Firstly, let me say that this won't affect my purchase of the game. I'll still be buying it for Vita (eventually) and I'll play it mostly solo.
But I don't understand the "oh it doesn't matter, local multiplayer is better anyway!" mentality. I 100% agree with the second part of that statement; I much prefer local multiplayer for these type of games. But that just isn't an option with my gaming friends anymore. Everybody has moved on with their lives - a few people are still in my hometown; some have moved to London; some have moved to Manchester; heck, some have even moved abroad. Getting even a couple of us together to play locally is a once-a-year occurrence these days.
So yeah, local is better. But it's pretty much practically impossible. And that's where online comes in. When my best friends moved to London, we kept gaming together on PS3. LittleBigPlanet was a joy to play online co-op - we must've been playing community levels on it for about 4 months straight.
Maybe I am the minority. Maybe everyone else stays in close enough proximity with their friends that local is always an option, so online doesn't matter at all. But it is a huge disappointment when a game like this - which is begging to be played with other people - doesn't include the option. Oh well.







