SSFitzgerald
Shaun joined
I'm a writer. I also like to draw. I've been told that my drawings are nice, but honestly I don't like doing it too much. I love "thinking on my toes." I am one of those jarheads that believe that the Marines are better then the Army, although I respect both equally. I love shooting, it is my passion. I study weapons to fine point, and I can tell you the hundreds of differences between the AK-47 and the Type-81 and I hate when people pretend to know what they are talking about when it is clear their weapon knowledge is from video games. Well that's all you should need to know about me, if you're interested in talking to me, drop me a line in any one my forms of contacts.
My Blogs
(This is coppied from my blogger at blogger "Random Thoughts")
So for quiet sometime I have felt the gaming industry has
been producing mediocre games. I thought it was just me, and that I was moving
past games. But then I decided to just play a few of my old Playstation games
(yeah the first one), and I realized, no modern games are just not as
interesting. My girlfriend and I burned several days playing fun, interesting,
and exciting games. Which brings me to my first point.
been producing mediocre games. I thought it was just me, and that I was moving
past games. But then I decided to just play a few of my old Playstation games
(yeah the first one), and I realized, no modern games are just not as
interesting. My girlfriend and I burned several days playing fun, interesting,
and exciting games. Which brings me to my first point.
WHY ON EARTH DO MODERN GAMES NOT HAVE SPLITSCREEN?! In fact as there aren't split screen games coming out, why do consoles have ports for 4 controllers?
Well I’ve looked into this, and first I’m going to address
the common man’s argument first. So I often hear that splitscreen is outdated.
Um, no, sitting with your FRIEND or GIRLFRIEND and playing a game together is
not outdated. Sometimes friends just want to kick back and mess around with a
fun game. Don’t believe me? Does anyone remember 007 Golden Eye for the N64? I
recently popped in Time Splitters 2 for the PS2 and my girlfriend and I wasted
a whole week on that game alone. This is 2012 and the most interesting
splitscreen game we can find came out nearly 10 years ago? Now granted there
were a few games recently that do have splitscreen, but it seemed they lacked
content for the two of us to stay interested in them. But they deserve a
mention in case any readers are looking.
the common man’s argument first. So I often hear that splitscreen is outdated.
Um, no, sitting with your FRIEND or GIRLFRIEND and playing a game together is
not outdated. Sometimes friends just want to kick back and mess around with a
fun game. Don’t believe me? Does anyone remember 007 Golden Eye for the N64? I
recently popped in Time Splitters 2 for the PS2 and my girlfriend and I wasted
a whole week on that game alone. This is 2012 and the most interesting
splitscreen game we can find came out nearly 10 years ago? Now granted there
were a few games recently that do have splitscreen, but it seemed they lacked
content for the two of us to stay interested in them. But they deserve a
mention in case any readers are looking.
-Resident Evil 5 (the only redeeming fact of the splitscreen
here is that there is a Mercenary Mode which will keep it interesting much
longer than the story)
here is that there is a Mercenary Mode which will keep it interesting much
longer than the story)
-Halo (they all have it, but it seems that only the first
kept us interested in the story, which when it comes to splitscreen is key)
kept us interested in the story, which when it comes to splitscreen is key)
-Rainbow Six Vegas & Rainbow Six Vegas 2
-Left for Dead & Left for Dead 2 (although these games
become far too easy after a single play through)
become far too easy after a single play through)
-Boarderlands
-Call of Duty Black Ops (you can go online splitscreen as
well, although I’m just not a big fan of the series)
well, although I’m just not a big fan of the series)
-Portal 2 (I have no clue why the first one didn’t offer
splitscreen)
splitscreen)
As you can see it’s not a very big list. Now I know a few
others exist, but again, they didn’t keep our interest for very long, often the
problem became they didn’t last longer then a single play through which is
somewhere around 4-6 hours, any play through after that you know where
everything is and is basically just a run through, for example Army of 2. Those
being the racing games and any of the Lego or ‘super hero’ type games. But just
in case, for my readers who are looking for splitscreen games and are willing
to play older games here’s a short list.
others exist, but again, they didn’t keep our interest for very long, often the
problem became they didn’t last longer then a single play through which is
somewhere around 4-6 hours, any play through after that you know where
everything is and is basically just a run through, for example Army of 2. Those
being the racing games and any of the Lego or ‘super hero’ type games. But just
in case, for my readers who are looking for splitscreen games and are willing
to play older games here’s a short list.
