Bring back offline multiplayer!

IGN.com's running a decent editorial, "Co-op Games: The Hard Truth", about offline multiplayer seemingly on its way out.

Though I've been touting "online co-op is the new hotness" for years now, I don't mean at the expense of offline co-op.

The original Halo's co-op campaign -- the entire thing played at a buddy's house -- is what got me to buy an Xbox. And the first time I was ticked the feature was missing was in Doom 3. Now, that latter exclusion may be due to the graphical pushing that wouldn't let you replicate it times two (and forget times 4), but what's the deal with Xbox 360 titles?

I mean, I get together virtually every Monday night and game with a bunch of guys in the same room. Sometimes, we even network a few Xboxes and 360s. There's something great about smacktalking in person, catching up on life in between beatdowns, drinking select beverages -- it's like Old School LAN Parties Evolved.

And now, on the 360, we're kind of stuck with just Halo 2 as an option. Great game, but it's getting tired.

Gears of War is fantastic for it's online and offline co-op (and drop-in/drop-out is a great feature extension). But if you want to do adversarial multiplayer on the same box, you're out of luck.

And same-screen co-op missing from Crackdown is a real bummer to me -- and I think would push the title from really good to great.

From the IGN.com article:

My friend and I were walking down the street Sunday and I was telling him how much fun Crackdown was. Then, absent-mindedly I said, "Come over later tonight and we can play co-op!" "Can I do that?" he said? I looked at him in astonishment, and realized no. We couldn't just hang out at my house and play. He would have to buy a copy, own a X360, and go back to his house to play.

IGN.com posits the missing feature may be due to developers "still racing to get over the learning curve of a new system. They're dealing with HD graphics, triple-core processors, and the new rather complicated world of the next-gen systems."

Which is generous. Talking to some game developers, they freely admit the lack of functionality comes from laziness, a choice to prioritize the functionality lower, or the feature dropping off as schedules get crunched. (I'm sure this doesn't apply to all games; a game like Gears may push the 360 too hard to do 4-player split screen).

But I'm hoping this doesn't become a self-perpetuating trend. I like getting together with friends, playing a good game, and being in the same room. And I like the option to do it online, too (ahem, Halo 3).

If I can't do 4-way multiplayer on my same box with Halo 3, I'm going to be seriously pissed.