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[theviolenthero]

Once again it seems all people care about are Nintendo games & they're disregarding 3rd parties. Same thing happened with the Gamecube & Wii.
Should change the title of this thread to " Local Multiplayer: the best thing about 1st party Wii U games".

So many big 3rd party games like Call of Duty,all sports games,etc.. NEED online play or they'll flop on the WiiU. Split Screen really doesn't mean anything to these games and even if it did, their PS360 counterparts would have it also.
They need to make a big online infrastructure announcement soon to make sure that 3rd party WiiU games don't flop.

 

[GameplayWhore]

It's obvious that life doesn't always make it easy for people to get together, and when it allows social activity there are no doubt many more options than huddling around the TV to play some video games. But the "social gaming is not an option" views here make me feel bad as a 24-year-old man that I'm able to see my friends once a week (on average) for a night of board games, video games, and drinks, as an alternative to going out.

Do people not ever find time to "entertain" others, by having them over for food and activities? Do people always elect to go out rather than have parties? Sometimes having multiplayer gaming possibilities at home makes for a simplification of friendly get-togethers; fun without hassle. Elaborate plans are great, but a night of home entertainment can be just as compelling.

I'm in my mid 30s. I host a party once every three months where games are an option. For the sake of pure amusement (and I hope for reasons that are obvious), my December 22nd party will have "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure" on the TV screen. There are a few parties out there that typically have gaming available as an option. At the big New Year's party every year (the one that generated "firebreathing" avatar that I just temporarily switched to), they made me play NSMBW while drunk, the jerks. I was controlling two Toads simultaneously… well, it was just one, but I saw two of them. Turns out I'm still pretty good at the Tennis and Bowling in Wii Sports while profoundly affected by vodka.

Anyway, one important point of the above is the word "option". You don't have "Trivial Pursuit" parties. You don't have "beer pong" parties. You don't have "Twister" parties. You have parties, period, and you make a bunch of fun activities available for them. Video gaming is often one essential example of such an activity.


On top of all that, I have a couple friends that (when I'm not really busy with more crazy weekend stuff) I visit on Fridays or Sundays (depending on scheduling) for multiplayer gaming. In the past half decade, we have come to game less together and have sought other things to do (like watching pro wrestling… for like ten hours straigh, urgh!). But this hasn't been because of behavioral changes. It's pretty much been because the industry has dumped us. We're interested in this kind of game, but all of a sudden, at the start of this generation, almost every game that came out that would have had local multiplayer just didn't. There wasn't really any time period where local and online multiplayer games were competing with each other, and one category won out. The industry just suddenly shifted.

Except for Nintendo. Save for wrasslin' games and a few games from the prior generation (and a pretty dreadful two-player run of Resident Evil 5 -- the third friend in my group urged at us to keep going because my co-op partner kept accidentally getting me killed, and I started swearing a lot, which caused mirth), the only decent local multiplayer games we could find were on the Wii. And even then, it felt like the pickings were slim.

This gen made me sad by being so limited.

 

[Hiltz]

Wouldn't Project: P-100 technically be a second-party title to Nintendo?

 

[SapientWolf]

A lot of the better PSN/XBLA titles support local multiplayer, so I hope DD is a big part of Nintendo's long term Wii U strategy.

 

[batbeg]

Once again it seems all people care about are Nintendo games & they're disregarding 3rd parties. Same thing happened with the Gamecube & Wii.
Should change the title of this thread to " Local Multiplayer: the best thing about 1st party Wii U games".

Seems to me you simply disregarded all the great local multiplayer games on Wii from third parties. Off the top of my head I absolutely loved Trackmania, Dokapon Kingdom, Resident Evil light shooters, Ghost Squad, Let's Tap, Trauma Team/Center, Boom Blox/Bash Party, Blast Works, Elebits, Dead Space Extraction, HotD, Goldeneye, and if you count third-party developed ones, Endless Ocean. But hey, that's just my personal list of local multiplayer games I enjoyed, right? I guess if you want success stories you'd have to look more towards the rabbid games, carnivals, karaoke/dance/fitness/music...

I mean really?

 

[Touch]

This is cool and all because I love local multiplayer, but I just don't have friends over to play games. I'm the one that goes to someone else house to play and they are not the type to be purchasing or playing anything Nintendo anytime soon.

 

[Mariah Carey]

Some weird responses in this thread. Don't have time to play with others in the same place? WELL OBVIOUSLY THIS ISN'T THE THREAD FOR YOU YA PARTY POOPER.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I think my buddies and I are going to love the Wii U, college age is the perfect time for local multiplayer.

