The Destiny of Co-Op Gaming

For the first blog I wanted to talk about something very close to my heart, and that is the Co-Op experience provided by games.

On September 9, 2014 Bungie (the company that started Halo, yes HALO) released Destiny.  I was really excited for this game because it was going to offer a kind of RPG depth to the First Person Shooter experience.  That, tacked on to the name Bungie, meant this game was on my radar.
I remember many a college night staying up playing Halo 2 with my roommate.  I remember the immense fun I had experiencing the epic storyline of Halo:Reach with my neighbor.  More recently, my Girlfriend and I finished up Borderlands 2 (an excellent experience) and we were ready for a new game.

BUT THEN I got the dreaded news that the game was not going to support split screen or even Local Co-Op AT ALL.

I remember a time when the only way to play with others was good old fashioned Couch Co-Op (or local co-op/split-screen co-op).

Granted there were a lot fewer systems in people's homes and  gaming was not the huge market it is today but, with more and more games stepping away from this I wonder what the future holds for the Co-Op players.

After reading the Gamespot article covering this news I was surprised that many gamers shared my concerns in the comments below.  They even mentioned that their significant other would not be able to join them in the game without having to go out and purchase another copy of the game, gaming console, and TV to play on.  Now just because one game is not incorporating one function does not mean it will be the trend of the industry.  But when a developer like Bungie who had HUGE success largely due to the multiplayer aspects of their games, leave out a core element that has been in all of their most lucrative games, I raise an eyebrow...

My concerns are:

• Most people who like this genre of games also like to play with close friends and people they can invite over.
• There is an influx of couples that grew up on games and want to play together without buying duplicates of everything.
• In an era where consoles are as common as a couch in the living room or a fridge in the kitchen, how do families cope with this lack of multi-user functions? Are they buying a console per kid?
• With the success of Destiny, will other developers follow suit?

All in all, though I am disappointed that I will not get to play Destiny side by side with someone, I can say that there is still a huge benefit to couch co-op and that there are still several games providing that experience.

--H00k Out
And as always if you enjoyed...

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