BF2 surppose to be a good game .. but never tried it .. If you are going to go with Call Of Duty, then i would go with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare (COD4)
on Modern Warfare 2 there is no dedicated and the banning thing is IWNET .. and they suck at banning ...
And there are a few hakers on there too ... also it can take u agers to coonect to one game .. IWNET sucks that bad ..
if your not wanting a server, then i would personaly go for CoD: MW2 .. but if you are wanting servers .. then go for CoD4 ..
COD4 does not require steam to play, however u can buy the game from steam ..
oh and btw the new map packs that are for MW2 u have to buy on steam .. there is no where that u can dload for free .. u have to pay for the new maps (i bought them, 5 new maps including 2 maps from cod 4 - crash and overgrown) the new maps are really good but pointless in buying as you can only play in certain sections of the game ..
also, since there are no dedicated servers, all map types you can have a max of 12 players (6 vs 6), or u can go on ground war and have a max of 18 (9 vs 9) ..
u can do private maps, so u can invite who ever u want in the game .. but as a warning, u DO NOT get any xp in private matches .. only in public matches ..
the game will ramdimly pick a 'host' for the game .. so u may lag .. or if ur the host .. they could lag .. if the host leaves, the match will pause and then will randomly pick a new best host .. this could be quick or take a while .. depends on ur connection
if you guys need any other help in what games to get servers or what games to play, then ask members on my clans forum .. www.thephreakz.net
we have servers on ET, Left4Dead, COD4 .. im sure other members will also help u in wha games to get a server
Kind Regards
BladEPhReaK
PS - if you dont like me posting my clans forum adress, then i do apologise