I MISS 4 PLAYER SPLIT-SCREEN...AM I THE ONLY ONE?!?!?!

Hey Guys,

Want your opinion on something. My apologies ahead of time, for the long-winded nature of this for lack of a better word "rant"! It's just I feel like the gaming industry is leaving me and people like me (Basically all of Assembler) behind in favor of people who are fickle and who probably never even touched a video game until 2-3 years ago on their smartphone!

Here's the thing, I've always loved Call of Duty (Not really for the online play and not even really for the campaign) just for the 4 player split-screen multi-player as that and Halo seemed to be the last franchises to support it. I grew up with my brother and friends in the Goldeneye and original Halos (1 and 2) age, the Golden Age of 4 player split screen!!!! I've always loved console split-screen multi-player and I'm afraid its now pretty much dead...

With Call of Duty Ghosts now reducing the split-screen multiplayer mode to 2 players (even on PS4 and Xbox One), and not seeing as much as even a simple mention of that fact in any reviews (Professional or Customer), I'm very disappointed to say the least. I mean its not like COD is that graphic intensive, according to the disc itself, they still have to list iD Software Copyright 1999 because it still runs mostly on iD Tech 3 (Quake 3 engine).

Call of Duty isn't the only culprit either, look at the Burnout franchise. Another one of my all time favorites, esecpially because of Burnout 3: Takedown and Burnout Revenge's 2 Play Split-Screen head to head mode. Now all you can do is 1 player or online. I miss games like San Francisco Rush 2049 where you could have 2 player split screen races and even 4 player battle matches and stunt modes!!!

I feel like I'm the only one upset about losing this feature. Since kids are still the target demographic for a lot of these games, I have a few questions for the kids of today/the marketing departments of these Companies. Do kids today never spend time at a friend's house? Do kids today have no siblings (or even Moms/Dads that grew up with games) interested in playing a new game with them? I just don't understand, I feel like the so-called "social" age should be renamed the "anti-social" age. I never use Facebook, Google, etc because to those Companies (and their NSA/Government friends) you're the product, not the customer. After all the government is just a giant malfunctioning corporation.

How do these kids handle job interviews? How do they interact with co-workers? I'm not that much older than them, hell, I, unfortunately, might be put in the same category. I just don't understand. Does anyone else feel this way?

P.S. I'm glad I finally decided to upgrade my PC, since there is really no split-screen left, I might as well get better performance and control from my PC!

 

In general, I agree with your premise. Face-to-face multiplayer gaming is sadly dying.

 

A lot of my best shooter memories are face to face. It's a real shame, because nowadays you can actually have 4 players on one TV.

 

4 player split screen? No thank you. Split screen is enough. Having 4 on the same screen really effects graphical power and framerate plus the image is tinny.

 

Split Screen has it's pro's and con's. All my friends were screen lookers on Halo and Call of Duty (i.e they look at my screen to see where I am). This made split screen no fun for 1vs1 sort of games. I will say it was good fun for some games like Nazi Zombies or old Racing Games.

 

i'm not one for co-op i much prefer competitive but thats just me but local multiplayer was and still is awesome

 

Local multiplayer is fun, we play fighting games, shmups and of course 4 player beat'em ups (in MAME mostly - there's not too many games of this type on modern systems), not to mention TBS hot seat games. But i never was a huge fan of 4 player split screen - 4 tiny windows and a HUGE framerate drop in many games.

 

I miss it but I'm not upset it's gone.

 

I was incredibly annoyed to find Ghosts had no 4 player option. It basically means I'm not really going to be playing the game all. The phasing out of almost all multiplayer options in favour of online ones is something I don't agree with, but finding games to play with 3 players or more is getting particularly hard; I think the only Xbox 360 racing game I've played with the option has been Blur. It's down to this that the console that got the most game time in my flat last year was the Gamecube, just because most games with a multiplayer element had a 4 player option.

Also, I believe screen-peeking on 3 other players at the same time is a skill in itself.

 

I've voted for 4 player FPS, as I don't tend to play racing games much.

Doesn't matter, if the game is fun. Four player Goldeneye is amazing, even now. I really wish modern games still supported split-screen multiplayer. Instead they force you to play online, as that way every player has to buy a copy of the game, whereas with splitscreen you only need one copy of the game.

It's true that you only get a quarter of the screen, but it's still enormous fun (depending on the game, of course), and it's true that other people can see your part of the screen, but you accept that and look at their areas too (plus it tends to dissuade camping), and it's true that it does require a lot of CPU/GPU power to do well, but even the N64 manages it (and that's a pocket calculator by today's standards) by having well designed maps and little eye candy.

And nowadays, since modern TVs can be huge, and also high-definition, it's even more appropriate to have splitscreen multiplayer in games.

 

Goldeneye was and still is ace but it had framerate issues anyway lol, also Perfect Dark is good too. Duke Nukem 64 was great multiplayer also on the N64, and lylatt wars / starfox 64. and many more, also the time splitters games were great. new one on its way as "time splitters rewind" which may get console releases and may have local multi player although im not sure on that one.

 

Back in the day we would play 4 way Goldeneye on tiny TVs with around 5 inches of screen each and I don't remember that ever being an issue. I think these days sadly publishers and players alike do not want to sacrifice graphical fidelity and framerate. Also online play has pretty much made split screen obsolete. It's easy enough to bring your console to your friends house, hook up to the internet and simply join the same server. That way you get a screen each.

 

drawback on that is you gotta plan for it, rather than it being spontaneous and you need room for 2 screens and also room for 2 consoles.
which is not a massive issue but no different really than just PC gaming at a lan party or whatever.

 

I like split screen better. The way that players interact during split screen play is very different from players looking at different screens. That interaction is (for some parts) similar to the way board game players interact with each other. It was my study in a media psychology course at my university. I am not saying one is better than the other, just they are different and I like split screen.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys!!!! It's great to hear everybody's thoughts on this!!!! Thanks again!!!!

P.S. Marmotta, Conker2012, and Chrisjan...could not agree more with you guys!!!!!!!! Thanks for the support!!!!!!!

 

I miss 4 way timesplitter! best splitscreen fun to be had

 

My friends and I used to do 4 player split-screen Quake 3 on the dreamcast lol

 

It's a lost artform, checking 3 other peoples games at the same time to see what they were up to. I loved it. I find online a bit soul less compared to split screen. Was always a better atmosphere having everyone in the same place, you got instant reactions.

 

I miss 4 player Goldeneye on the N64, taking friends out with a sniper rifle was so satisfying!!!!! Biggest issue was getting 4 controllers and a big enough tv!!! Yeh the frame rate was shite but still great fun!!! Split screen 2player road rash on the MD was also class!!!! I don't really play modern stuff over the net but I have friends who did it's just not the same!

 

The biggest issue with 4 way split screen: