Is Split Screen Dying?

[Serving UpSmiles]

Hello dear escapist, something that has been bugging my mind for a while is the underestimation splitscreen or local multiplayer, ever since the days of goldeneye on the n64, or Halo: CE on the original xbox, splitscreen has been becoming less prominant in todays shooters, Im sure i'm not the only one who feels the same way, theres a certain joy you get when you're playing against or with a person next to you, it can turn into a laugh or it can be a serious team work struggle within the game itself.

I'm glad that splitscreen is being added more in games such as Killzone 3, Call of Duty and Halo Reach, but is this really enough? in my opinion every shooter should be able to have some splitscreen functionality or at least the developers can test the idea out before the games release.

Killzone 3 splitscreen snapshot

Some would say that developers want everyone to buy invidual copies of the game so they can get more profit which is very selfish. If i want to buy a shooter, one of the things that can really make me ethusiastic about the game is seeing that little offline multiplayer symbol at the back of the case. This tells me that the developer has cared about their product and want everyone to experiance the game without buying it.

So escapists demand this feature from your developers, demand more in what makes your purchase justified, this is coming from someone who had 3 brothers and a copy of call of duty 4.

PS: For discussion value, what is your opinion on splitscreen gameplay?

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

Its sad that no one seems to care about Splitscreen anymore

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Its sad that no one seems to care about Splitscreen anymore

Where did you get that assumption?

I've always preferred splitscreen over online multiplayer, as there is just something much more appealing about sniping your buddy in the face from halfway across the map and then having him punch you in the stomach in real life.

You can't get that same feeling with online multiplayer, you just can't.

 

[MrShowerHead]

More Split Screen!

No seriously, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising would have been a good game, if it had offline Co-Op. But NOOOOOOOO.....

[sub][sub] fucking Codemasters [/sub][/sub]

 

[PixelKing]

I liked spilt-screen gaming because friends of mine don't have xbox live and stuff. That said you can play goldeneye on wii in spilt-screen.

I love spilt-screen because on things like CoD where you can go on split-screen online me and my mates can have a bash.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

More Split Screen!

No seriously, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising would have been a good game, if it had offline Co-Op. But NOOOOOOOO.....

[sub][sub] fucking Codemasters [/sub][/sub]

I doubt even the gracious presence of splitscreen could have saved that game from turning into the most broken, stiff shooter that came out in 2009.

 

[Tribuner]

well some people are trying to bring it back in like call of duty 7 with the online split screen, but yh i have see this problem because there will soon be no need for it because of the online game play, why have half a screen when you can have hole.

[http://exophase.com/gamercards/]

 

[CrashBang]

I've noticed and missed the lack of splitscreen in gaming for like two years now. You don't appreciate it 'til it starts to die out
In order to play a decent splitscreen game, a few months ago my flatmate and I got out my old copy of Crash Team Racing and played it on my PS3
...it was glorious

 

[PureChaos]

i like split screen. granted it helps to have a big TV so the sections aren't too teeny weeny but split screen multiplayer is great and it's a shame it's dying out.

 

[yellingatpixels]

I have troubles visually with split screen. If he "zigs" and I "zag" my eyes go "P-toing!"

haha. this post is silly.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

Well, for me co-op gameplay is much more fulfilling than versus, and split-screen is the best version of co-op - although maybe playing on 2 TVs would be better. Simply because being in the same room, sipping beers and talking about random stuff while playing makes the experience so much more fulfilling.
Is it dying? You could argue that there has been a steady decline in split-screen, since high-speed Internet connection has removed the need for players to be in the same room, but I'm sure there will always be a demand for it.

 

[Patrick Dare]

well some people are trying to bring it back in like call of duty 7 with the online split screen, but yh i have see this problem because there will soon be no need for it because of the online game play, why have half a screen when you can have hole.

Because when I'm hanging out at my friend's house I don't want to drag my ps3 and tv there just so we can play video games.

I don't know if it's dying but it does seem to be less common which is annoying. I also wish more games would have co-op multiplayer instead of just vs.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

well some people are trying to bring it back in like call of duty 7 with the online split screen, but yh i have see this problem because there will soon be no need for it because of the online game play, why have half a screen when you can have hole.

Because when I'm hanging out at my friend's house I don't want to drag my ps3 and tv there just so we can play video games.

I don't know if it's dying but it does seem to be less common which is annoying. I also wish more games would have co-op multiplayer instead of just vs.

I quite agree, some form of Co-Op mode has been widley prefered by splitscreen lovers, since its just 2 or 4 people vs a lot of AI enemies.