 

[Hiltz]

This is cool and all because I love local multiplayer, but I just don't have friends over to play games. I'm the one that goes to someone else house to play and they are not the type to be purchasing or playing anything Nintendo anytime soon.

I'm pretty much in the same boat.

 

[Vermillion]

Do you work and how old are you?

I don't work right now. College.

 

[Captain Smoker]

You still have time to hang out and socialize but when a chance to socialize arises gaming is just never an option, I don't know how old you are, but when I started going out on thursday-Saturday nights with my buddies instead of gaming I never looked back

I would say it all depends on the personal situation and social circumstances.

Nevertheless, the older you get, the harder it should be, but this is no rule.

 

[marc^o^]

Hardest persons to convince playing videogames are women >30 years old. Few of them play with their kid/husband using a controller. Using the touchscreen though? I'm sure they will, if Angry Birds taught me anything.

So the GamePad gives us a mean to bring our wives in the game. Smart. Wii U is as much a party system as a family one, and the fact the GamePad offers a dedicated account to each family member should reinforce that. Moms receiving swap notes from their kids , responding back... It's part of Nintendo's vision: put the GamePad not only at the center of the living room, but at the center of the family.

 

[dwu8991]

This is cool and all because I love local multiplayer, but I just don't have friends over to play games. I'm the one that goes to someone else house to play and they are not the type to be purchasing or playing anything Nintendo anytime soon.

touche !!!

 

[Poimandres]

Hardest persons to convince playing videogames are women >30 years old. Few of them play with their kid/husband using a controller. Using the touchscreen though? I'm sure they will, if Angry Birds taught me anything.

So the GamePad gives us a mean to bring our wives in the game. Smart. Wii U is as much a party system as a family one, and the fact the GamePad offers a dedicated account to each family member should reinforce that.

I really think the touch screen is going to be less effective at getting non gamers involved than the Wiimote and Kinect were though. It was easy enough to get my mum to play a few rounds of Wii Sports, but she'd probably have a heart attack just looking at the Wii U controller.

 

[Riposte]

I think the key for WiiU's success among le casuals is

1) Replicate the success of games like Lord of Vermillion in Japanese arcades in the states and at home

2) Establish a board game atmosphere where people will go out of their way to make appointments and play it and not just bring it out for the holidays like Wii Sports since they got nothing better to do.

I mean they could make their bread and butter the usual stuff Xbox360 and PS3 are, but the third-party situation doesn't look good.

 

[marc^o^]

I really think the touch screen is going to be less effective at getting non gamers involved than the Wiimote and Kinect were though.

No, nothing is easier than touching a screen. More than a billion have played Angry Birds, virtually anyone knows how to use a touchscreen. With the wiimote you have to make sure the pointer is facing the screen correctly, make sure you hold and unleash A and B buttons to play bowling, etc. Seems easy, yet you are still losing lots of people here (young kids, uncoordinated adults). About Kinect, what are your 3 most anticipated party games this year?

 

[Aostia]

No, nothing is easier than touching a screen. More than a billion have played Angry Birds, virtually anyone knows how to use a touchscreen. With the wiimote you have to make sure the pointer is facing the screen correctly, make sure you hold and unleash A and B buttons to play bowling, etc. Seems easy, yet you are still losing lots of people here (young kids, uncoordinated adults). About Kinect, what are your 3 most anticipated party games this year?

Plus, if we are talking about local multiplayer, I think that the vast majority of the casual will still play with the remote, while we (gamers) will often be the "masters" of the game, using the Upad.

 

[marc^o^]

I can see Wii U enhance traditional party games, such as Pictionary. This one is a no brainer.

Rabbids Land contains 20 mini games, and previews we have so far make it sound like a good icebreaker at parties:

The first minigame I played took its inspiration from Indiana Jones. The Rabbids dressed up like the famous adventurer and rode around on top of boulders in a vaguely Temple of Doom-themed area. Like many Wii U games this year, this one featured asynchronous multiplayer. One player tilted the Wii U GamePad horizontally to control three Rabbids on small boulders and gather ten diamonds. Meanwhile, the second player tilted the Wiimote to move one Rabbid on a big boulder who needs to squash the other player's Rabbids. The Rabbid on the big boulder could roll faster than the Rabbids on the smaller boulders, but the weaker Rabbids could slip through small green gates to momentarily escape their hunter.

