 XLinkKai is still used too
My defining memory of MAG was everyone trying to kick the squad leader so they could become squad leader.
Ahhh memories :)
MAG was soooooo good. I wish it would get some sort of spiritual successor today because it was an amazing concept and the gameplay was great!
Being able to have a competent squad that capped objectives felt the best
MAG would probably still be around today if it had been on PC as well as PS3. Making an MMOFPS was a big risk for a console audience but Planetside proves there's an audience for this kind of game on PC.
There’s nothing wrong with console-only multiplayer. MAG sold well and was even added to the Greatest Hits lineup for PS3. The video stated that the PSN outage was the thing that held the game back. That and people losing interest in favor of other multiplayer games regardless of the platform. If people were still buying and playing MAG, then Sony would still be supporting it.
Besides, what good would MAG be on a platform that has more issues with hackers than console?
@@mrheisenbird2691 They could not take down the network for PC's.
This. Shooters don't usually have long lifespans on console, at least not for the kind of player counts that MAG required. Large scale tactical shooters were and still are huge on PC. I would love to see a remake of this game with a new engine and based around the realism shooter formula that smaller studios have been successful with. But that will never happen because Sony wants you to buy a PS5.
I think if they would have ported this over to Xbox as well as PC it would have been very popular, especially now with companies enabling cross play in their games. You could have console factions fighting it out for supremacy
I loved MAG back in the day, even all these years later I still have my unplayable copy sitting on my shelf. I’d kill just to go back and walk around the maps again and relive all those hours I put into it back in Middle School. People thought I was crazy for liking it so much, but it’s a bittersweet vindication to see that many appreciate how ahead of it’s time it was all these years later.
I still have my copy aswell
Loved playing MAG, I was the guy hiding at the AA repairing it over and over.
reject 2042 return to MAG
I loved this game! I still remember fighting in that amazing tower on the final point of Copper Hills Relay. (4:48)
The updates were crazy. In addition to rebalancing everything, they also completely changed the progression system to use credits, instead of locking weapons and perks behind a level requirement, so people could unlock what they wanted faster. I think they even added a bunch of new equipment, like flashbangs, and changed a bunch of animations although I can't remember. I remember the best change was allowing factions to FINALLY defend on any map, rather than only their one faction map.
Console games getting updates is common now, but it was pretty novel back then. I sat down to play MAG one day and everything was completely different.
Tfw the game is dead forever. The RPCS3 emulator can emulate PSN, so maybe someone could set up a fan server, but you wouldn't be able to get enough people together for a game. The only thing that could revive MAG is a PC port and that will never happen. RIP Zipper.
This game fucking slapped. That final point was always such a cluster and so much fun.
@@quincygaming9529 Remember when the flashbang update was released? GOOD LORD MAN. I wasnt able to see shit for WEEKS because of the fights at valors sabo map.
Cooper hills was such a beautiful map!! I have great momeries there
I'm still mad about SOCOM II, MAG was the closest game to offer that reliance on teamwork as the primary means to a good game.
Me too Socom 2 was the best
@@Tupac_Shakur-NL Nothing like the clan community in that game, and the clan wars we were having on a nightly basis.
green up bois.
PlanetSide 2
This was an amazing game. Just the fact that there is a system in place to coordinate games with a large group is a feat that has not been replicated in today's time. You could set up a whole clan, each individual squad and still seamlessly enable everyone to communicate and play at the same time if you desired. When it came down to the gameplay, you could customize your player's loadout and looks to your heart's desire and no two people looked alike. There really hasn't been a similar FPS and I miss it dearly to this day.
MAG was my favorite shooter of all time easily. It felt clunky the way I remember it but the gunplay felt good and balanced. Character skills and equipment and customization was way ahead of its time alone. The scale was amazing and I never felt anything similar until BF4 on ps4 with 64 players! I know pc had games after MAG with similar scale but I wasn’t on pc
So glad i got to platinum this game, I was the deadliest healer you ever met. I would love to see another game this massive come along. I know there's battle royale games and a couple mmofps games but I mean closer to matching this structured and organized matchmaking
I also platinumed MAG and WarHawk I would play these anyday over cod or battlefield
Shame the servers were shut down
Planetside 2?🤔
Planetside
@@rynocalitz3292 i never got to play MAG cuz I had a 360😓😅
I got my plat in this and the Japanese version I loved it so much.
I remember hearing about MAG when I was in high school, never got to play it though, and never heard about it ever since. It's insane that it didn't get more widespread, 256 players on a single battlefield sounds so fun
MAG is the best game I have ever played yet!! It was crazy good
You missed out..
