Multiplayer is good. This picture is bad.

I like video games. They make time go by in an enjoyable fashion, and fun is a good thing. Yep… I like fun. You know, I don’t understand why so many people have it in for video games — they are an entertaining medium, occasionally educational, often challenging, and they provide joy in moments of boredom — but this post isn’t in defense of gaming. That is something that will come sometime in future, but it can wait. No, this post is in support of the recent industry trend towards multiplayer games.

I’m not sure who we have to thank, really. Some would argue that the Halo games brought about this trend — they’re damn fun to play with your friends, and this helped sell these titles by the bucketload. LAN gaming has always been popular amongst a chunk of gamers, but LAN gamin has been around for a long while, and only recently have developers started creating more multiplayer titles. Nintendo is a strong contender for the crown of thanking (so to speak) — their Wii console was intended to bring gamin to the masses, and one way Nintendo intended to do this was by popularising gaming amongst families and friends — hence the insane number of party games on the system…

Whatever the case, multiplayer seems to be a must for new releases these days — you could even let a second player join your quest in Fable 2 (although they couldn’t use their own character, which was a bit gimped)! LittleBigPlanet and Left 4 Dead both were created with multiplayer foremost in mind. Resident Evil 5 has gone split screen on us, as has Gears of War2 (although Gears 1 also included split screen multiplayer). Resistance 2 dropped the ball a little and created a multiplayer side game as opposed to multiplayer campaign. Then we see the multiplayer Arcade games on XBLA and PSN — Peggle, Castle Crashers, Bomberman, and PixelJunk Eden quickly jump to mind as good multiplayer titles that can be purchased online. Then there’s the rhythm games — Rock Band, SingStar, and Guitar Hero World Tour… Needless to say, those games kick the anus. Righteously. Multiplayer is good — keep it comin’ people.

Actually, since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed playing with a friend. A physical, sitting-next-to-me friend, that is — not such a big fan of online games… Fake friendships and the investment of all that time… I can’t get behind that! Sure, I enjoy online games with my friends, but just not with random people… Maybe I haven’t given it enough time… We’ll see.

Anyway, as a kid, I played with by myself plenty — but I also used to love playing Mortal Kombat with a mate… Or Time Soldiers… Or Sonic the Hedgehog… Or Mario… It was always better with friends. Now, I love getting fully into a game, investing my emotion into it, and being absorbed into the game all on my own — particularly because having the whole screen dedicated JUST to me is glorious! BUT… now that I’m married and I’ve totally nerded up the mrs, I really enjoy playing co-op games with her… We trounced Halo 3 on Legendary. We’ve pounded the boards on Warhawk. Right now, we’re going ballistic on Resident Evil 5. And soon — the goal is to put Gears of War 2 in it’s friggin’ place. And it’s great…

So I wonder — why do racing games all seem to lack split screen these days? Racing games were BUILT on split screen! And now? None to be seen — you can’t even play it split screen if you want to! Damn it! And what about Resistance 2? What the hell is with the co-op? LAME! Sure, it’s not bad when playing with lots of mates online — but what about a split screen co-op campaign, you bastards! The first Resistance had it, and it was tops!

Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is — developers, put co-op in your games. And not lame co-op, either. Take a leaf out of Halo 3 and Resident Evil 5′s respective books. Both of those games were better when played with someone else — it just heightened the experience. Sure, the split screen shrinks down your personal screen real estate, but times are a-changin’ — get yourself a 40″+ HD TV, and you’ll be happy(er than someone with a crappy 68cm CRT). Especially shooting games and racing games — these games should have split screen as standard, people! See Goldeneye 64 as a point of reference. RPGs, on the other hand… It can be done, but the current attempts need some work. Fable 2 was OK with a friend, but let’s be realistic — it was pretty much just tacked on as an extra point to go on the back of the box. Work on it — improve!

Well, I guess I did what I usually do, and crapped on a bit there… But you know what I’m saying. Multiplayer is good, and the current trend towards it is a welcome one. I like video games. Let me play them with others (not otters, they suck at games and smell).