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Alot of people think that online is the new wave in multiplayer gaming, as Microsoft is putting most of their weight behind it this generation, but I've always had great experiences playing with friends on the couch.

So my question is this: Do you prefer online or local multiplayer, and what games do you really think shine in each area?

I have yet to really experience any online games other than the occasional round of Halo 2 at a friends, and it really isn't all that great being constantly called a fag by some 12 year old somewhere accross the country. I personally enjoy playing with people I know. I know I'm not really giving online much of a chance here, as I have played virtually no games online, but I really don't see the point if you can reach over and slap your friends in the face when they whoop your ass.

My favorite sofa game that I've ever played is Mario Party 1, most definatley. Screaming "GODAMNIT YOU STOLE MY STAR" at your friend in the last round of play or "IT'S YOUR FAULT WE LOST THAT MINIGAME" after a 2v2 never really gets old.

With my minimal experience in online, I still have fun getting my ass whooped in star/war Craft with my amigos. So I'd have to say I enjoy one of those two.

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"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox)

I hate online games.

For one thing, they don't encourage socializing. I don't care what you think, typing words on a screen is NOT a substitute for hanging out with real, living, breathing, beatable-with-a-pizza-crust-after-a-lucky-headshot people.

For another, the internet is a shithole. I hate to put it so bluntly, but it is. People feel safe behind their monitors/TVs. They'll flame away, act like idiots, and basically not care. Granted, this is NOT what everyone does; it's what a select few people do. But it's enough to really degrade the gaming experience.

And frankly? Nothing beats seeing the look of frustration on your friend's face as you're beating the crap out of them in the game.

Online games are a bad substitute for the real thing. Sure, you can socialize online. But the internet will never be a substitute for having a real life outside of your parents' basement (that is, until we can upload ourselves on the intar-webx0rz lolololol.)

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Im my opinion, Halo 2 multiplayer is overrated. If you want a really excellent multiplayer fighting game, get Unreal Championship 2. Ripjack nanoblack, anyone?

I enjoy both local and online multiplayer games, but it depends on the crowd. There are some people in my circle of friends that I can own in certain games, like Madden for instance. So, I like to get online sometimes and try playing people around the country, for more of a challenge. Then there are the games that I suck ass at, like any racing game ever made. For those, I prefer to keep my embarassment local and not show my lack of skillz to the world, thank you.

This post has been edited by Hamedo on 15th February 2006 21:58

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

I've played both ways, but on the couch with friends is where I find myself most often. Its just plain more fun. Sure, some online games have their advantages, especially if you feel like being a total jackass without being held responsible ( "I have the bomb, guys! No, really! We have to go this way!" in counter strike never gets old) But mostly its just more fun to kick the crap out of your friends than some idiots you don't even know.

I go for local. Me and my cousin live together and we play FFIIus, FFV, and FFIIIus in our Super Nintendo systems for over 5 straight hours every Saturday and Sunday

Online games are bull. There are games in which you have to pay monthly in order to keep on playing. Like FFXI for example. I never played it and I don't intend on playing any other online game or 3d for that matter =)

And Runescape sucks.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 16th February 2006 02:18

well, my friend may enjoy the online games, and sure they have high level characters, but thats not ME. I can't focus on an online game for longer than 3 months. I prefer the LAN myself.
Though, I do have lots of fun with Call of Duty 2 on the PC (great WWII shooter, you should all try it sometime). Thanks to TeamSpeak, ive made some excellent friends in Canada. Very funny too.
If I can't play with my friends, then ill play a zombie map on CounterStrike Source. It actually has improved my aim a lot.

Of course, thats if I can get away from my trusty old Playstation2 or my GBA/SP with Tetris.

Also I personally think that it does encourage sociability in People. Those supreme introverts (like me) would have better luck making friends online than in real life. Less suicides all around (but MySpace sucks. You should'nt go there. Its 3V1L, and sex offenders lurk there).

P.S. I agree, Runescape DOES suck.

This post has been edited by strikerbolt on 16th February 2006 07:42

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Neneko is Neneko because Neneko couldn't be Neneko if Neneko wasn't Neneko!
--as quoted from Neneko, Mahoraba {Heartful Days}

I can stab a man with a thick paperback book thru the ribcage.

I stopped playing online games. But they're not that bad since the number of player is pretty much unlimited compared to consoles which can hold 4 players maximum or even less.

