Remember the good old days when you and up to three of your friends would hang out at someone’s house playing video games together all night long. You could compete with each other or team up in four player games, trash talking and making jokes. Remember how you could actually turn to your side and look your opponent in the face as you ruthlessly gloated at them? Remember what it was like to see everyone’s characters on one screen? Remember how you never had to have an internet connection to play games with friends? This was called “local multiplayer” and it’s starting to become a scarcity. Where has all the multiplayer gone? In one word, “online”.
With the creation of the next gen systems a lot of emphasis has been put into online play. Microsoft and Sony are relentlessly promoting their online networks with add on’s, perks and extra features that are all only accessible online. New games are being developed that push the boundaries of online gaming, such as the massive multiplayer style of M.A.G. or the immensely popular trend of MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games) such as World of Warcraft and the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI. And games such as Modern Warfare 2 have made more of a name for themselves as online multiplayer gaming arenas than as a single player game.
But what about the face-to-face multiplayer we all grew up with? I can’t battle legions of undead with three of my friends in Left 4 Dead (one or two) without all of us getting online at the same time or getting together two TVs, systems, and copies of the game for a system link. I tried playing the shooter/role playing hybrid Borderlands with friends, but you can only play two characters on a system, and when you do important text like your name and stats get cut out of the menus. I can’t even play two player cooperative on Dynasty Warriors: Gundam even though the other Dynasty Warriors games have it. It just seems like developers don’t care to make games that four people can play in one room anymore. Sure, you can buy four wireless controllers for your 360 or PS3, but all you could use them for is playing triple-A first person shooters such as Halo and Modern Warfare; everything else is just pushed aside. The recently released Bioshock 2 had a multiplayer mode added to its content, but you can’t play it without an online connection.
I realize this may seem like a small complaint. Everyone should have an online connection these days and getting a membership to Xbox Live costs about $50 a year, so what’s the problem? The problem is that I want to play with my friends. Not all my friends have the same system. Most people don’t, because gamers are constantly segmented between their system of choice or even computer play. Even when someone has multiple systems would they have a copy of the game you want to play on the same system as you? More than that, it’s just more fun to play when your friends are actually in the room. Why do you think people have LAN parties and LAN centers are built all over? Because even games that are designed to only be played on multiplayer are more fun when you can turn to the person you just shot and see their frustration manifest in real life in the face of a friend. Then there are the various problems with online gaming itself. The complaints constantly resurface again and again. Hackers, rage quitters, people that don’t understand your language, bigoted jerks that won’t keep their mouths shut, the list goes on and on.
There is one major company and system of gaming that I have yet to mention. That is of course the Nintendo Wii. For many gamers the Wii has been shrugged off as a niche system made to make gaming more accessible to a mainstream audience, but multiplayer is one of the areas in which the Wii shines. The system is practically designed for parties and groups of friends wanting to play together. With continuations of popular multiplayer franchises such as Mario Party, Raving Rabbids and Super Smash Brothers, as well as new party creations like New Super Mario Brothers, Nintendo still provides a party in a platform.
Don’t get me wrong, online gaming is great and it is still revolutionizing the industry. But let’s not forget the fun that can be had with actual human interaction playing a part in our virtual interactions. It’s great when game time can also be hang out time, and you can’t really do that very well through an Ethernet chord.
Dude…there is co-op in DW: Gundam 1&2.
INDEED!!! Where has it gone!! Where has 2 player co-op gone?? Lazy ass devs and producers!!! Warhawk has 4 player co-op………… where are the rest??
I very much miss offline multiplayer. I fear that the PS2 was the last of the great home consoles, You could confidently buy most games knowing they had fully featured singleplayer and fun offline multi. Nowadays you’re lucky to get a half-arsed singleplayer campaign and an exclusively online multiplayer.
No thanks.
I have a Wii and appreciate its focus on group entertainment.
I also have a PS3 but I loathe its online games. They’re only fun if you play often enough to get really good. Those who just play occasionally are outgunned, outclassed and basically screwed. I bought Killzone2 specifically because it included Bots and allowed me to play Skirmish mode offline. Unfortunately it had no splitscreen.
Though this may not be a the sole reason, but I think a lot of it is a marketing ploy. Back in the day with Goldeneye… To play multiplayer, it required 1 console, 1 copy of the game, and 4 controllers…. to play a game like COD:MW2… you’re looking at 4 (or More) consoles, 4 (or more) copies of the game, and 4 (or more) controllers. which equals a crap-ton more money spent to play have a “similar” multiplayer experience.
But all in all, i think online multiplayer was an inevitable step…I’ve never been to a “LAN party” but I’ve had a lot of friends who hosted them, and during the age of games like Starcraft, and Counter Strike and a time when a majority of PC games controlled ‘online’ multiplayer games…the next best thing to do for consoles would be to create a “LAN party” that doesn’t require anyone to leave their homes…
As sad as it is that the quality split screen multiplayer games are becoming scarce… the rise of online multiplayer was inevitable… and a benefit for all of the developers [who received more money], gamer’s [who didn’t have to leave home, and could own their own console and games]… but it leaves us who find nostalgia in split screen gaming out in the dust. I don’t really see it coming back, though I’m sure a few titles will hold on to it here and there.
It’s due to technical limitations, devs want tidier graphics but running four ‘windows’ in to the game world, four cameras basically, takes quite a bit of power.
Bollocks.
Timesplitters did it on PS2 and it looked great. N64 did it and even Wii does 4 player well. Its got nothing to do with technical limitations and everything to do with laziness from developers only interested in making a quick, cheap buck.
Obviously you don’t know very much about game development at all. Every time a game has great graphics, guess what? It takes a toll on the processor and the graphics rendering. If you have to spit that into four pieces, you have to write specific code for that. Multiplayer and single player game design is so different that most of the time separate development teams are used to program them.
Also, developers want their game to be bought. A four-player single console game is a huge plus. Unfortunately the development budgets almost never have the room to spend a solid year on making single console multiplayer a priority.
So really, if you want more multiplayer…show it with your purchases.
Its not fair to people who dont have online capibilities! Multiplayer should be both online and offline. Screw the technical issues. if the game should have to look graphicly challenged when i play with a friend in my room so be it! I DEMAND equality! Not this damn online only bull!