In an age of online gaming, headsets, and text chatting, it's kind of hard to find a lot of people anymore who get together outside of the digital world to play games together in the same house or apartment, let alone on the same TV. Now don't get me wrong --- I think online gaming is fine. But what ever happened to getting a group of friends together and duking it out in a game face-to-face? Those are the memories I carry with me, and luckily, there are still some developers out there that see the importance of multiplayer gaming with real-life people.



It seems that nowadays, developers are cutting the "same game, same TV" type of multiplayer out of games. Crackdown, Armored Core: For Answer, and Unreal Tournament III (at least the PS3 version) all lack any type of split-screen gameplay, requiring you to play any multiplayer modes online (or through a LAN, if you have the equipment). I think this is a shame, because despite all of those games being a lot of fun online, having your entire team in one place is just better than having them separated. Even though voice communication is nice, it's still not as convenient as just turning your head and talking to another player who's sitting right next to you. Plus, it gives actual human interaction, which --- at the risk of sounding like Dr. Phil or something --- is important for all of us to have.



Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a great example of this. Even though it has an online element (which admittedly sucks) it's not meant for online play. It's a party game that you're supposed to play with other people around you, so you can trash talk them personally and rub your victory in their faces, and everyone bursts out laughing. That feeling just isn't the same if you can't actually see those friends.



Now, despite most of the recent multiplayer games being online-oriented, a few of them still know how important it is to actually get people together. Gears of War, Resistance, Left 4 Dead, and the upcoming Resident Evil 5 all allow you to have the same exact multiplayer experiences, whether you're playing online or off, on one TV or multiple. Just recently, I played Left 4 Dead for the first time at a friend's house. We had two Xbox 360s hooked up to two different TVs, and there were four players. I can honestly say that even when I grab the PC version and jump online to play a few rounds, it'll never be the same as being able to laugh and mock and taunt with everyone all around like that. It was the most fun multiplayer experience I had ever been a part of --- We played for about seven hours straight. If we were playing online, would I have been able to pick up the nearest soda can and hurl it at whoever killed me? I doubt it --- I have a decent arm, but it's not good enough to throw stuff through the Internet.

I'll always be playing games online. It's the best way to connect with people in this day and age, and the best way to make new friends. But when it comes to multiplayer video games, I'll never find anything that'll be able to replace the magic of being able to turn to the people around me to see their reactions to what just happened in the game. Forget motion controls --- Playing games with people in the same room is the ultimate form of interactivity.