I don't care much seeing the face of my friends when I beat the crap out of them, but rather their reaction. They're also getting mad at me for being so cheap.

PS: Who doesn't agree that Runescape sucks? I've been checking a reading a topic on a forum and even more than 75% of the players agreed that the game wasn't too good, repetitive, and they couldn't argue agaisnt other people.

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Sayonara

I can't remember the last time I played a local multiplayer game. I think I probably played Halo 2 with my brother in law for about 10 minutes when it first came out; before that, I'd say probably Goldeneye. You can see how much it really matters to me - I'd probably play a bit now if I had anyone to play with locally, but when you leave college and move a thousand miles from home, your opportunities become pretty limited.

Of course, I don't play online multiplayer all that much either. My online gaming is pretty much limited to the FPSes I play with CoN folk (nowadays UT2K4, but in the past Serious Sam and UT99 too). I have no time or desire to play HL2 against a bunch of moronic fifteen year olds who have no social skills, or venture into an MMORPG with the same.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

People are saying that online play is the real future of gaming, and I suppose I can understand that - Nintendo's DS online features (which are awesome) and the increasing popular of MMORPGs (considerably less awesome) are living proof of that. However, I think one of the purest gaming experiences you can find is sitting in a living room with three or four friends playing some classic multiplayer, like the Power Stone, Mario Kart, or Super Smash Brothers games.

Actually interacting outside the game, whether it's simple trash talk or an actual substantial conversation (I'm not kidding when I say that my friends and I have discussed everything from school, to girls, to schoolgirls over games of Soul Calibur 1/2/3). I simply can't imagine talking about **** like that so easily and freely over any sort of online game - sure, it's just as interactive, and I suppose it increases the interactive possibilities, but it's less personal.

Conclusion: The increased emphasis on online play is probably a good thing for games, but true multiplayer is almost always better, and I don't think it will ever *quite* die out.

Edit

I've never played Runescape, but I'll take y'alls word for it.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 16th February 2006 14:52

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Online games can be pretty cool, depending on the game. I would like to play Splinter Cell online. I would not like to play Halo 2 online.

I don't play local games that much, but this is because all of my friends live in neighborhood's that you can't get to easily without a car, and I'm carless. I do think that some games, like Mario Party, would be more fun local than online, while some games, like Mario Kart would be good online. I have never LAN'd unfortunatly.

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Local is better. Online is more accessible.

If you could constantly be playing with people in person, you'd probably enjoy it more. But there are always people online, organizing your friends to come play is more difficult.

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

I think local multiplay is 10x better. For reasons discussed above. The social interaction of sitting on the sofa playing together is unmatchable. Unfortuantly, alot of MMOs like FFXI assume you have like 6 mates also online, and therfor hours of time to party and play together, not the case for alot of people, so these games end up stagnating, like it did for me, got to lvl20 through hours of solo play, never met any decent people to play with, so that was it. The game had NOTHING more to offer a solo player from there onwards. Guild Wars is deffantly a step in the right direction towards what MMOs should be trying to do, that is, cater for for people with hours and hours and week to meet with other human players and become competitive at the game, as well as those that just log on every now and again, and chip away at the game as if it was offline.


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Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.

http://slightly-bitter.blog.co.uk

local is fun caus you don't lag and that expression on my friends faces!
but internet isn't that bad ! sure there are hackers and viruses and trojan horses and ... but if you have secured your computer good enough it isn't that bad atall

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They may be monsters, but they're sea monsters. What're they gonna do? Flop around on deck and suffocate at us threateningly?

They both have their perks and flaws.

Local - Obviously you are close to your friends (or enemies) you are playing with. It can overall be more fun because you can see the disgust on your friend's face as you blow their head off with a high powered rifle, but usually takes more effort to meet in one place, especially if you want to bring many people into one game which might mean multiple televisions and consoles.

Online - Easier to get into games with many people. I was an avid FFXI player and the argument that it doesn't promote being more social is invalid. Sure, do you want to go across America and meet up with some people? In many instances, hell no. But there are still some good, funny people over the internet to socialize with. You can't generalize all people to be the mindless idiots who go around spamming and causing mayhem because they are protected behind a computer screen, it's only a small fraction.

So what's the best? Well, combine them. Play with your friends locally and online.

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"The only bad F-word is FCC." - Tom Morello