4 Players offline? What gives?

MillerTime2523

MillerTime2523

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Borderlands? Left 4 Dead 2? Call of Duty MW2 (spec ops)? I'm not so much disappointed in MW2, though a 4 player spec ops mode would have been nice, but seriously, why no love for these games offline? For games based around 4 players, you'd think they'd be able to give you the ability to play with some friends on the same couch. I was really surprised that Borderlands doesn't allow this, and (because I haven't played the first L4D) I'm also surprised it isn't available in L4D2 either.

So, a few questions. What's the deal with this? Any real reasoning behind it? Also, can anyone point me in the direction of some good 4 player co-op games for when I have friends over? Do these even exist?

Interested in hearing some input. Thanks!
 
Most games are pushing the processing power of these systems. They'd have to make cuts in the details and effects to get more than two players split. Then you'd be looking at a crappy small screen. I'm happy with two on a split as long as there's an option for more online. Though I wish you could split the screen and still play online with others as well. At least Halo did that.
 
[quote name='Ziv']Most games are pushing the processing power of these systems. They'd have to make cuts in the details and effects to get more than two players split. Then you'd be looking at a crappy small screen. I'm happy with two on a split as long as there's an option for more online. Though I wish you could split the screen and still play online with others as well. At least Halo did that.[/QUOTE]

This. I don't mind gimped graphics, but gimped gameplay? Getting on my nerves.
 
I have no issue with it since I couldn't stand the 4 player window screen bs of the previous gens myself. Not sure if there are any games that have it anymore.
 
two letters, H-D.

HD is limiting the amount of players you can have on one system. The systems arent strong enough nowadays to handle 4 hd screens at once. Thats why you see a lot of 2 players/single player screened only games on systems
 
The Club, although a bad game, allows for 4 players split screen. It has 1 or 2 fun modes and you can pick it up on the cheap so it may be worth checking out.
 
i miss 4 player split screen or hell even 2 player split screen! i don't mind the smaller screen size when divided up thats why i gots a 67" for :)
 
As others have said, a lot of it has to do with how graphically advanced these games are. Plus, even if that was not a concern, the rise of online play for consoles has really diminished the need for people to actually get together and play a game. I remember when I was a teenager, and we were constantly trying to get four people together to play the old WCW and WWF games for the N64.
 
Under the right conditions, you can play on anything. In the military, we used to play 4 way Bond on my portable 9 inch screen in a shelter made to fit one person on the back of a humvee.

And we loved every minute of it. Damn kids and their ball and my lawn.

I miss the 4 player local too. Talking shit just isn't the same unless I'm all up in their face doing it.
 
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Yea... it sucks. The only thing you can do is kill one another if you have more than 2 players in most games. Next gen should fix this.
 
This far into a thread asking for 4-player local co-op games and nobody has said Rock Band yet?
 
[quote name='emdub']This far into a thread asking for 4-player local co-op games and nobody has said Rock Band yet?[/QUOTE]
I was more so referring to action/shooting games, but thanks for the suggestion either way.

[quote name='speedracer']I miss the 4 player local too. Talking shit just isn't the same unless I'm all up in their face doing it.[/QUOTE]
This. :lol:

[quote name='bigdaddybruce44'] Plus, even if that was not a concern, the rise of online play for consoles has really diminished the need for people to actually get together and play a game.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but for me most of my friends have Xbox Live, but on a Friday night when we all want to get together and hang out, it's a shame the only option we have is a competitive multiplayer. Me and a few friends ran through the Halo 3 campaign "back in the day," that was a blast. Wish some of these newer games had the option. (With the exception of ODST I'd imagine)
 
I really wish split-screen multiplayer would return. Nowadays for my brother and I to play multiplayer in a shooter, for example, we'd need 2 360s, 2 copies of the game, high speed internet, X-Box Live Gold and so forth. And it all costs more than I can afford, plus with online games the servers are shutdown a few years after the games release so your stuck with a worthless coaster eventually. I hate the idea of paying $60 for an online game, and then 2-4 years down the road not being able to play it since the servers will be down. I don't care if the graphics would have to be dumbed down for splitscreen, I wish there was atleast the option.
 
If you and your brother are in the same place and there's just 2 of you couldn't you just split screen it? A lot of games do at least 2 way split screen. Or at the very least do system link on a LAN which at least negates the need for XBL gold.
 
