Modern Warfare-2 PC has matchmaking-not-Dedicated Servers
Well the good news was that the PC version Modern Warefare 2 wasn't being delayed, but it is being overshadowed by the announced lack of dedicated servers. Yeah, stop and think about that for a second; a PC game that in the past has relied solely on dedicated servers is going to nothing but matchmaking. Modern Warfare 2 is now going to be reliant on the new matchmaking service called IWnet and will not allow users to host their own servers. IWnet will run in conjunction with Steam to bring matchmaking to Modern Warfare 2.Bowling said that an official announcement will come from Valve regarding how the Steam integration of Modern Warfare 2.
The lack of dedicated servers and a server browser means that the player will be reliant on IWnet. The new matchmaking service will match players of same rank and will provide private matches. A (small) upside is that Modern Warfare 2 will not use crappy Punk Buster for anti-cheat (it never works correctly and is the bane of my existence) but will use Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC).
The lack of dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 PC is a blow; the whole point in playing a PC games is the ability to host your own and run mods and custom maps. There is little information on how Infinity Wards matchmaking is going to work with mods (doubtful). Bowling maintains that the new matchmaking service for Modern Warfare 2 is going to be a boon to the PC gaming community. A better system would be to emulate the L4D matchmaking. hardcore PC gamers can host their own servers and matchmaking can place you on those servers.
Personally, I have never been a fan of matchmaking services on the PC; If I did, I would play a console.