-Star Wars Battlefront & Star Wars Battlefront II
-Sims 2
-Half-Life
-Time Splitters 2
-Ghost Recon (whole series)
-Killzone (the newest one sadly does not offer splitscreen)
The list goes on but these are all older games, and despite
their fun, the limited technology of their time period usually allows a couple
(friends or otherwise) to burn through these in roughly a weeks’ time. But as I
stated earlier, I will dispute the arguments of the developers. The first and
most common is it’s hard to render today’s graphics into splitscreen. Well
first off this is just plain wrong. But I’ll keep the argument valid for now,
but let’s accept the reality that not every game that comes out has the best
graphics in the world. For example the fun (in my opinion) game Dead Island definitely
could have, and really should have had splitscreen, the graphics aren’t as
sharp as Call of Duty World at War or Call of Duty Black Ops and yet both
feature splitscreen. In fact Dead Island was pushed back several times, and is
a little behind times. Well let’s assume
now that graphics and content play a role, as Dead Island definitely has more
content crammed into its system. Well Borderlands has the same if not more and
is also splitscreen. Now I understand also that for this generation and new
gamers graphics seem to be of high regard, although I find it funny Half-Life
is still amazing to this day, so I won’t say the typical argument of gameplay
> graphics. Because really we have seen, and I will give a few more
examples, that graphics can be done well in splitscreen. Let’s say now, we’ll
take a game still in this generation, but older. Saints Row 2, in fact this
game was supposed to be splitscreen, but it ended up not being splitscreen.
Just about every splitscreen game (in this generation) I reference earlier has
better graphics. Which, mentioning Saints Row 2, what bothers me so much are
games that really should have had splitscreen. Resident Evil Operation Raccoon
City, this is a game based around team work, and didn’t offer splitscreen (go
ahead and say survival horror games shouldn’t have splitscreen, then go play
the game and tell me how much of a survival horror that game it really is). In
fact the game didn’t even advance that much compared to its predecessor RE5
which had splitscreen! Far Cry 2 is (even with all its faults) one of my
favorite open world games, and I really feel that it had features that would
have been better splitscreen, (i.e. driving and shooting). In fact in reference
to Far Cry 2, the whole game would have been more interesting splitscreen
considering that you had to ambush your enemies in several parts of the game.
their fun, the limited technology of their time period usually allows a couple
(friends or otherwise) to burn through these in roughly a weeks’ time. But as I
stated earlier, I will dispute the arguments of the developers. The first and
most common is it’s hard to render today’s graphics into splitscreen. Well
first off this is just plain wrong. But I’ll keep the argument valid for now,
but let’s accept the reality that not every game that comes out has the best
graphics in the world. For example the fun (in my opinion) game Dead Island definitely
could have, and really should have had splitscreen, the graphics aren’t as
sharp as Call of Duty World at War or Call of Duty Black Ops and yet both
feature splitscreen. In fact Dead Island was pushed back several times, and is
a little behind times. Well let’s assume
now that graphics and content play a role, as Dead Island definitely has more
content crammed into its system. Well Borderlands has the same if not more and
is also splitscreen. Now I understand also that for this generation and new
gamers graphics seem to be of high regard, although I find it funny Half-Life
is still amazing to this day, so I won’t say the typical argument of gameplay
> graphics. Because really we have seen, and I will give a few more
examples, that graphics can be done well in splitscreen. Let’s say now, we’ll
take a game still in this generation, but older. Saints Row 2, in fact this
game was supposed to be splitscreen, but it ended up not being splitscreen.
Just about every splitscreen game (in this generation) I reference earlier has
better graphics. Which, mentioning Saints Row 2, what bothers me so much are
games that really should have had splitscreen. Resident Evil Operation Raccoon
City, this is a game based around team work, and didn’t offer splitscreen (go
ahead and say survival horror games shouldn’t have splitscreen, then go play
the game and tell me how much of a survival horror that game it really is). In
fact the game didn’t even advance that much compared to its predecessor RE5
which had splitscreen! Far Cry 2 is (even with all its faults) one of my
favorite open world games, and I really feel that it had features that would
have been better splitscreen, (i.e. driving and shooting). In fact in reference
to Far Cry 2, the whole game would have been more interesting splitscreen
considering that you had to ambush your enemies in several parts of the game.
