MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651 
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jul 13, 2016 6:49:59 GMT
Many of my fondest gaming memories and experiences were those spent playing shooters (like Battlefront 2 and Halo CE) with my mates. Nothing is funner than having a LAN party with friends, playing splitscreen and being able to keep crowds of people entertained on just a couple consoles. And, unlike online, which will always be taken down at some point, local multiplayer will last as long as the system does.
So if it's so amazing and fun, why is it fading away? Not just in shooters, but in other game genres too, like racing games? Why? Is it really that difficult, expensive and/or time consuming to program splitscreen or LAN support into a game? What if we want to experience a game's multiplayer mode after the online support gets dropped?
Am I the only gamer here who's really bothered & genuinely pissed off by this?
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,821
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Post by Cervantes on Jul 13, 2016 7:39:37 GMT
It's interesting, since some of the most famous games right now are multiplayer games (just look at the success of Overwatch). But none of them come with LAN capabilities and only very few ones have splitscreen. It's especially sad when you consider that, nowadays, a LAN party would be a much easier thing to do (much less cables and bulky equipment!).
Sometimes the lack of local coop is almost absurd, as with the recent release of the new TMNT game. I mean, everyone thinks local coop when they picture a TMNT game, and yet, Activision/Platinum Games gave some bullshit excuses to not include it. They even said it was to keep steady 60fps, when the game actually runs at 30fps - and, with those graphics, splitscreen at 60fps would be no problem if they bothered to implement it.
I do think one of the main reasons are the paid-for online services on consoles and the oportunity to sell extra copies of the game - instead of 4 people having fun after buying one game, those 4 people now need to buy four consoles, four games and each one of them has to pay a subscription to play online. This still doesn't justify the lack of LAN on PC games, though, as on pc you don't have to pay a subscription to play online.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Jul 13, 2016 9:19:20 GMT
That's the whole reason why I was never into handhelds until the 3DS, and even then it can't beat a console multiplayer experience.
That's why so many of the Wii and Wii U games are amazing. It's because the easiness in which the local multiplayer works for those systems.
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Jul 13, 2016 11:23:16 GMT
Yeah it's pretty sad all things considered. It was when Halo 5 was announced to have no split-screen I lost all faith.
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centipede
CGR Undertow Groupie
It was just one soy latte, I swear!
Posts: 2,700 
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Post by centipede on Jul 13, 2016 13:24:28 GMT
Of course, who wants to play the old stuff when it gets superceded by all the new and exciting stuff like Overwatch?
And once a game loses its appeal for any reason, like a server shutdown, players go BYE BYE! IT WAS FUN. WE'RE MOVING ON.
That's the thing about online: in real life, you might not be able to find anyone locally who wants to play Tranformers: Fall of Cybertron with you, but someone in Singapore or Alaska would. So, I think I see why splitscreen/LAN would be an afterthought, unfortunately.
Unless the game's been really popular. At which point, some dedicated fans, will try to keep it alive somehow. Not so much for console games, but PC games can be resurrected like that. Phantasy Star Online for PC, for example, has its own fan-run servers!
But then these games become very niche, just like all the other games I want to play with someone in the same room as me. Once I tried to get my brother to vs. me in Quake 3 Arena on the Dreamcast - he wanted to play Halo 3 instead.
I hope to one day meet someone who will co-op Steel Dragon with me, or even take me on in Street Fighter 2 or a racing game.
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Post by spidershinobi on Jul 13, 2016 17:19:13 GMT
This last year I had a total of 1 local multiplayer session. We can get as mad as we want, but the fact is that our life styles don't oppose that.
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Jul 13, 2016 18:58:28 GMT
This last year I had a total of 1 local multiplayer session. We can get as mad as we want, but the fact is that our life styles don't oppose that. That's a travesty. Local multiplayer will never be succeeded by online in quality. |
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Post by spidershinobi on Jul 13, 2016 20:48:25 GMT
This last year I had a total of 1 local multiplayer session. We can get as mad as we want, but the fact is that our life styles don't oppose that. That's a travesty. Local multiplayer will never be succeeded by online in quality. When did I deny that? |
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Post by teddykongcountry on Jul 13, 2016 21:12:02 GMT
It's funny, there was a high point 7 - 10 years ago circa the advent of online in the home console market where both could be enjoyed simultaneously. Nowadays, you can get one or the other and quite frankly, I haven't played a multiplayer game locally in over a year. Part of it has to do with growing up.
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Post by spidershinobi on Jul 14, 2016 0:03:13 GMT
That's exactly my point.
I'll add to it. While for us it isn't common to have friends at home to play videogames, kids today were born under notions we didn't have back then. It's not just internet, it's wi-fi, mobile internet... They know well they don't need their friends at home to play with them.
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licensedgames
Virtue Wing
"I'm Bartholomew Mashingspoon.'
Posts: 180
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Post by licensedgames on Jul 14, 2016 1:22:43 GMT
People in general are less social, at least in person, than they used to be. That's part of the reason why developers aren't implementing local multiplayer so much these days, there's just not as much of a market for it, which makes me sad. Local multiplayer is the most fun, and the most memorable.
However, I want to look on the positive side. Online multiplayer allows people to connect with other people, or at least to play with what amounts to superficial bots. It allows for people to have fun in ways that the people in their lives would otherwise be uninterested in.
Personally, none of my friends know that I'm into games, especially older games, worse than that, older Nintendo games. I would love to play, say, the multiplayer for Conker's Bad Fur Day like I did when I was a kid, but I'm not so fortunate. Fortunately, the game has great ai bots, so the point is moot, but I can't shake the feeling that it'd be more fun with my friends, if only they cared.
The times they are a changin'
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centipede
CGR Undertow Groupie
It was just one soy latte, I swear!
Posts: 2,700
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Post by centipede on Jul 14, 2016 6:06:14 GMT
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Jul 14, 2016 16:55:30 GMT
That's a travesty. Local multiplayer will never be succeeded by online in quality. When did I deny that? I didn't mean it that way, I simply stated the obvious. And yes, my LAN parties are less frequent all the time now. Nobody has time anymore to get together. I've been trying to get 3 of my friends together to finish Ghost Recon 2 for half a year now, but we are always missing one person to be a 4 man team. And then we usually just play another game or just don't play. |
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Dan E. Kool
Walking Trash Can Robot
Now With Extra Pulp!
Posts: 3,325
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Post by Dan E. Kool on Jul 15, 2016 0:19:32 GMT
Almost all of my fondest gaming memories involve sitting on a couch with a friend or two. Playing online vs other real people beats playing against the computer every time, but nothing is better than local multiplayer for me.
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Guilion
Lord Wing
Former Incompetent Evil Commander
Posts: 284
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Post by Guilion on Jul 16, 2016 4:47:58 GMT
♩ ♪Internet killed the local star ♫ ♬
♫ ♬Internet killed the local star ♩ ♪
Well that and the overall cost of developing split-screen multiplayer, having a console/pc rendering two versions of the same game without performance issues is pretty hard dude. If it wasn't because there are a lot of places where you can still rent consoles I think everyone around here would've forgotten about it too.
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