By Nathan Grayson on August 10th, 2012 at 9:00 am.
Happily, “MP,” in this case, does in fact stand for multiplayer – not, say, “marching penguins” or “mandible pianos.” Nor is it a mangling of the frankly quite spellable word “map.” At any rate, I’m devastated to find that we haven’t posted about Just Cause 2‘s still-in-development multiplayer mod, so I’m fixing that. Specifically, its beta will be temporarily grappling/parachuting/plane-surfing into your life this weekend. I’ve placed a video below to whet your appetite – though honestly, if the words “Just Cause 2 with hundreds of other people” don’t do it for you, you’re probably… a lost cause. [Puts on sunglasses. Camera pulls back to reveal I've been languidly parachuting away from a gigantic explosion the entire time.]
If you’ve taken part in the beta before, the team’s posted patch notes for this weekend’s edition. It kicks off on Saturday at 1 AM PST, which is 8 AM GMT. Unfortunately, however, you can’t preemptively download a client just yet. You can, however, prepare by snagging a legitimate copy of Just Cause 2. The devs explained:
“If there is a public beta currently running, you can find the latest version of JC2-MP on our website. You can only join the server when there is a public beta test going on. If there is a public test running, it will be shown on the website.”
“No, [pirated copies] are not supported and any bugs or crashes caused by them are ignored. When JC2-MP has been released, servers will be able to require a legit copy of the game, which enables banning by Steam ID.”
So that’s the basic rundown. I definitely plan on jumping in, as I – like most sane human beings – completely adore Just Cause 2′s masterful brand of effortless madness. And in my experience, mods make it all even better. So if multiplayer ups my enjoyment anywhere near as much as a two-mile-long grappling hook did, I’m sold. And if we can eventually combine multiplayer and two-mile-long grappling hooks? Well then, shut down the gaming industry folks. That’s it. We’ve done it. We’ve done it all.
10/08/2012 at 09:11 Baboonanza says:
This really is an amazing achievment and I’m looking forward to giving it a go.
10/08/2012 at 09:13 spindaden says:
If they’re on the ball, this would be a good weekend for Valve and Squeenix to put it on sale.
Not that it’s what you’d call pricey as it is mind. But a big flash XX% off! has a way of grabbing people’s attention and encouraging that impulse buy.
10/08/2012 at 09:30 Mr. Mister says:
It won’t be the first weekend test, but the 6th, moreorless. Why do you think JC2 won a community sale after all?
EDIT: Ohhh look it’s only for 3.74€ here: http://indiefort.gamersgate.com/DD-JC2/just-cause-2
Note that ALL purchased JC2 copies are activated on Steam, no matter where you aquired it.
10/08/2012 at 09:47 Yuri says:
Thanks for sharing, just bought it with accumulated Blue Coins, essentially for free.
Gotta love GamersGate. <3
10/08/2012 at 10:30 Obeith says:
Thx, just picked it up
10/08/2012 at 12:06 Llewyn says:
How is JC2 on the PC? I spent quite a bit of time with the PS3 version but think I might pick this up for the sake of £2.50 – will I be blown away or will I be wondering why my PC needs ten times the grunt to produce just the same quality?
10/08/2012 at 12:50 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
I don’t know whether the MP mod changes it at all, but JC2 was pretty easy on the graphics card. It does require DX10, I believe, so Vista or Win7 only.
10/08/2012 at 13:45 Reapy says:
Had no problem with it on my PC with it kinda maxed out, was pretty smooth. The only problem is that vehicle control cries out for an analog stick, otherwise grappling and moving around as a person are fine with kb + mouse.
10/08/2012 at 15:08 Zyrxil says:
It does have mouse-acceleration that cannot be disabled.
10/08/2012 at 15:28 Mr. Mister says:
It’s pretty sweet. Major problem is the digital input for turning vehicles, but the rest is pretty swell. You can mod it!
Oh, and you can’t fine-aim while dual-wielding on the PC version. Don’t ask me why.