The second mini-game was a unique take on the memory matching game that required verbal cooperation between players. The game also put the Rabbids' crude humor front-and-center. One screen showed the front of a line-up of Rabbids, while the other showed the back. Players had to lift the skirts/shorts of each Rabbid and a symbol would be displayed. One matching set that must be found from among the symbols and they're matched when both Rabbid's clothes are held up. Players have to verbally communicate what they see in order to find the pair, and several sets of Rabbids must be matched in a limited time period to successfully complete the mini-game.

Requiring players to verbally and frantically communicate what they see in order to win = good times ahead.

 

[mclem]

I know ZombiU has something like that, but would love to have it extended beyond 1 vs 1. Like 1 person plays "Director" and 4 others have objectives and stuff to overcome.

"Left U 4 Dead"?

 

[mclem]

So many big 3rd party games like Call of Duty,all sports games,etc.. NEED online play or they'll flop on the WiiU. Split Screen really doesn't mean anything to these games and even if it did, their PS360 counterparts would have it also.

CoD has online play on the Wii. Successfully, by most accounts. I'd be very surprised if they removed it for the U.

That said, of course, there's a valid point to be made about infrastructure, but you need to frame the argument in *those* terms, not in "NO ONLINE PLAY ON WII U" terms.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Halving the frame rate is awful. This Wii U still needs to convince me, got to be honest.

 

[marc^o^]

Halving the frame rate is awful. This Wii U still needs to convince me, got to be honest.

To be fair, there is a reduction in the framerate whilst playing splitscreen in most games.

And the issue you mention is not existant, as long as you have one GamePad. Streaming to 2 GamePads would lock the framerate at 30fps on both.

 

[Captain Smoker]

Halving the frame rate is awful. This Wii U still needs to convince me, got to be honest.

Multiplayer with one pad:
TV: 60 fps / wiiupad: 60 fps / rest plays with other controllers

Multiplayer with two pads:
TV: 60 fps / wiiupad-1: 30 fps / wiiupad-2: 30 fps / rest plays with other controllers

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Multiplayer with one pad:
TV: 60 fps / wiiupad: 60 fps / rest plays with other controllers

Multiplayer with two pads:
TV: 60 fps / wiiupad-1: 30 fps / wiiupad-2: 30 fps / rest plays with other controllers

Ah, OK, thanks for the clarification.

 

[theBishop]

There wasn't really any time period where local and online multiplayer games were competing with each other, and one category won out. The industry just suddenly shifted.

Except for Nintendo. Save for wrasslin' games and a few games from the prior generation (and a pretty dreadful two-player run of Resident Evil 5 -- the third friend in my group urged at us to keep going because my co-op partner kept accidentally getting me killed, and I started swearing a lot, which caused mirth), the only decent local multiplayer games we could find were on the Wii. And even then, it felt like the pickings were slim.

This gen made me sad by being so limited.

You're just not honestly looking.

 

[danmaku]

Multiplayer with one pad:
TV: 60 fps / wiiupad: 60 fps / rest plays with other controllers

Multiplayer with two pads:
TV: 60 fps / wiiupad-1: 30 fps / wiiupad-2: 30 fps / rest plays with other controllers

What if the game runs at 30 to begin with? honest question, I didn't pay attention to the whole "2nd pad gets half the fps" controversy.

 

[Aostia]

What if the game runs at 30 to begin with? honest question, I didn't pay attention to the whole "2nd pad gets half the fps" controversy.

It all depends on the developers, I would say.
the most important thing to me is that Gamepad could allow to play in "split screen" without splitting the TV screen at all (I play on the gamepad, you play on the tv screen) without cutting the framerate. If you add an additional gamepad you'll be able to keep the 60fps on the tv screen, getting 30fps on both gamepads.
Unlike it was underlined in the previous "Framerate issue" thread, gamepad could really add a lot to the splitscreen experience

 

[elektrixx]

They're not distracting me. I notice they're not laying out their online service. I hate this secrets bullshit.

Four ports in the Nintendo 64 was a great addition. But that was in the 90's.

Not only is their unreleased console already outdated but so is their focus and promotion of this console. When's the modem adaptor coming?

 

[gamergirly]

They're not distracting me. I notice they're not laying out their online service. I hate this secrets bullshit.

Four ports in the Nintendo 64 was a great addition. But that was in the 90's.

Not only is their unreleased console already outdated but so is their focus and promotion of this console. When's the modem adaptor coming?

Outdated by what

 

[mclem]

What if the game runs at 30 to begin with? honest question, I didn't pay attention to the whole "2nd pad gets half the fps" controversy.