Ah, one of my favorites, it was a good time. My crew was definitely OP at the time because we always revived each other and worked together not caring about our KDR just taking the bunkers and burning towers. The proximity chat was just the best in that game.
- Server-side lobbies (no lag switches will work)
- No aim-assist
- Devs that listen to feedback
= why can't we have this nowadays?
This game was probably one of the best titles for fps games before CoD turned the genre into a cookie cutter format. It was presenting the customer with a product that is still above and beyond what is offered currently. Having lived this experience I can say I wish it had the success it deserved, but the industry tends not to reward innovation until years after the fact.
Unless it's immediately super successful and then everyone jumps on the trend until it is beat into the ground.
So sad that they closed the servers relatively very quickly. It was an amazing game. Sony should bring it back along with Warhawk. Even if its just a simple port
fact i almost forgot abo
Even the warhawk demo was awesome lol
modders are working on it :)
Warhawk was the game in my PS3 bundle (: I still have my fatty to this day and Warhawk as well
@@SpudEater same! I liked Warhawk but was always struggling with the controls.
Please make more videos about underrated/forgotten games: Area 51 series (2005/2007), Timeshift (2007), Clive Barker's Jericho (2007), Dead to Rights series, Conflict series (Desert Storm,Vietnam...), Bulletstorm (2011), Painkiller series, Shellshock series (2004/2009), Commandos series, Darkwatch (2005), Delta Force Series, Brute Force (2003), Pariah (2005). Your channel is amazing.
Miss my RareBreed squad mates from MAG! We use to stack up all the teams and squads in the platoon and rush the objectives with 32 people at once. Was such a fun game.
There were two game that would really benefit from the newer generation: this and Motorstorm. MAG especially was such an incredibly unique, and I mean UNIQUE title for the PS3 that I really hate I wasn’t able to experience it. Heck, it’s crazy to think that it took another couple generations before Call of Duty and Battlefield would even be able to get anywhere CLOSE to that player count! Even Battlefield 2042 couldn’t get to that and it’s a cross Gen title!
Motorstorm was so good.
@@802Garage The soundtrack was amazing and the graphics for the day were just unmatched among racing games along with amazing races and vehicle classes
Planetside 1
I remember working at GameStop when Sony brought out a 22 inch monitor with 3D and each player on the monitor would only see their screen through their glasses (out of the gate $500 or $400 dollar price tag was steep for the size of it but when it got down to $150 bucks we were all fighting over it in the store). At the time one of the newest motorstorm games was the demo (I think Pacific something?) The 3D effect on that and the speed blew me away. I've tried other games in 3D but nothing made me move head like that as tree branches came toward the screen and water hit the screen. The car models really held up too. I'm really shocked at launch Sony hasn't brought back Motorstorm for the PS5. I feel like it's a great showcase for the system and they are fun.
Add Resident Evil outbreak to that. Everything in this game (and it's sequel) is almost perfect. Release it today with less heavy and clunky controls and it'd be gold.
MAG was actually really good, alot of people just missed out on a good shooter! No idea why it didn`t became more popular.
It released 2 months after MW2, and then Bad Company 2 released 2 months after MAG, also Black Ops 1 released the following November.
I still got it for ps3, don't know if the servers are still live though. It was mad fun though, lots of players and HUGE map... I feel bad for anyone that didn't get a chance to play it..
I've never even heard of it, and I'm kinda sad that I didn't, but then again I didn't have a ps3 so I had no real choice either
@@thebigXgaming they closed it down a couple years after it’s release I believe
@@HydratedBeans I'm pretty sure by that point Sony was starting to pass Microsoft. Microsoft definitely had them the first couple years. But by the end Sony came out on top. Neither could touch the WII doh.
Thank you for this video !
I didn't know Zipper was behind SOCOM too ! It's crazy that Sony shut the studio down. Damn shame...
MAG was really cool, even though some elements were lacking (for example, the tutorial : same training range for every faction with no visual identity... And no solo campaign or AI BOT mode). I miss the game and I still listen to it's awesome soundtrack to this day !
MAG was tons of fun. Whenever we were losing ground I would leave my platoon, go behind energy lines, and complete a master flank.
I put thousands of hours into this game, I have yet to play anything like it. I loved the premise of it, also it was the first and only game I’ve ever played where I never hit a single lag spike or server crash. Honestly the game was ahead of its time.
Too far ahead
@@jakeesco4573 no such thing
I ‘member the days of throwing down a flash in the initial spawn at valor base during a suppression match, banging the whole team in a screen of white with endless swears to flood the mic as the match starts….every time.
Miss those days…
And that's why Valor lost.
