New Games and Co Op. WTF?

[mikeweezer80]

Okay, so i just picked up a ps3 yesterday because i had the extra money and wanted to play dead rising 2 with my girlfriend. But apparantly you can only play co op online and not with the same console/tv. Does this seem completely rediculous to anyone?

[Clownzilla]

I think it has to do with not wanting to dilute the experience with split screen. Unfortunately, my wife and I would love to play a lot of games Co-Op but a lot of the good stuff is online only. I read somewhere that some company (maybe Sony) is working on TV technology that would work like the Parallax screen on the 3DS. Not to display separate images to each eye but separate images to two separate people. This would allow both players to play together on the couch while keeping the full screen experience. The game unit would have to do twice the work but game programmers will just have to take that into consideration. I think these TV's have a better chance to succeed than 3D because they can be used for other practical purposes besides gaming (like allowing two people to watch two shows on the same TV at the same time).

[mikeweezer80]

it just makes 0 sense to me. Ever other system i have ever had had controller ports for a reason. It is just annoying because one of the reasons why i bought it was to have fun with her. Are there any fun co op gamesfor ps3
that are 2 players (as in one console, one tv)

[SAV2880]

I get why they do it, obviously doesn't mean that it's right. The idea below I think would actually be pretty rock solid, but I think in the interest of them selling discs (or soon, digital distribution copies), it won't happen:

The idea? Why couldn't a high powered video game system output two HDMI ports, one would be player 1, and one would be player 2. Some games could even take advantage of this "multi-screen" technology for some really cool experiences. Basically, Nintendo DS on the big screen.

It'll never happen ... but it sounds like it would be fun!

[exit]

Welcome to the future of gaming, where you can play with your buddy that lives in Alaska and not the person that's sitting next to you.

But seriously, off the top of my head Resistance (1 and 2) Kane and Lynch (1 and 2) Little Big Planet (1 and 2) Army Of Two (1 and 2), Lost Planet 2 Dark Kingdom, Conflict: Denied Ops, Resident Evil 5, Borderlands, Scott Pilgrim VS The World (PSN title) and just about any Racing/Sports/Fighting game have 2 player game play.

So while it's starting to become a dieing breed, 2 player gamers are still out there.

[Clownzilla]

it just makes 0 sense to me. Ever other system i have ever had had controller ports for a reason. It is just annoying because one of the reasons why i bought it was to have fun with her. Are there any fun co op gamesfor ps3
that are 2 players (as in one console, one tv)

What's funny is that I have joked around about buying a second Xbox 360 (don't have a PS3 yet) for the guest bedroom so we can play co-op together. It started out as a joke but I'm starting to think about it as a serious solution.

[j_factor]

You would think that with HD resolutions, split screen makes even more sense. 1/4th of 1080p is 960x540, a better resolution than we were all using for full screen just a few years ago (and some of us still use today).


The idea? Why couldn't a high powered video game system output two HDMI ports, one would be player 1, and one would be player 2. Some games could even take advantage of this "multi-screen" technology for some really cool experiences. Basically, Nintendo DS on the big screen.

The PS3 does have dual HDMI. ...Oh wait, no it doesn't.

http://i.imgur.com/x5XcJ.jpg
:p

[Leo_A]

... but I think in the interest of them selling discs (or soon, digital distribution copies), it won't happen:

The idea? Why couldn't a high powered video game system output two HDMI ports, one would be player 1, and one would be player 2. Some games could even take advantage of this "multi-screen" technology for some really cool experiences. Basically, Nintendo DS on the big screen.

I made a post earlier and the board screwed up apparantly and didn't post it.

The roadblock from splitscreen play appearing in many games where it makes sense is due to the technical challenges. It takes effort to do splitscreen even if you're lazy and don't mind a horrible frame rate, poor draw distances, reduced texture quality, etc. You're almost having to run two instances of the same program. To do a proper job, it takes a good bit of effort and optimization. And these days it's usually just ignored due to the prevalence of easier to impliment online options that many players are attracted to these days.

Dual HDMI output doesn't solve that. If anything, it makes the problem even worse. You can reduce visual quality a good bit when you're only viewing half or 1/4th of a screen without being very noticeable to the players. If the players suddenly each had an entire screen to themselves when playing on the same console, any significant downgrade in something like draw distance is going to even less acceptable since it's going to be much more noticeable.

Dual HDMI outputs are something that hardly anyone, developer or consumer, would ever utilize.

[cynicalhat]

portal 2 has awesome split screen co-op, some of the best fun ive had in a while. you could always play some Carcassone from the xbox marketplace, dunno about the psn store.

*edit

Dynasty warriors 6 and 7 also split screen co op

*more edit

Borderlands also has split screen.

