All things related to multicast

[(Kevin C. Almeroth)]

>>http://www.stomped.com/published/jcal987178242_1_1.html
>>
>>Valve's Multicast Tech Interview
>>April 13th, 2001
>>By John "JCal" Callaham
>>
>>The Counter-Strike mod for Half-Life has become the most popular first
>>person shooter game to be played on the Internet by a wide margin over the
>>past year or so and is now begining to become a staple in pro gaming
>>tournaments. At the CPL/Speakeasy.net Counter-Strike Tournament that is
>>currently happening in Dallas this week, the folks at Valve Software are
>>showing off a beta version of some new software technology that will allow
>>spectators to watch a Counter-Strike match in progress. The multicast
>>technology could open up the way for pro gaming tournaments to become a true
>>spectator sport.
>>Stomped got a chance to briefly chat with Erik Johnson, the project manager
>>at Valve, about the new technology and Valve's plans for their future
>>support of pro gaming.
>>
>>Stomped: First, how did Valve first come up with this new spectator
>>technology?
>>
>>Johnson: Ever since we released Half-Life, we've been looking for
>>interesting ways to support the online and competitive gaming communities.
>>We met Martin Otten over the Internet a few months back. He approached us
>>with the beginnings of this project, we made some suggestions, and this is
>>the end result.
>>
>>Stomped: What are the main features of this new tech?
>>
>>Johnson: The current multicast spectator allows an unlimited number of
>>spectators to connect to a server at once. If the clients and server are
>>multicast capable, then a proxy server connected to the game server could
>>potentially host an infinite number of clients at once. The multicast
>>spectator also allows users to view the map from a top-down view, where you
>>can watch iconic representations of the players connected to the game.
>>Network data can be buffered up at the proxy for an arbitrary amount of
>>time, which will allow us to do some more interesting things in the future
>>(i.e. instant replay of spectacular events).
>>
>>Stomped: Once the spectator tech leaves beta, how does Valve plan to
>>distribute it?
>>
>>Johnson: This will be rolled into the next Half-Life/Counter-Strike update,
>>so it will be available to all of our customers. We will also be
>>distributing a stand-alone version of the client.
>>Stomped: Will Valve charge a fee for professional tournaments to use this
>>technology?
>>
>>Johnson: No.
>>Stomped: Will this new technology be used in games other than
>>Counter-Strike?
>>
>>Johnson: Absolutely, this doesn't actually require much in the way of code
>>work on the part of mod makers. We'll be releasing an SDK to our mod-makers
>>before we release the next Half-Life update so mod makers have time to roll
>>this new feature into their mod.
>>Stomped: Do you believe this new technology will make pro gaming tournaments
>>more popular among spectators?
>>
>>Johnson: I certainly hope so. I think it would be pretty amazing to have 1
>>million people tuned in to watch the Counter-Strike tournament finals.
>>Stomped: What other plans does Valve have in supporting pro gaming
>>tournament in the future?
>>
>>Johnson: We've been working on the current spectator technology for quite
>>some time, but not specifically as a pro gaming feature. We think this is
>>something that all of our customers will really enjoy using, but it happens
>>to be particularly interesting from a professional gaming standpoint.
>>Professional gaming and the CPL represent the hardcore gamers of our user
>>base, which are an extremely important segment to listen to if you want to
>>have success with an online game.
>>
>>Links
>>
>>Valve Software
>>Cyberathlete Professional League
>>
>>