10/08/2012 at 17:27 seanblah12 says:
I’ve got a 3GHz pentium 4 and a ATI 4670 with 3 Gig of ram and it runs great so unless you’ve got a truly ancient PC (even more than mine) you should be fine
10/08/2012 at 09:19 Mr. Mister says:
*THOUSANDS of other players.
Also this test introduces synched foot weapons, so expect more chaos than in other sessions.
BTW, did you know that almost all of the +7000 spawning vehicles had to be manually placed (and most of the times parked after) by one guy?
Also, remember that a vehiucle won’t respawn until it’s been destroyed. Keep that in mind if you’re a babay who can only travel around Panau in a jet.
EDIT: Why not, everyone let’s spam their IRC with “when next test”. Tell them Mr. Mister sent you xD. http://www.jc-mp.com/irc/
10/08/2012 at 09:39 Ian says:
HARD SURFACE.
10/08/2012 at 09:54 RogB says:
this looks crackers. Reinstalling now!
10/08/2012 at 09:55 LionsPhil says:
ARGH. It would be the weekend work has claimed. /o\
10/08/2012 at 09:56 Mr. Mister says:
Don’t worry, it won’t be the first nor the last weekend test.
10/08/2012 at 11:00 frightlever says:
His weekend job could be as a lion dentist so this might legitimately be his last chance.
10/08/2012 at 11:23 Didden says:
You win best comment so far.
12/08/2012 at 13:01 LionsPhil says:
I agree.
11/08/2012 at 04:11 rsanchez1 says:
Pssh, lion dentist has NOTHING on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPvCuc1_mgM&feature=player_embedded
Video says needs strong heart to watch for a reason. This is Rico Rodriguez-style work.
10/08/2012 at 09:56 Heliocentric says:
I would like to tell everyone that I will be the one parachuting through the air holding 2 machine guns, weaving around rockets and hijacking jets midair, but that somehow seems unspecific.
10/08/2012 at 10:02 Mr. Mister says:
Since weapon spawns are still unstable (have a tendency of falling tçhrough the world), all players will be assigned a random non-DLC weapon on spawn.
Yesh. Bubble blaster included.
10/08/2012 at 10:42 vee41 says:
That’s equal to saying that you’ll be the guy at heavy metal concert with long hair and black t-shirt.
10/08/2012 at 11:33 Koozer says:
I’ll be the guy ramping speedboats over military bases while standing on the bonnet. No, the other guy. No, the OTHER, other guy.
10/08/2012 at 12:48 skorpeyon says:
Unless they’ve changed the hijacking as well, as of the last couple tests midair hijacking from stunt position has been disabled. You can hijack while on foot if a vehicle is going slow enough (and a few people have found that certain vehicles like tanks with no entry animation can be hijacked any time if you can time the button press correctly) but otherwise you cannot hijack. Well, motorcycles can be hijacked still as well. Found that out in the last public beta and warred with someone over a motorcycle for about 10 minutes, laughing hysterically the whole time.
10/08/2012 at 10:01 FloorBelow says:
This mod is the defenition of “pretty swell.”
10/08/2012 at 10:03 Wang Tang says:
Cool guys don’t look at explosions.
10/08/2012 at 15:25 Zarunil says:
Damn, beat me to it.
10/08/2012 at 10:10 Nemon says:
I want to hug Nathan Grayson for including a pun in the picture-mouse-hover-thingy. You guys need to do that more often. Just ‘Cause you need 2 do this. For science.
10/08/2012 at 10:22 Tei says:
Damn.. I don’t remember my Steam password :(
10/08/2012 at 11:57 Ross Angus says:
Take mine – it’s password123$$.
10/08/2012 at 10:36 jimangi says:
Hey! This JC2 multiplayer video actually includes members of the RPS community.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZYvbSN7ZiU
Though, of course, since it was me filming it’s mostly stuff that happened to me.
10/08/2012 at 15:39 ArthurBarnhouse says:
That looks absolutly bonkers.
11/08/2012 at 04:20 rsanchez1 says:
I tend to think “epic” is an overused word, used by whatever idiot to try to make anything sound cool, but this, THIS sir, is EPIC.