It sounds like the limitation boils down to "We can only stream at 60fps, with two pads the signal for each has to be interpolated". If that's the case, the game running at 30fps doesn't *necessarily* mean that the pads are forced to 15fps; it's not implausible that 30/30/30 is possible.

Fundamentally it depends *why* it's running at 30fps. If it's running at 30fps because it's CPU-bound, 30/30/30 ought to be possible. If it's running because it's GPU bound, I think 30/15/15 is probably necessary, but I can see certain configurations where even that could be 30/30/30.

Ultimately, I think it's something that would depend on the game.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I have tons local multi games for 360 though.

 

[marc^o^]

When's the modem adaptor coming?

You may not care about asymmetric gameplay, but it doesn't make your post less trollish.

 

[theBishop]

I have tons local multi games for 360 though.

But you don't have Mario Party.

 

[mugurumakensei]

Fundamentally it depends *why* it's running at 30fps. If it's running at 30fps because it's CPU-bound, 30/30/30 ought to be possible. If it's running because it's GPU bound, I think 30/15/15 is probably necessary, but I can see certain configurations where even that could be 30/30/30.

Ultimately, I think it's something that would depend on the game.

It doesn't really depend on whether it's GPU bound or not. The broadcaster sends out 60 fps regardless of the game's framerate. If the frame doesn't change every 1/60 of a second, a duplicate frame is sent. When two gamepada are used it alternates the frames sent. So, they would always be 30. just means on player sees each frame slightly later than the other.

 

[AdventureRacing]

The first thing i thought when i saw the controller was that it would be AMAZING for local co-op/MP. Of course finding out that it was one control only (and now 2 but not even at launch) kinda stifled that excitement.

When they actually showing a game taking advantage of the control things may change.

 

[Penguin]

"Left U 4 Dead"?

I love LEft 4 Dead/2

But I may be mistaken, you can't do that in couch play?

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

But you don't have Mario Party.

Heh.

I just thought this topic was a strange coincidence, as I had people over for Rock Band 2 for the first time in a year this weekend. Booze and local multi is always welcome fun.

 

[theBishop]

Heh.

I just thought this topic was a strange coincidence, as I had people over for Rock Band 2 for the first time in a year this weekend. Booze and local multi is always welcome fun.

Wait, you played Rockband locally? It has online multiplayer. Didn't you know that?

 

[cacildo]

It is kind of strange.

Im one of those people that reads about videogames on the internet on a daily basis, post on neogaf. And to be fair, i dont "get" the WiiU, like a lot of "casuals" out there.

When i first saw the WiiU gamepad i had two things in mind: 1) It will be great for local multiplayer 2) This " you can keep playing while somebody whatches tv" thing is kinda cool

Then time passes... and as it turns out, dosent look like developers will take advantage of this two obvious selling points.

Looks like the game pad will be THE MAP SCREEN


Its like the wii all over again: you see the concept (motion control), you get onboard, get your hopes up and then... nothing. Not a single developer can take advantage of it.

Like when the wiimote suddenly became THE WAGGLE CONTROLLER

 

[Petrichor]

I think the problem is with the Wii U is that whereas motion control was accessible and brought gaming to a wider audience - the "asymmetric gameplay" selling point of the Wii U is even more complicated than gaming on the 360 and the PS3, let alone the Wii.

 

[marc^o^]

It is kind of strange.

Im one of those people that reads about videogames on the internet on a daily basis, post on neogaf. And to be fair, i dont "get" the WiiU, like a lot of "casuals" out there.

When i first saw the WiiU gamepad i had two things in mind: 1) It will be great for local multiplayer 2) This " you can keep playing while somebody whatches tv" thing is kinda cool

Then time passes... and as it turns out, dosent look like developers will take advantage of this two obvious selling points.

Looks like the game pad will be THE MAP SCREEN


Its like the wii all over again: you see the concept (motion control), you get onboard, get your hopes up and then... nothing. Not a single developer can take advantage of it.

Like when the wiimote suddenly became THE WAGGLE CONTROLLER

APOCALYPTIC SCENARIO!TM

 

[evolution]

Online is definitely more important to me than local play. I also don't get the notion that local is dead on ps3/360. There may be less at retail, but psn/xbla games more than make up for the decline.