Incidentally, I'm super colorblind, and when they introduced the flashbamgs, it turns out I'd be able to see nearly a full second faster than everyone else. = )
Good times.
The clan I was in (MIA) used to host flashbang Fridays. We would fill an entire platoon, sometimes two. Every single one of us would spam flashbangs for shits and giggles. Lol good times!
@@johnrogowski791 Lol, I remember playing against you guys. OSG here, from SVER (mostly).
I’m so glad you cover this!! I told my buddies about it when they released battlefield 2042 because it reminded me so much of it!
I miss this game so much. Had a character in each faction. Loved Domination, Sabo, Acquisition, glitching for fun. so much good times, meeting cool people. it was my first FPS, and is what helped me to start learning Japanese. there's nothing like it. one of my favorite games ever.
Man I remember playing so much MAG after the outage. Still have the special edition with the metal case as everything. Good times
yea still have my standard edition from ps3 couldnt ever bring myself to throw it out i kept hoping the servers would come back and now its just sitting there same as all my other ps3 games as i have never sold or gotten rid of a game except i did loose my n64/ps2 collection when i moved cross country big rip
i just threw out my mag disc about a month ago and i felt bad about it
I played the hell out of this game back in the day
What faction were you.
I have forgotten the names over the years but I was the scavvy Russian crew
I never got to play due to being on Xbox at the time, but I still remember reading about it in a gaming MAGazine before it released. It was the kind of shooter that I'd dreamed about for a looong time, and I prayed that it would do well. I hope something like it can be executed properly soon with the performance and graphical advancements we have today.
Planetside is basically the same thing only it still has support for anyone that wants to try massive online fps games
Its similar but not the same, I prefered MAG by a longshot, MAG was more action packed
It would be, if it wasn't almost impossible to get into a server without paying for their shitty premium service. Free players get stuck in unending queue hell while those paying for its monthly package get put right in.
Eh, Planetside kinda sucked for me, hated how some of the guns on one faction just felt completely useless while the other's guns were just ridiculously OP, that and locking genuinely good weapons behind paywalls, at least it isn't completely P2W like Warface.
Planetside 2 is a janky, unbalanced hellhole.
Its alright, but not really recommendable until they bring back the PS1 style map flow and resource management
@@rdowg And balance out faction weapons so one isn't more powerful than the other or start out with shitty DMRs...
From my knowledge before this video, MAG was known for its name and for the MP lobby size.
While Halo had its own identity in campaign, co-op, and multiplayer. The gameplay and lore also helped.
This was my first online game and every time I hear the Sver soundtrack I get a chill up my spine. This game had a lot of potentials and came around too late. If MAG was released 2 or 3 years earlier it might have caught fire but with stuff like MW2, Black Ops, Reach, etc it made it hard to survive. I do hope that Sony revisits this franchise because it could do great if they keep it simple and straight forward with minimal bs.
this game was so freaking fun i was so sad when i couldnt find anymore matches...
Being a part of an actual faction was something different… you were truly part of a team in MAG .
Damn MAG was my Friday night game back in the day. It was responsible for so many happy nights. Thanks for doing this
Omg. I totally forgot about this game. Lol
So did everyone else evidently
That's why it failed
Lol you weren't the only one. 5 years ago I seen this game in a bargain bin at Walmart for $5 I picked it up just to realize I just bought a game that could no longer be played .
I heard about it at least once on Game Informer
I didn’t. I think of it a couple times a year. Good memories
This game was so ahead of its time and was what made me love the PS3. I'm amazed people actually remember this game at all since it feels like a fever dream and little to no people talk about it.
I'd LOVE to see a MAG come out. I think it would be a significant hit today. It was ahead of its time back then.
MAG was literally my life when I had a ps3 it was amazing and when the they did all the bug fixes it just made it so much better. I miss this game I remember rumors of MAG 2 years ago but looks like nothing still... I hope the resurrect this game. They could make it like planetside 2 and just have constant 1000 person battles
Sorry console doesn't have that number we are lucky to get 500
I enjoyed this MAG greatly when it was still up! I would come back from a hard day at college to play this everyday and take part in the massive battles. Sometimes it felt like you were shooting at cardboard, but it was so fun to have so much going on and helping your team take checkpoints.
I've been talking about this game like crazy lately. I miss it. It was so underrated.
Damn i miss this game, i miss the satisfying sound when u get a headshot, the customization, the music, the factions, everything was jus amazing. Its crazy how this game keeps calling me back, and im thankful people are still doing videos about MAG. MAG will always b a part of my heart, The greatest fps experience i’ve ever had.
Man, I completely forgot about MAG. I remember how big the push was for this game, then, it just kinda faded away.
