Modern Warfare 2 - No dedicated servers?

[IllegalPaladin]

Oh great, here comes the angle that they're just trying to help and we should drop our pants for their pointless changes in regards to the gameinformer article. I think we'd be a little more accepting of the matchmaking if they weren't removing dedicated servers. The crap like no more modding/custom stuff just tips the scales even more.

Matchmaking/smoother gameplay - I don't get how that is better than dedicated servers in regards to pings and community. If you want to play just based on skill, you can play in clan matches. I'd rather have dedicated servers where I can play in the same server all the time with the a other regular players. I'd rather play with server regulars than have numerous people pelt my friends list with blank friend requests like what happens on PSN (and I would assume XBL too). Even if it makes playing a little quicker to get into, I don't see why it can't be in conjuction with dedicated servers.

Playlists and private matches - You can set your filters on your server list and find reliable servers that way. As for using the friendlist and forming a party, so what? Maybe the party thing would be nice for servers, but it's not like things are really lacking on the dedicated server front (apart from having to find a different one due to one being full). Lets look at Steam for example, I can use my friends list to see if a friend is playing a game (lets say Team Fortress 2). If he is, I can see what server he's in and join it. In regards to private matches, a dedicated server can put up a password as well as run specific match settings (I remember Counter-Strike matches and how running console commands would reset the whole server to run match settings).

Cheat/Hack free games - I'll only believe that when I see it. Not only that, but I want to see it remain cheat/hack free for years after it's out. Heck, people can exploit and such to get the upper hand on the consoles. So tell me, what are you going to do when you're in matchmaking and somebody is cheating? You're options wont be that much different than if you're using dedicated servers, except with dedicated servers an admin can kick/ban the player in question.