 

[plagiarize]

i see a lot of the same people from the Pikmin 3 thread thinking that since they are too old to have friends (or something) that local mp means something other than a mode they won't get to enjoy.

i do feel sorry for you guys that don't have friends local to you anymore, but people still go to college, and some of us in our thirties still have friends! shocking as that may sound. the Wii was successful in no small part because of its local multiplayer. Rock Band, the same.

local multiplayer got a much needed injection of awesome this gen, with a bunch of new fun experiences, and that's a big part of why i'm looking forwards to the Wii U. we have friends around regularly and stuff like Rock Band and Kinect and Wii Sports goes down really well. heck, when Rock Band 2 came out we had people over once or twice a week for a few months afterwards.

yeah, some of you have moved on from local MP. sucks to be you. it's still a huge selling point for the console.

 

[marc^o^]

I also don't get the notion that local is dead on ps3/360. There may be less at retail, but psn/xbla games more than make up for the decline.

Neither is online dead on Wii U. Saying local multiplayer is the strength of this platform is like saying online is the strength of x360 and PS3. It will be -by design- the party/family console to own.

 

[plagiarize]

Neither is online dead on Wii U. Saying local multiplayer is the strength of this platform is like saying online is the strength of x360 and PS3. It will be -by design- the party/family console to own.

me thinks these people have never played Pac Man VS in a party situation.

 

[theBishop]

Online is definitely more important to me than local play. I also don't get the notion that local is dead on ps3/360. There may be less at retail, but psn/xbla games more than make up for the decline.

It's not dead on PS3/360 at all.

Wii is poor at online, it must excel at something, therefore it is the best for local multiplayer.

Weakness is just a different kind of strength.

 

[Lyude77]

Online is definitely more important to me than local play. I also don't get the notion that local is dead on ps3/360. There may be less at retail, but psn/xbla games more than make up for the decline.

I think the perception exists because some developers on the 360/PS3 actively skip local in their online multiplayer games or occasionally make the splitscreen bad. For me, games like Crackdown or Castlevania HD come to mind on the first, and Borderlands comes up on the second.

I can't think of a game where local multiplayer was ignored like that on the Wii (online was, but that's not the topic).

Plus, some people saying 360/PS3 are bad for local may not like FPS/sports/racers, which really limits the retail local games, making downloadable games the only ones to look forward to. As it is, though, solely because sports games are much better on 360/PS3, it's close for me.

Wii U should be great for local. I'm looking forward to games like Nintendo Land and NSMBU.

 

[Aostia]

It is kind of strange.

Im one of those people that reads about videogames on the internet on a daily basis, post on neogaf. And to be fair, i dont "get" the WiiU, like a lot of "casuals" out there.

When i first saw the WiiU gamepad i had two things in mind: 1) It will be great for local multiplayer 2) This " you can keep playing while somebody whatches tv" thing is kinda cool

Then time passes... and as it turns out, dosent look like developers will take advantage of this two obvious selling points.

Looks like the game pad will be THE MAP SCREEN


Its like the wii all over again: you see the concept (motion control), you get onboard, get your hopes up and then... nothing. Not a single developer can take advantage of it.

Like when the wiimote suddenly became THE WAGGLE CONTROLLER

The "Map elements" is the focus just in multiplayer games (and this is quiet obvious).
If you look at Zombiu there is an interesting use of the gamepad for the local multiplayer; Rayman was focused just on that element; even Trine2 add a new local asimettric multiplayer mode; Nintendo Land is all based on that concept, Rabbid Land also, Mario U too and so on. Let's see also how the multiplayer will be managed in Pikmin3. But there are already a lot of games that are trying to push and exploit the local asimmetric multiplayer experience.

Instead, I agree that we are not receiveing confirmation about the possibility to play the games directly on the Upad, MarioU apart.

 

[PatrickLyons]

put me down with the people who have minimal interest in the wii u if it doesn't permit each player to have a tablet controller. my interest in playing local multiplayer dungeon keeper is not high.

 

[marc^o^]

I think the perception exists because some developers on the 360/PS3 actively skip local in their online multiplayer games or occasionally make the splitscreen bad.

First and foremost, the perception exists because hundreds of millions people played wii sports with the 90 million wii owners who got the game. Add few dozen more millions with NSMB Wii, Mario Kart, Wii Sports Resort or SSMB...

Wii was certainly the most played console on local multiplayer games this gen.

Wii U is reusing what made local MP so played on wii - AAA party games development and wiimotes - while adding a core multiplayer element to the mix, with the GamePad. It's a party game machine at its core. Nintendo is trying to explain it through its branding, its book reference, its "together" philosophy, its launch lineup, etc.