[quote name='yokomoko']I really wish split-screen multiplayer would return. Nowadays for my brother and I to play multiplayer in a shooter, for example, we'd need 2 360s, 2 copies of the game, high speed internet, X-Box Live Gold and so forth. And it all costs more than I can afford, plus with online games the servers are shutdown a few years after the games release so your stuck with a worthless coaster eventually. I hate the idea of paying $60 for an online game, and then 2-4 years down the road not being able to play it since the servers will be down. I don't care if the graphics would have to be dumbed down for splitscreen, I wish there was atleast the option.[/QUOTE]

Damn right. And those with only one Xbox, wanting to play multi with a freind/realitive on a no split-screen games? SOL. Crackdown would of been much more fun if it had split screen (I don't know enough ppl to warrant getting gold)...
 
I think it's mostly about the money. At least in Microsoft's case, forcing people to buy live subscription to play with people increases their profit. If they allowed 4 player local play, they'd probably lose out on some subscriptions.
 
I hate to say it, but the lowly Wii does local 4-player on a fair number of games, including most recently New Super Mario Bros, so I really don't buy the excuses for the much more powerful 360. The claim that it's due to HD seems questionable since if you're splitting a game 4 ways on the same screen, each player is not playing in a full HD screen, they are only getting 1/4 of it. Also there are games like Smash Bros that are 4 players but don't involve split screen at all. That's my favorite type of local multiplayer game - one where you are all on the same screen. I think it may have more to do with developers just not wanting to put any effort into it, because the 360 has an online-play focus and they don't think many people would use it, which is too bad.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']I think it's mostly about the money. At least in Microsoft's case, forcing people to buy live subscription to play with people increases their profit. If they allowed 4 player local play, they'd probably lose out on some subscriptions.[/QUOTE]

Money may be the underlying driving force, but I don't think it's because MS does not allow 4-player local play. The decision to program and implement 4-player local play is up to the game developer and not MS.

The arguments about the 360 no tbeing powerful enough seem a little sketchy. Already brought up was the point that the resolution of each person's "screen" is much lower than the single player case, thus the rendering demand is not 4x the original. Also the game can be programmed to reduce the visual quality if multiple screens are being used. I believe Halo 1 turned off some special effects when playing 2 or 4 player split screen to reduce the rendering load.

Lastly the fact that old consoles like the N64 had enough power to render a game full screen and also support 4 player... sure the graphics were not as good back then but I bet the games were pushing the hardware on their respective systems just as much as modern games do on modern consoles.

I think it's just down to the dwindling popularity or merely lack of will on the developers' part to put in the time and resources to implement 4 player local screen. It could be argued that now is a better time than ever to see more 4 player split screen because large TVs are more available now then ever before. Nobody was gaming goldeneye on the N64 on a big screen LCD, it was all CRTs back then...
 
[quote name='crunchewy']I hate to say it, but the lowly Wii does local 4-player on a fair number of games, including most recently New Super Mario Bros, so I really don't buy the excuses for the much more powerful 360. The claim that it's due to HD seems questionable since if you're splitting a game 4 ways on the same screen, each player is not playing in a full HD screen, they are only getting 1/4 of it. Also there are games like Smash Bros that are 4 players but don't involve split screen at all. That's my favorite type of local multiplayer game - one where you are all on the same screen. I think it may have more to do with developers just not wanting to put any effort into it, because the 360 has an online-play focus and they don't think many people would use it, which is too bad.[/QUOTE]


dont forget teh games for the wii are also much smaller and less demanding
 
L4D2 would run at 7.5 FPS on 360. I don't think anyone wants to see that.

[quote name='crunchewy']I hate to say it, but the lowly Wii does local 4-player on a fair number of games, including most recently New Super Mario Bros, so I really don't buy the excuses for the much more powerful 360. The claim that it's due to HD seems questionable since if you're splitting a game 4 ways on the same screen, each player is not playing in a full HD screen, they are only getting 1/4 of it. Also there are games like Smash Bros that are 4 players but don't involve split screen at all. That's my favorite type of local multiplayer game - one where you are all on the same screen. I think it may have more to do with developers just not wanting to put any effort into it, because the 360 has an online-play focus and they don't think many people would use it, which is too bad.[/QUOTE]

Your view on your TV screen may be cut down to 1/4, but the game is still rendering 4 different points of view.
 
Yeah, I miss 4-player split-screen too, but like others have said, lots of games would suffer horribly to include it. I've noticed just on split-screen Left 4 Dead 2, they made a lot of compromises, e.g. bodies disappearing faster, slowdown, glitches in the graphics. That said, some friends and I have gotten in the habit of them bringing over their 360s and flatscreen computer monitors and we just do system-link in my living room. It has the added fun that comes with playing with people in person and we can light up some four player Borderlands, Halo, Left 4 Dead, etc.
 
[quote name='Ziv']Though I wish you could split the screen and still play online with others as well. At least Halo did that.[/QUOTE]

The L4D games let you do this. I am not sure about the other ones.
 
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