Now with the fact my girlfriend and I are preparing to get
married, it has come to the point that we won’t buy games simply because they
do not offer split screen. We have our hopes up for the upcoming Aliens:
Colonial Marines game, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier game. My girlfriend
constantly tells me that she hopes the new BioShock will have split screen, but
considering that the last two didn’t we aren’t getting our hopes up.
married, it has come to the point that we won’t buy games simply because they
do not offer split screen. We have our hopes up for the upcoming Aliens:
Colonial Marines game, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier game. My girlfriend
constantly tells me that she hopes the new BioShock will have split screen, but
considering that the last two didn’t we aren’t getting our hopes up.
I also understand that many don’t and won’t support split
screen online. That would be fine for me as well, although my friend and I love
getting the number one and two spots in CoD Black Ops, but consider just
offline. Especially in games where story or cooperation is important to the
game, splitscreen is a must. The newest Aliens vs. Predators came out for the consoles;
I would have loved playing survival or the Marine storyline with my friend or
girlfriend.
screen online. That would be fine for me as well, although my friend and I love
getting the number one and two spots in CoD Black Ops, but consider just
offline. Especially in games where story or cooperation is important to the
game, splitscreen is a must. The newest Aliens vs. Predators came out for the consoles;
I would have loved playing survival or the Marine storyline with my friend or
girlfriend.
I also noticed that games with splitscreen lost much longer than
their online coop counter parts. Online diminishes, and servers shut down,
splitscreen allows that game to retain some value (a trade in of $1.10 is not
value). I don’t pop in old games to play alone in the dark, I do it with
friends and we do it because the new games don’t offer splitscreen.
their online coop counter parts. Online diminishes, and servers shut down,
splitscreen allows that game to retain some value (a trade in of $1.10 is not
value). I don’t pop in old games to play alone in the dark, I do it with
friends and we do it because the new games don’t offer splitscreen.
The last thing I noticed is the lack of adding bots. I
remember this feature made games in the past extremely unique and it suddenly
died off. It would be amazing to see splitscreen return, it would be a miracle
to see both splitscreen and bots return. But as lives change, it seems to me I
won’t bother purchasing games any more unless splitscreen is offered. And that
is simply because if I want to play alone I’ll play on my computer. But most of
the time I like being social, I enjoy sitting back and relaxing with friends
and my girlfriend and playing games with each other. And I know I am not the
only one. I’m not going to go out and sink more money into buying a whole new
console plus game, just to play ‘system link’ with my girlfriend. I’m not going to ask each one of my friends
to get the same console as myself, pay for online play (xbox), just to play a
game. I’m going to go out on a limb here
and say that if anyone really thinks sitting in the dark alone playing online
with just a headset is more fun than splitscreen, then they never have opened a
pizza with friend(s)along with a few
drinks and just played. I would even
make an argument that games aren’t as deep and whole as they used to be, but
that’s another argument for another post.
remember this feature made games in the past extremely unique and it suddenly
died off. It would be amazing to see splitscreen return, it would be a miracle
to see both splitscreen and bots return. But as lives change, it seems to me I
won’t bother purchasing games any more unless splitscreen is offered. And that
is simply because if I want to play alone I’ll play on my computer. But most of
the time I like being social, I enjoy sitting back and relaxing with friends
and my girlfriend and playing games with each other. And I know I am not the
only one. I’m not going to go out and sink more money into buying a whole new
console plus game, just to play ‘system link’ with my girlfriend. I’m not going to ask each one of my friends
to get the same console as myself, pay for online play (xbox), just to play a
game. I’m going to go out on a limb here
and say that if anyone really thinks sitting in the dark alone playing online
with just a headset is more fun than splitscreen, then they never have opened a
pizza with friend(s)along with a few
drinks and just played. I would even
make an argument that games aren’t as deep and whole as they used to be, but
that’s another argument for another post.
In the end I believe this is just the companies’ way of
getting more of their products sold (haha! Now you must buy two copies of our
game!). I wonder if the next generation will even have the ports for more than
one controller.
getting more of their products sold (haha! Now you must buy two copies of our
game!). I wonder if the next generation will even have the ports for more than
one controller.
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nice drawings
Thank you, I have more I have done recently but I just haven't been on Moddb enough to upload them. As well, I'm helping a friend with her game, I'm doing some concept art which has sucked up the last of my free time.