[Az]

it just makes 0 sense to me.

Sadly most reviewers just assume all players are online with their consoles and don't even bother to specify what type of multiplayer is supported (offline, system link, etc). Even the game packaging itself doesn't even specify this; I know the 360 has separate buttons for "online" and "1-4 players" yet it doesn't actually say you have to be online for multiplayer.

What's even worse is that multiplayer hyped through the roof for some games, many having a dedicated separate programming team behind it, even enough so that multiplayer is it's main selling point, yet the designers are so lazy that they don't implement bots for an offline 1p experience. There is no excuse for lack of this in most modern competitive games. Could you imagine if Street Fighter IV or Mortal Kombat shipped with no AI opponents?

[Swamperon]

If you want good offline co-op may I suggest a Wii? Plenty of good games for Co-op fun there.

[Rob2600]

The roadblock from splitscreen play appearing in many games where it makes sense is due to the technical challenges.

Technical challenges? The N64, Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and Wii handle up to 4-player split screen just fine, and each of those is less powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360.

[buzz_n64]

For the 360, it's a way to force you to buy gold. Plus, if I have a friend locally who wants to play online with me, he needs to get gold as well, even though we're playing on the same system. Oh well.

[kupomogli]

Adding to the Exit's list and whatever anyone else put there. Here are some other co op games that you can play on the same system that you might like.

Sacred 2
Lego Star Wars Complete Trilogy
Lego Indiana Jones
Dead Nation(top down, stage based shooter.)
Dungeon Hunter(PSN title. It's "okay." Hack and slash.)
Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection(if you don't have these games already on the Genesis.)

... and umm. That's it? Or atleast that's all I have that's co op that I'd recommend. I doubt your wife wants to play Unreal Tournament 3(split screen added with Titan pack) or various fighting games.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Katamari Forever has a two-player co-op mode where both players control the Katamari ball simultaneously (one on the left side and one on the right).

It can be pretty maddening in a "go left! go left!! no no, go right!" kind of way, but it's actually pretty fun if you like the Katamari games.

[Leo_A]

Technical challenges? The N64, Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and Wii handle up to 4-player split screen just fine, and each of those is less powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360.

What does hardware power have to do with anything? It's technically challenging on any console to impliment split screen multiplayer. It has nothing to do with how much more powerful the Xbox 360 is compared to a Nintendo 64.

And the vast majority of instances of split screen gameplay on the N64 weren't just fine. Significant, often unacceptable downgrading of a game had to be taken for it be shoehorned into it. Only a relative few, often the 1st and 2nd party releases, did it with any grace (The popular splitscreen games we all remember, such as Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye, tend to make us forget about all the chaff that was available from 3rd parties).

I can't speak for the last generation since I didn't do much split screen gaming during those years, but it was a different era. Online multiplayer was in it's infancy so that extra effort on local multiplayer was much more important to a developer 8 years ago than today.

Now, with the explosion in popularity of online multiplayer, many don't feel the value is there to justify the effort needed to impliment it. Their priorities have shifted to take into account the importance of online multiplayer, relegating local (Especially if it's splitscreen) multiplayer to secondary importance. They're not choosing to ignore it just to sell additional copies of games like one user suggested or to get you to buy extra consoles, new televisions, or a online subscription. They're simply choosing to ignore it since it's always taken a lot of effort, especially to do split screen gaming well. So it's an easy and tempting target to cut in favor of other areas when you have an alternative for multiplayer that is so popular with many today.

[Rickstilwell1]

Oh yeah, some more obvious 2-player games are the Dragon Ball Z fighting games, the Virtua Fighters, Tekkens, Street Fighters, Marvel vs Capcoms etc. whatever number each of those series are at.

I think most racing games are too

[Kitsune Sniper]

Dual HDMI outputs are something that hardly anyone, developer or consumer, would ever utilize.

*notices the almost standard dual HDMI ports in video cards

I wouldn't be that sure...

[Leo_A]

*notices the almost standard dual HDMI ports in video cards

I wouldn't be that sure...

They're not for hooking up two monitors to a single PC so you can do two player games from a single PC with each player having their own screen. That's his idea for why consoles should have dual HDMI outputs. It's just not practical, both from the developer's view and the consumer's.

They're so you can increase your desktop area with multiple screens, increase your field of view in something like a racing game, or allow you to do something like use a PC both as a desktop PC and a HTPC at the same time.

[Guyra]

There is a list of co-op games for the PS3 here (http://www.co-optimus.com/system.php?id=2&sort=offline&direction=ASC), sorted by maximum number of players offline. The list contains a total of 126 games with offline co-op mode.

Personally I'd recommend Resident Evil 5, which is a fantastic action game in split screen. :)