Consoles lacking LAN mutiplayer?

[slapnutz]

I was discussing this with my friend who has a xbox360. He mentioned that quite a few "online co-op/mp" dont have LAN/system link ability. e.g. gta4

Can anyone explain why so many devs do this and why no one in the games industry media question their methods?

My friend pointed out two reason/theories...

1) Forces people to pay for xbox live... thus MS makes money
2) MS cant check pirated games for LANS/Split screen.

Really, is this the real reason? An artificial design barrier just to make more bucks?

(also, is it the same story with the ps3)

 

[V3]

LAN is difficult to setup in living room. So I assumed the demand for it is quite low.

LAN feature will cost dev money. If demand is low for LAN, it's not money they're willing to waste on.

Sony did try this link up LAN since the original Playstation, but it never catch on. It was cool when you get it setup and things are working. I still prefer LAN too than online. It's just more fun to have your friends in the same room.

 

[patsu]

I only know these LAN games for PS3:
* Warhawk (LAN + splitscreen)
* F1 Championship Edition
* Unreal Tournament 3
* Armored Core 4
* GRAW

Why is this thread in the Console Tech subforum ?

 

[Acert93]

1) Forces people to pay for xbox live... thus MS makes money
2) MS cant check pirated games for LANS/Split screen.

Really, is this the real reason? An artificial design barrier just to make more bucks?

MGS games like Halo 3 and FM2 (both support LAN and some of MS's biggest volume sellers) make these sort of statements by your friend niave at best.

 

[Boxercide]

I'm 95% sure CoD4 lets you run on a LAN on both consoles, as well.

 

[nightshade]

Yes..COD4 has LAN on Xbox 360 atleast, dont have the PS3 version so cant tell about that one.
I think most 360 games have the option of System Link in them.

 

[TheWretched]

IIRC CoD5 PS3 has LAN, can't say for sure about CoD4, but I guess it has LAN too.

Thing is though... I guess LAN isn't really needed anymore, since we have PSN and Live. I mean, I am no much of a hardcore gamer (rather a tech guy), but I haven't been on a normal LAN in years^^ And NEVER with a console.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Heh, I'm just trying to picture going over to my friends house lugging my X360...and 46" TV.

LAN is a nice option if you can support it, but in general I'd prefer something like Halo 3 where you have up to 4 player split screen. Unlike the N64 days (golden eye 4 player split screen wheee) most HDTV's are large enough to still provide a comfortable gaming area when split into 4.

Regards,
SB

 

[Boxercide]

I'd say LAN is very useful for people living in dorms and barracks. Especially if you're talking about signing onto a wireless.

I used to have a bunch of friends who live in the same apartment complex and split their wireless. So it does still have its benefits, and if you're already programming an online component, adding LAN support seems trivial to implement.

 

[Endymion]

For the original XBox, damn near every game that had XBox Live multiplayer had LAN multiplayer as well. Some XBox multiplayer games were out there before XBox Live even existed, like the original Halo, you absolutely had the choice to use multiple XBoxen instead of dealing with splitscreen, up to 16 players with four players on each console, LAN parties for Halo and other games were pretty common.

 

[NRP]

Nothing beats a LAN party. Nothing!

Live is cool, but it isn't even remotely close to the coolness and fun of a LAN party. I feel sorry for people who have never LAN'd.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Yup, but I prefer to LAN play with my computer. Just because consoles don't have quite as many multiplayer capable RPGs. And LAN RTS games are so much more fun than the limited amount on console.

I do love me some split screen console gaming though.

Regards,
SB

 

[Arwin]

I've done a TONNE of LAN parties on the PS2 for Gran Turismo 3 and 4 (3 used iLink, and I still have two firewire hubs with 12 cables lying around ). Sometimes we were with more than 50 people, and we set up 4-5 sets of 6 PS2s and TVs. We also had a great competition system to make sure that people of similar level ended up in races with each other. I stopped playing when I got the little one, but if GT5 supports 16 player LAN I'm fairly sure I'll attend at least one more of those LAN parties again.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I've done a TONNE of LAN parties on the PS2 for Gran Turismo 3 and 4 (3 used iLink, and I still have two firewire hubs with 12 cables lying around ). Sometimes we were with more than 50 people, and we set up 4-5 sets of 6 PS2s and TVs. We also had a great competition system to make sure that people of similar level ended up in races with each other. I stopped playing when I got the little one, but if GT5 supports 16 player LAN I'm fairly sure I'll attend at least one more of those LAN parties again.

Oh that sounds like a blast. Back when I still played racing games, I unfortunatley never got to do much LAN racing. As most of the people that LAN gamed in my area were way more interested in FPS and RTS titles. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Regards,
SB

 

[ken_masters]

I'm a fan of LAN game, from Doom era, UT, Quake 3, NFS of PSX...

Will be interesting to create a games lan list of both systems. :smile:

 

[Phil]

Ah, I have some very fond memories of TimeSplitters 2 player hooked up via the iLink (firewire) on two tvs, two PS2s and two copies of the game. That was absolutely fantastic - especially getting to design your own levels (with dark rooms) and then engange in cat/mouse style hunting down without seeing where the other one is.

Todays online play kind of makes this redundant, but just for the sake of lan parties and nullfying lag, it would be great to give players the option. I suspect however that this will not come.