Comments on: Gaming Together, Alone

by: Hans Otterson

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:13:45 +0000

Reading this over two years later, all I can think is, “You must freakin’ LOVE the Wii.”

by: Tom

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:12:43 +0000

My experience has been the opposite, perhaps because my friends aren’t the “hardcore gamer” type. We have a mix of Xbox/GC that we mainly play, but not everyone has an Xbox (and only a few have Xbox live), so we can’t just use that to play Halo 2 when we want it.

I had a -lot- of fun with live (stopped my subscription around january because I wasn’t using it and school was getting harder), but it never replaced our “halo nights,” the innumerable Friday evenings spent at each other’s houses system linking 8-player Halo, for a bunch of reasons - not everyone had the capability, we like original Halo way better than Halo 2, and as you said, without the social experience, it’s not nearly as fun.

The Gamecube is -excellent- for multiplayer fun, in my opinion it (because of its games) does everything that matters better than Xbox, except for FPS’s. The only thing it lacks is system linking, so it’s not as good if you want to play with a lot of people, but with just two or three friends (Rodney and Chris, for example) it’s awesome. It just doesn’t get any better than Smash bros melee. Mario Kart double dash is another good choice, and as you mentioned it for DC, Soul Calibur for any system is great.

As for new games, why is that so important? You still have Halo, the golf game, et al - hell, play Soul Calibur on your Dreamcast. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice, but there are plenty already to last us for a while longer.

by: Larkin

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 12:54:47 +0000

I enjoy playing Halo and Halo 2, even with the split-screen mode. I was surprised at how you can sometimes forget about your friend’s half of the screen and still be surprised when he snipes you or drives over you.

Worms: Forts Under Siege for the Xbox, though a bit buggy, is good fun to play with up to four people. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy for the PS2 is great fun, too.

by: Mulisha

Sun, 02 Jul 2006 20:08:10 +0000

Totally Matt. I remember being so hooked on games like Achaea and WoW at one point that my OOC social life almost came to a halt. Thankfully, me and my friends are hooked on Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. Damned Shao Kahn won’t die!

by: Telvantes

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:29:31 +0000

One of the great games I loved on the old PSX for play-with-a-friend is Desert Storm. Sort of a tactical “slower” version of Socom, (which honestly isn’t that fun on your own,) but it’s unbelievably fun with someone else on the same TV, split screen or not.

I also very much enjoy the co-op on Halo. Wish they’d make it possible to co-op between two boxs for Halo 3, because I’d buy two just to do that with the woman.

by: Raph

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:42:40 +0000

Dreamcast: ah, great library for multiplayer couch gaming.

I have this issue playing with my kids. Joust and Gauntlet on Live Arcade help a bit on the 360. The GC does indeed hgave a bunch — from kid-friendly Sonic games to Super Smash Bros which I suck at.

by: Matt

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:41:38 +0000

Yeah, Rainbow Six was a lot of fun over Live, but it’s still not the same as gaming in the same room, physically, with other people.

by: Chris Kohnert

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:24:55 +0000

Let us not forget Rainbow Six (whichever incarnation it was that didn’t suck). I sorely miss the almost-in-the-same-room co-op of that.

by: Matt

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:59:45 +0000

You know, I have a Gamecube and for some reason, we just rarely use it for group gaming. Perhaps that is our mistake.

by: Blake

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:58:17 +0000

The Nintendo lineup offers lots of games for group play, at least it seems that way to me. I finally got myself a Gamecube and honestly am very happy that I did.