Last year, when I was sitting in the third row, front and center, during Sony's E3 2008 conference, they started talking about some massive first-person shooter they've been working on. And then they mentioned that this game would also support up to 256 players...simultaneously. I kind of chuckled to myself thinking the amount of detail per character would probably be limited. And then I saw the trailer. But still, it could've just been conceptual. And then I was told everything was in-game assets. Oh. I remained a bit skeptical, regardless...and then we saw it actually being played at this year's conference.

At that point I realized I need to stop doubting Sony, already. They delivered with Killzone 2, and they're delivering with Gran Turismo 5, among other things I can't think of immediately. MAG is shaping up to be precisely the experience Sony and Zipper have said it would be. 256 players will populate an enormous map, so unlike other games where even 18 is a crowd and you find yourself dead every 10 seconds, the game world in MAG will actually be more accommodating, albeit not to the point where you'll get lost navigating.