This game was fantastic. Shame for the monetization practices.
Yeah!
Yeah, it was the worst microtransaction design practiced. It segregated the community that caused a bubble burst of activity. It was a treat to play Interdiction.
This game was ahead of it’s time!
Lol watching this video almost brought a tears to my eyes. I loved playing MAG met tons of cool people through MAG some I still talk to this day. MIA Burnt toast !!
I remember being super stoked for this game when they announced it. The game would have worked, but I have a feeling Sony chose Planetside 2 over MAG.
Sony has washed its hands on Planetside 2 IMHO. I used to play it for a few years since before the public release, and it just kept getting worse and worse. Good features got cut or bastardized, bad features proliferated, and all that against a backdrop of increasing monetization and worsening performance.
We'll be seeing red arrows in the next thumbnail lol
Yeah, I'm not too crazy about the use of cheap attention grabbing tactics for their thumbnails either. Really cheapens their brand even though these videos are always top notch.
@@RemnantCult Yeah exactly. This is one of those channels to be held to a higher standard.
Imagine if Ahoy started peddling RAID: Shadow Legends at us lol.
@@RemnantCult sorry but I disagree
The simple fact is that clickbait brings in the views and we want this channel to grow-it isn’t GVMERS fault that TH-cam punishes non clickbait titles
Besides, the content hasn’t changed, just the wrapper to draw in the views
As the channel grows they should get more Patreon members and they can hire more staff to make more videos quicker while maintaining quality
This can only be a good thing as far as I’m concerned
One of my favorite shooters of all time. Breaking ground on an older console with player counts. The game was ahead of its time. Honestly wish they would do a remaster or MAG2.
One of my favorite games of all time. Met some of the coolest people through MAG that I still play with today.
Timely reminder that MAG had one of the best soundtracks of the past decade. Holy SHIT man, every faction had a million thematic and unique themes for everything from the main menu, winning a match, losing a match, going on a killstreak. DAMN it went hard.
Every faction had thematic themes, huh?
@@iami3rian394 yes.
Yooo it went so hard!! I would just vibe to it!!! Every factions had great soundtracks! I even bought every soundtracks so i could listen them on my phone
@@iami3rian394 look up, SVER theme soundtrack, same for Raven and Valor. They all had unique soundtracks
@@mikebond6060 I'm well aware, just pointing out that a theme is thematic by definition.
It would be like saying that drama was dramatic, or that trauma was traumatic. Of course the THEME was THEMatic, that's how those things work. = )
Man, I put an ungodly amount of hours in the game. I didn’t understand enough back then to really say it was objectively great, but it holds a special place to me. So happy to see this video.
The factions too, I forgot how much I loved them. I love how distinct they managed to make them, it really felt like there was something for everyone.
I played this game a lot as a teenager. Me and my roommate still talk about it fondly and hope for a sequel someday. It was so fun and impressive at the time
I played MAG back in the day. Very ahead of its time. Ran very well, too. I still have the steelbook.
Lol when MAG came out and I saw the 256 player count I thought that was the beginning of Mass Warfare shooters
I loved MAG and Warhawk, sad that neither have a current iteration.
Jesus I forgot about Warhawk.
When I think about Heavenly Sword and Blazing Angels I realize how spoiled I was back then!
I heard that you can play warhawk again some people revived the game
@@mikebond6060 you have to have an emulator, the official servers are no longer available
I remember towards the end of MAG's life probably starting around June 2012 the only way to play the 256 player mode domination was to play in the USA morning hours 8 AM - 12 PM EST when most of the Japanese people played during Japanese prime time. After that it was nearly impossible to play the 256 player mode at any other time during the day past June 2012.
yeah and it had horrible latency, but was still worth playing...
@@jonny5isalive353 - Yes it was. I never understood why Americans / Europeans didn't play Domination towards the end of MAG's life. I could never log onto MAG in late 2012 or 2013 and play Domination at 8 or 9 PM EST. It sucked, because I was restricted to only playing Domination on the weekends for the most part.
@@x7251z for the last year of Mag I joined the Orphans clan and we played suppression and sabotage mostly, it was a blast...My favorite mode was always dom but it was like you say almost impossible to find a match other than morning EST...
@@jonny5isalive353 - I don't remember the Orphans clan. What PMC was it on, and the clan tag ? I played mostly on Valor - (VL$, and TPU) clans, and Raven (.W., and SON) clans.
@@x7251z iirc it was ORP we would switch it up between SVER and VALOR...
I remember the day I fired up my PS3 to play MAG and received a notification that there were no longer any active servers. Such sadness...