 

[Tribuner]

[/quote]
Because when I'm hanging out at my friend's house I don't want to drag my ps3 and tv there just so we can play video games.

I don't know if it's dying but it does seem to be less common which is annoying. I also wish more games would have co-op multiplayer instead of just vs.[/quote]

I quite agree, some form of Co-Op mode has been widley prefered by splitscreen lovers, since its just 2 or 4 people vs a lot of AI enemies.[/quote]

yes i agree with you i really don't whant to be doing that as well and co-op in games needs to be on an uprise

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Both me and my friends have been lamenting the decline in split-screen for a while now. I understand split-screen used to be a necessity for multiplayer back before you could play with consoles online. Now that you can play online with your friends without leaving the house, why have split-screen? Because sometimes you can't always both play online. Maybe your friend doesn't own the game or even have the console, without local multiplayer, you guys can't play together. And what about the times that you're getting together with friends anyway. Yeah if you have a couple TVs you can rig it up so that you can still play each other on your separate consoles, but that isn't an option of everyone. Plus, its so fun to all be playing a 4-player split-screen match on some big-ass TV all in the same room. There's a lot of social interaction that you can't get over the internet. And plus, when the game already features multiplayer with several people, why not put in split-screen. Its always annoyed me and my friend that you can't play with 4 people on the same system on L4D. I mean the game seems perfect for it! I understand that it makes each player's screen smaller and requires the game to run a bit harder to keep up with 4 people at the same time, but back before online games (on consoles anyway) local multiplayer was multiplayer period and there weren't that many problems. So why can't these new games pull it off? And the same goes for online multiplayer. It makes it even more fun when you and your friends go head to head with other people online (in fact me and my friends had a blast when we went up against 4 other split-screens, much fun trash-talk was sent back and forth between the two groups).

I'm always happy to see it when games keep the split-screen aspect (both local and online) and I hope that games continue to include it.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

Because when I'm hanging out at my friend's house I don't want to drag my ps3 and tv there just so we can play video games.

I don't know if it's dying but it does seem to be less common which is annoying. I also wish more games would have co-op multiplayer instead of just vs.[/quote]

I quite agree, some form of Co-Op mode has been widley prefered by splitscreen lovers, since its just 2 or 4 people vs a lot of AI enemies.[/quote]

yes i agree with you i really don't whant to be doing that as well and co-op in games needs to be on an uprise[/quote]

Don't worry im sure co-op will become more recognized by developers after the massive success of the Nazi zombies game mode and it will be seen as a good investment, and i'm sure splitscreen will follow.

 

[twistedheat15]

Fck a splitscreen! If a game needs splitscreen to play, then I'd rather play something that throws us all on screen at the same time like an arcade beat'em up, or just take turns playing in single player. But I do love when games have co-op play instead of just having ppl run around beating the crap outta each other, but still, fck a splitscreen!

 

[Tribuner]

Because when I'm hanging out at my friend's house I don't want to drag my ps3 and tv there just so we can play video games.

I don't know if it's dying but it does seem to be less common which is annoying. I also wish more games would have co-op multiplayer instead of just vs.

I quite agree, some form of Co-Op mode has been widley prefered by splitscreen lovers, since its just 2 or 4 people vs a lot of AI enemies.[/quote]

yes i agree with you i really don't whant to be doing that as well and co-op in games needs to be on an uprise[/quote]

Don't worry im sure co-op will become more recognized by developers after the massive success of the Nazi zombies game mode and it will be seen as a good investment, and i'm sure splitscreen will follow.[/quote]

yh i hope it will cas i did injoy playing next to a rel person insted of tags on my screen lol

 

[KalosCast]

Part of the problem with split-screen is the huge drain of resources that are involved with rendering a second perspective on the same screen. Halo 2 has significantly less ground-clutter and other atmospheric things in order to keep the game running well... making the war-torn hellholes of the earlier levels look creepily sterile, as if the Covenant are big on picking up after themselves. N64 Split-Screen games would turn into a slide-show if two people looked at an explosion at the same time. Granted, these are previous generations, but consoles still work in basically the same way.

It seems as if it used to be that more competitive games, like First Person Shooters were played in a "two gamers on a couch" setting because online multiplayer was still a rare feature, it was just the only way to play the game against other people. Now more competitive games can do away with split-screen because the "tryhards" don't want it, and the "scrubs" are generally more commonly off playing Rock-Band or Super Smash Bros for their casual gamers on a couch entertainment.

 

[Geekosaurus]

Well yes. We have the internet.