I know a lot of people are getting excited about the WiiU, but I must say when I first saw the demos at various conventions and the way that the big controller was used to alter the experience of other players I thought it was the most retarded thing I'd ever seen.
My first thought was, 'well that's great, conceptually, but most people don't have three friends at their disposal to come round whenever they want to play their new console.' Since then, I've been reading a lot about the console, mainly on Penny Arcade, and their extremely positive experiences with the WiiU is actually made it clear to me that the reason I think it's stupid is because it's not meant for people like me.
I never play online, and I'm the only one of my friends who plays video games so almost all of my video game experiences from the Mega Drive up until today have been solitary ones, and before now I always thought that single players were the most important aspect when designing a console but maybe that's not the case anymore? I was super pissed when Resident Evil five had forced co-op because I literally had no one to play it with and I know that the AI is useless; same goes for Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
TL;DRSo, what do you say, Escapists: Are people who want to play games on their own now the weird ones, or is it a bit silly designing several aspects of your new console that can only be utilised when you can get a friend round to play with you? (I'm aware that the WiiU tablet thing has other functions outside of multiplayer)
Edit: Okay, I don't understand how my poll was confusing some people so I'll try and word it differently so your brains don't hurt.
My first thought was, 'well that's great, conceptually, but most people don't have three friends at their disposal to come round whenever they want to play their new console.' Since then, I've been reading a lot about the console, mainly on Penny Arcade, and their extremely positive experiences with the WiiU is actually made it clear to me that the reason I think it's stupid is because it's not meant for people like me.
I never play online, and I'm the only one of my friends who plays video games so almost all of my video game experiences from the Mega Drive up until today have been solitary ones, and before now I always thought that single players were the most important aspect when designing a console but maybe that's not the case anymore? I was super pissed when Resident Evil five had forced co-op because I literally had no one to play it with and I know that the AI is useless; same goes for Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
TL;DRSo, what do you say, Escapists: Are people who want to play games on their own now the weird ones, or is it a bit silly designing several aspects of your new console that can only be utilised when you can get a friend round to play with you? (I'm aware that the WiiU tablet thing has other functions outside of multiplayer)
Edit: Okay, I don't understand how my poll was confusing some people so I'll try and word it differently so your brains don't hurt.