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Has anyone here noticed how the best games always seem to be those which you can play with your friends, brothers and sisters? The games where you can play against each other on deathmatches or race each other in high speed action?
Well that is not because the games are designed any better. It is because you can share something with your co-gamers, enjoy something with your friends, and become more sociable whilst doing the things you enjoy best.
However, multiplayer gaming is becoming more antisociable than it should with internet play. You don't know who you're playing on the net, you're just basically playing against an alias. The best kind of multiplay is when two or more of you are in the same room, playing on the same screen.
There are many different types of multiplayer game. You've got the classic Deathmatch, originated on Doom for the PC on network play, but made ever more so popular by Rare's N64 treat Goldeneye. In deathmatch style games, you can compete against every other player, and in newer games, against "bots" or "cpu-players" to give you a bit more variety and a challenge.
Another type is the racer. Each contender has to race as fast as they can to either complete a certain objective in a game, like finding the most emeralds in Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, or just completing a certain number of laps on say, Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance. There are sometimes features similar to deathmatches in racers like in Mario Kart where you have to try and hit other racers three times to win, or in Extreme G on the N64 where you've got to blast each other out of the arenas.
There are also games like Fifa 2001, where you obviously compete for the most goals. The same with other similar sports. Other ways of playing single player sports like 1080 Snowboarding, is to take it in turns to see who can get the fastest time.
There is, however, one kind of multiplayer mode which we seem to be deprived of. Time Splitters on the Playstation 2 has it, as does Perfect Dark on the N64. That is, Co-operative play.
That's what gaming lacks nowadays. The ability to play WITH each other and not AGAINST each other.
It's all good and fun shooting the crap outta each other with AK47s and Sub Machine Guns, whilst lobbing a grenade or two at each other, but how often can you play, working as a team, to defeat large armies of enemies that try to destroy or enslave the Earth?
It is definately more fun playing together than against each other. To use different tactics to complete levels, to help protect your friend whilst your friend is trying to complete a crucial part of the mission, to recover from you friend's mistakes and to have the same treatment back.
So why is it we haven't had many of these games in the past? Well, I put it down to the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast having limited capabilities. Although one or two games did have this feature, they were still very limited and often effected the look and feel of the game. However, the GameCube, Playstation 2 and X-box should be able to get around this problem. We should soon be seeing brand new multiplayer modes, including better co-operative play in bigger games with less bother over the graphics and the smoothness of play.
So, even though we can play multiplayer games, me and my brother are hoping that developers will include this feature in more games and that they'll be just as fun as Perfect Dark was to play.
As Dringo would say, "Here's to the future!"
Well that is not because the games are designed any better. It is because you can share something with your co-gamers, enjoy something with your friends, and become more sociable whilst doing the things you enjoy best.
However, multiplayer gaming is becoming more antisociable than it should with internet play. You don't know who you're playing on the net, you're just basically playing against an alias. The best kind of multiplay is when two or more of you are in the same room, playing on the same screen.
There are many different types of multiplayer game. You've got the classic Deathmatch, originated on Doom for the PC on network play, but made ever more so popular by Rare's N64 treat Goldeneye. In deathmatch style games, you can compete against every other player, and in newer games, against "bots" or "cpu-players" to give you a bit more variety and a challenge.
Another type is the racer. Each contender has to race as fast as they can to either complete a certain objective in a game, like finding the most emeralds in Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, or just completing a certain number of laps on say, Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance. There are sometimes features similar to deathmatches in racers like in Mario Kart where you have to try and hit other racers three times to win, or in Extreme G on the N64 where you've got to blast each other out of the arenas.
There are also games like Fifa 2001, where you obviously compete for the most goals. The same with other similar sports. Other ways of playing single player sports like 1080 Snowboarding, is to take it in turns to see who can get the fastest time.
There is, however, one kind of multiplayer mode which we seem to be deprived of. Time Splitters on the Playstation 2 has it, as does Perfect Dark on the N64. That is, Co-operative play.
That's what gaming lacks nowadays. The ability to play WITH each other and not AGAINST each other.
It's all good and fun shooting the crap outta each other with AK47s and Sub Machine Guns, whilst lobbing a grenade or two at each other, but how often can you play, working as a team, to defeat large armies of enemies that try to destroy or enslave the Earth?
It is definately more fun playing together than against each other. To use different tactics to complete levels, to help protect your friend whilst your friend is trying to complete a crucial part of the mission, to recover from you friend's mistakes and to have the same treatment back.
So why is it we haven't had many of these games in the past? Well, I put it down to the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast having limited capabilities. Although one or two games did have this feature, they were still very limited and often effected the look and feel of the game. However, the GameCube, Playstation 2 and X-box should be able to get around this problem. We should soon be seeing brand new multiplayer modes, including better co-operative play in bigger games with less bother over the graphics and the smoothness of play.
So, even though we can play multiplayer games, me and my brother are hoping that developers will include this feature in more games and that they'll be just as fun as Perfect Dark was to play.
As Dringo would say, "Here's to the future!"
