The slow, sad death of couch multiplayer ve gamed my whole life. I've had my forays into single player games—hello, Knights of the Old Republic and every visual novel I had on my DS—but it’s overall been a social experience for me. Nothing’s more fun than firing up a game on your console of choice and gathering around a TV to snipe each other and swear youre totally not screen-watching. Most games have now adopted the online multiplayer system, where you and your friends play together in different houses and possibly chat on mic. This is a great option to have—you aren't always going to be able to meet up in person, so being able to spend time together like this is better than nothing. However, the fact that this is increasingly becoming the only option in many famously- multiplayer games is very frustrating. My Xbox years were some of my favourite gaming years. Along with my step-brother and friends, I played the hell out of Halo 2, Midnight Club 2, Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect, Far Cry Instincts, Fusion Frenzy... The list goes on and on. Sure, there were a few single player games that we would pass the controller around for, but overall, split-screen ruled. That makes the state of these series disappointing. In 2015, Halo 5 was the Rm 1020 — 700 Royal Ave. Douglas College New Westminster, BC V3L 5B2 & 604.525.3542 Lauren Kelly Editor-in-Chief Meditor@theotherpress.ca Mercedes Deutscher News Editor M news@theotherpress.ca Davie Wong Sports Editor M sports@theotherpress.ca Cazzy Lewchuk Opinions Editor M opinions@theotherpress.ca Lauren Paulsen Multimedia Editor M multimedia@theotherpress.ca a fi @ a Q first Halo title to have no split-screen multiplayer. Midnight Club: Los Angeles on PS3 was a racing game without split-screen racing. The Timesplitters third-person shooter series is one of my absolute favourite game series of all time, and also one that is dead in the water, with no new titles since 2005, no backwards compatibility, and no rereleases on newer consoles. Far Cry 4 had only online multiplayer. Fusion Frenzy 2 launched with the 360, but was significantly worse than the original party game, and never got a sequel. This isn’t to say there aren’t couch multiplayer games on newer systems. My boyfriend, who is my main gaming partner, and I have searched long and hard to squeeze all of the local multiplayer we can get out of the PS3 and PS4. That’s how we've ended up playing a lot of dungeon crawlers, fighters, and Dynasty Warriors clones. The Little Big Planet series was a favourite until 3, which traded in difficulty, ingenuity, and fun, for whatever it thought it would accomplish with making other sack-things and letting you buy full outfits instead of search for them. What a disappointment that was. Still, many of these generations’ multiplayer games were only for two @ theotherpress.ca M editor@theotherpress.ca ¥ © /theotherpress f/DouglasOtherPress Chandler Walter Assistant Editor Massistant@theotherpress.ca Caroline Ho Arts Editor M arts@theotherpress.ca Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor M lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca Rebecca Peterson Humour Editor WM humour@theotherpress.ca Cara Seccafien Layout Manager M layout@theotherpress.ca oD D> Yo eo fo players, and most games that allowed more were made by independent developers. We've now hit the point where we mostly play online multiplayer games together. However, this only came after he bought a new TV, and we now have both TVs set up with our PS4s in his media room. So we can hang out together and play Dark Souls and Nioh in one room, laughing and making fun of each other just like an offline multiplayer game. However, this is a unique situation, and we're very lucky. Of course, there is always Nintendo, with its stream of multiplayer focused consoles and titles such as Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros. The advertising for the new Nintendo Switch even heavily focused on the multiplayer and social aspects of the system. That’s great—those games are really fun. They’re just not really what I want to be playing all the time. Another huge problem with online- One, one copy of the game, and one mic to communicate with. Also—how could I forget—an Xbox Live Gold subscription, which is $59.99 a year, just to access online. This makes the cost of entry just to be able to hang out with friends and play a game incredibly high for each person, and a lot of people our age just can’t afford all that. They would also need an area they could use to game at the appropriate time, so those who share TVs with families or roommates will hit yet another roadblock. Most of my best gaming memories are with other people, and a lot of others will say the same. That’s what makes this so sad. Gaming has reached such an impressive technical level, and it’s getting harder and harder to relax with friends over snacks and enjoy how far we've come since the original Halo. Word is that Halo 6 will go back to its split-screen origins after much backlash over 5. Hopefully, that will encourage others to do the same. only multiplayer is accessibility. I have an Xbox and four controllers, which means I can invite three friends over and play Halo 2 on one TV and one console with one copy of the game. If I wanted to play Halo 5 with those same three friends, we would each need to have one TV, one Xbox Angela Ho Business Manager Jacey Gibb Distribution Manager Joel McCarthy Graphics Manager Elizabeth Jacob Production Assistant Ed Appleby IHustrator Jony Roy Social Media Coordinator Aaron Guillen Staff Reporter Greg Waldock, Jessica Berget, & Carlos Bilan Staff Writers Analyn Cuarto Staff Photographer Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist Colten Kamlade, L.A. Bonté Columnists Jan Prchal Contributor v Until next issue, Lauren Kelly Editor-in-Chief The Other Press has been Douglas College’s student newspaper since 1976. Since 1978 we have been an autonomous publication, independent of the student union. We are a registered society under the Society Act of British Columbia, governed by an eight-person board of directors appointed by our staff. Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus. The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected through tutition fees every semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), a syndicate of student newspapers that includes papers from all across Canada. 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