11/08/2012 at 15:02 Ayam says:
Jimangi fans might want to catch up with some of his racing antics last time, I even got to race against Jimangi, it was a real highlight to face off against such an Internet celebrity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhH2PJa5g5M
10/08/2012 at 11:40 John Mirra says:
>Unfortunately, however, you can’t preemptively download a client just yet.
Last time client size was about 1 Mb, so this is not a big deal.
10/08/2012 at 12:34 InternetBatman says:
If this works, and I hope it does, this is one of the great achievements in modding.
10/08/2012 at 12:46 Telemikus says:
Just CauZ – They must make this happen! I will then surgically install a womb into myself and sneak into their bedrooms, steal a lock of their hair and create a clone that I can extract the *ahem* reproductive DNA from and have their babies, whoever ‘they’ may be.
10/08/2012 at 15:29 Mr. Mister says:
Australians mainly.
10/08/2012 at 12:58 Ciber says:
3rd person perspective doesn’t work for me. BTW multiplayer with grapples has been done. In quake 2 with 3 wave CTF. Yes that long ago.
10/08/2012 at 14:12 neolith says:
ChaosUT2004 had one as well. Ah… good times, good times…
10/08/2012 at 14:36 noodlecake says:
Sounds good! I’m just not sure it could be as fun as multiplayer on GTA IV. The physics in that game made it much more fun. The vehicles drive better, the euphoria engine makes running people over and falling off things seem terrible in every other game since besides Red Dead Redemption.
10/08/2012 at 14:46 Calabi says:
This is why they shouldnt do an official version. It would be shit, because it would be so limited.
10/08/2012 at 15:37 derbefrier says:
So apparently i have had JC2 and forgot about it. (probably an impulse buy during a steam sale) I actually started playing it these last couple weeks and man is it a fun game nothing like parachuting down grappling onto a helicopter throwing the pilot out the setting a crash course for some enemy fort then bailing and laughing manically as i parchute down watching the whole place explode taking potshts at the fleeing bad guys ..then i imagined that with 1000+ people. This multiplayer mod just sounds like pure insanity..i’ll be there.
10/08/2012 at 16:01 hjd_uk says:
Oh god just watching that vid makes we want to carry on trying to 100% complete that game.
11/08/2012 at 04:33 rsanchez1 says:
I had completed up to around 70% of JC2, when I ran into a town that I just could not get 100%. I looked it up online and turns out there’s a bug at this particular town, and after throwing 50 hours into the game up to that point, I just flew into a blind rage and rampaged through the island of Panau for the rest of the day.
10/08/2012 at 17:58 Ateius says:
Glorious chaos! This looks fantastic.
10/08/2012 at 18:27 CharlO says:
I’m deeply embarrassed because you failed to mention Mecha Penguins.
12/08/2012 at 07:57 rsanchez1 says:
Just came back from the trenches and… mind… BLOWN. As crazy as JC2 is by itself, adding 1500 other people is just madness. It’s pure, unadulterated MADNESS. Go to the Mile High Club, I dare you. On top of everyone in the club shooting rocket launchers at each other, you also have the 20 helicopters and jets outside shooting into the club and shooting at each other. You need fast reflexes to even get into the game. Stay in the spawn spot, and off you go to respawn. Piloting a plane is an adventure too. If you want to go the “easy” way and go to a teleport airport, there are griefers everywhere just waiting for you to try to lift off. I tried maybe 10 times before I could lift off on my airliner, and it was already smoking. If you want to have a chance at flying, you’ll need to take the time to go to a more secluded airfield.
Overall, it’s WAY more madness than you could ever expect.
10/08/2012 at 09:43 Zarunil says:
Swell! I’d LOVE to give you my credit card information!
10/08/2012 at 09:57 Sidion says:
I’m gonna give them my routing number! Cut out the middle man!
10/08/2012 at 15:05 lordcooper says:
Where do I send my full birth certificate?
11/08/2012 at 04:10 rsanchez1 says:
Have my first born!