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Has anyone here noticed how the best games always seem to be those which you can play with your friends, brothers and sisters? The games where you can play against each other on deathmatches or race each other in high speed action?
Well that is not because the games are designed any better. It is because you can share something with your co-gamers, enjoy something with your friends, and become more sociable whilst doing the things you enjoy best.
However, multiplayer gaming is becoming more antisociable than it should with internet play. You don't know who you're playing on the net, you're just basically playing against an alias. The best kind of multiplay is when two or more of you are in the same room, playing on the same screen.
There are many different types of multiplayer game. You've got the classic Deathmatch, originated on Doom for the PC on network play, but made ever more so popular by Rare's N64 treat Goldeneye. In deathmatch style games, you can compete against every other player, and in newer games, against "bots" or "cpu-players" to give you a bit more variety and a challenge.
Another type is the racer. Each contender has to race as fast as they can to either complete a certain objective in a game, like finding the most emeralds in Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, or just completing a certain number of laps on say, Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance. There are sometimes features similar to deathmatches in racers like in Mario Kart where you have to try and hit other racers three times to win, or in Extreme G on the N64 where you've got to blast each other out of the arenas.
There are also games like Fifa 2001, where you obviously compete for the most goals. The same with other similar sports. Other ways of playing single player sports like 1080 Snowboarding, is to take it in turns to see who can get the fastest time.
There is, however, one kind of multiplayer mode which we seem to be deprived of. Time Splitters on the Playstation 2 has it, as does Perfect Dark on the N64. That is, Co-operative play.
That's what gaming lacks nowadays. The ability to play WITH each other and not AGAINST each other.
It's all good and fun shooting the crap outta each other with AK47s and Sub Machine Guns, whilst lobbing a grenade or two at each other, but how often can you play, working as a team, to defeat large armies of enemies that try to destroy or enslave the Earth?
It is definately more fun playing together than against each other. To use different tactics to complete levels, to help protect your friend whilst your friend is trying to complete a crucial part of the mission, to recover from you friend's mistakes and to have the same treatment back.
So why is it we haven't had many of these games in the past? Well, I put it down to the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast having limited capabilities. Although one or two games did have this feature, they were still very limited and often effected the look and feel of the game. However, the GameCube, Playstation 2 and X-box should be able to get around this problem. We should soon be seeing brand new multiplayer modes, including better co-operative play in bigger games with less bother over the graphics and the smoothness of play.
So, even though we can play multiplayer games, me and my brother are hoping that developers will include this feature in more games and that they'll be just as fun as Perfect Dark was to play.
As Dringo would say, "Here's to the future!"
Well that is not because the games are designed any better. It is because you can share something with your co-gamers, enjoy something with your friends, and become more sociable whilst doing the things you enjoy best.
However, multiplayer gaming is becoming more antisociable than it should with internet play. You don't know who you're playing on the net, you're just basically playing against an alias. The best kind of multiplay is when two or more of you are in the same room, playing on the same screen.
There are many different types of multiplayer game. You've got the classic Deathmatch, originated on Doom for the PC on network play, but made ever more so popular by Rare's N64 treat Goldeneye. In deathmatch style games, you can compete against every other player, and in newer games, against "bots" or "cpu-players" to give you a bit more variety and a challenge.
Another type is the racer. Each contender has to race as fast as they can to either complete a certain objective in a game, like finding the most emeralds in Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, or just completing a certain number of laps on say, Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance. There are sometimes features similar to deathmatches in racers like in Mario Kart where you have to try and hit other racers three times to win, or in Extreme G on the N64 where you've got to blast each other out of the arenas.
There are also games like Fifa 2001, where you obviously compete for the most goals. The same with other similar sports. Other ways of playing single player sports like 1080 Snowboarding, is to take it in turns to see who can get the fastest time.
There is, however, one kind of multiplayer mode which we seem to be deprived of. Time Splitters on the Playstation 2 has it, as does Perfect Dark on the N64. That is, Co-operative play.
That's what gaming lacks nowadays. The ability to play WITH each other and not AGAINST each other.
It's all good and fun shooting the crap outta each other with AK47s and Sub Machine Guns, whilst lobbing a grenade or two at each other, but how often can you play, working as a team, to defeat large armies of enemies that try to destroy or enslave the Earth?
It is definately more fun playing together than against each other. To use different tactics to complete levels, to help protect your friend whilst your friend is trying to complete a crucial part of the mission, to recover from you friend's mistakes and to have the same treatment back.
So why is it we haven't had many of these games in the past? Well, I put it down to the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast having limited capabilities. Although one or two games did have this feature, they were still very limited and often effected the look and feel of the game. However, the GameCube, Playstation 2 and X-box should be able to get around this problem. We should soon be seeing brand new multiplayer modes, including better co-operative play in bigger games with less bother over the graphics and the smoothness of play.
So, even though we can play multiplayer games, me and my brother are hoping that developers will include this feature in more games and that they'll be just as fun as Perfect Dark was to play.
As Dringo would say, "Here's to the future!"