The fate of offline multiplayer

[Pulsar_t]

The (LAN) Party is Over.

[lisalover1]

Yeah, I kind of miss it - for me, nothing in this online-era of gaming can compare to the experience of 16 player Halo system-link. That was some crazy shit, teams of 4 guys in different rooms of my house, all screaming at each other as we played Oddball on Chiron, King of the Hill on Sidewinder, Capture the Flag on Damnation or just plain old Team Deathmatch on Hang 'em High.

System Link is the pinnacle of awesome multiplayer fun. It's so much of a hassle to set up, so it HAS to be fun! But, I agree that we need more local multiplayer in games today. Even one of my favorite online multiplayer games, Fat Princess, doesn't have local multiplayer/system link [the PS3 version, anyway]. Some games like MAG have devoted themselves to only online multiplayer. What is it going to be like when the servers are shut down? It'll be a paperweight, at best.

[ZeroAX]

A) Fat princess is a PS3 exclusive (just saying)

and

B) Yeah, but in current gen's defense, the wii has brought 4 player multiplayer back. Wii Sports, New Super Mario Bross, Mario Party, Wii Party, Goldeneye, The Conduit, Mario Sports Mix

and for excellent 2P games (most of them co-op) Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 (specially in SMG2 the 2nd player has much more stuff to do), excite truck, excite bots, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn


It's just the HD consoles that suck balls when it comes to (local) multiplayer. The only game that did it right is LittleBigPlanet.

Thank god wifi handheld multiplayer gaming is becoming really huge in Japan, so from this gen, but I believe specially with the PSP2 and 3DS we'll get excellent local multiplayer games on handhelds.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, but in current gen's defense, the wii has brought 4 player multiplayer back. Wii Sports, New Super Mario Bross, Mario Party, Wii Party, Goldeneye, The Conduit, Mario Sports Mix

Yeah, I was gonna say. Hell I remember when CoD3 came out at launch, online mulitplayer on the PS3 and offline multiplayer for the Wii. Goldeneye has a large online mode, but when out of their way to also create a great offline multi. New SMB Wii was a lot of fun. Played through it with one other person, and got to play it once with 4 people. Lots of fun.

[YoshiEgg25]

Yeah, I don't know what happened to LAN in the seventh generation. However, I know a lot of guys who still hold plenty of LAN parties for the Xbox. I went to one and it was a blast. Now I intend to show them how a GameCube pseudo-LAN with Pac-Man Vs. works this weekend.

[lisalover1]

A) Fat princess is a PS3 exclusive (just saying)

You may not know this, but Sony actually has a handheld gaming device, which they make games for. It's called a PSP. Guess what game is on the PS3 that is also on the PSP?

[CRTGAMER]

One thing I like about local multi player is seeing all the reactions when one wins or loses. Off line tends to keep some of the rudeness that occurs online. Plus you can punch the losing opponent in the shoulder.

[YoshiEgg25]

EDIT: Wrong thread.

[fastbilly1]

Dont worry, Bomberman will always be there for the offline multiplayer.

What I dont like is the trend to make pc games have to have internet access (C&C4 and Starcraft 2). That is a deathknell for the Lanparty.

[ZeroAX]

A) Fat princess is a PS3 exclusive (just saying)

You may not know this, but Sony actually has a handheld gaming device, which they make games for. It's called a PSP. Guess what game is on the PS3 that is also on the PSP?

you are right, I did not know that.