How many of you kids have ever played a game with a friend?
If so, you've experienced the joys of multiplayer gaming. I've been akin to it since the early 90s on NES. Even since the beginning of videogame HISTORY, Pong was 2 players, and was a big reason why it was so great. The entire evolution of gaming has stressed multiplayer components since the get-go on many major titles.
We first started with PvP games. Then we had Co-Op with Contra, Double Dragon and others in the late 80s, we then had 4p multiplayer on the N64, then we started trending to online gaming.
Online gaming is the next natural step in multiplayer gaming. Instead of having to play splitscreen with a friend (as many many multiplayer games have gone from single-screens with 2p like Contra and such) to split screens for unique gaming experiences for each player (even since ROTT for PC, Goldeneye/Starfox 64, and before that with various racing games like the Top Gear), have reqired split screens. Online gaming allows for a unique experience, as it's yours, and only your experience.
I must ask, have you ever played alot of online gaming? If you haven't, thats like saying you don't like the Wiimote without ever using it. Online gaming shouldn't be a required thing that companies just throw in there. Not every game should have, or need online multiplay. However, it's a certain good addition to any game that has multiplayer intentions.
Many, many of the games listed that don't have online didn't have it when consoles didn't have many, if any, online capabilities. The Xbox was very unqiue that it had online, and that's why H1/2 did so well.
I fear that in the end, Nintendo is making a stupid decision by not having much of it's library online. Everyone argues that the Wiimote is a more immersive experience (which I won't content), but major online multiplaying is just as important. If multiplaying wasn't so popular, we wouldn't see a game like World of Warcraft have more online subscribers than any other service/game in history (and almost as many Wii owners, btw).
If you haven't played multiplayer, go get a cheap version of Castle of Wolfentstien, download the lastest patches, and go play Beachead. IMO, there's no such experience as re-creating a quazi-normandy beachead landing with 31 other people.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
