There's actually a good comparison here with what happened to arcades in the 90s.

By the 6th gen/PS2 era, consoles provided the same graphics as their arcade counterparts and it wasn't long before arcades became a dying breed. Prior to this, arcades were hangouts for a significant number of the core gaming demographic. Not just a place to play video games, but also a place to socialize and compete with other gamers sharing the same interests, namely video games.

The primary place to play games was now at the home, taking gaming into a private community activity rather than one in which you would literally be playing random strangers in a public place. Taking competitive games into a global network space means that once again, you can meet and play with random strangers, only in the comfort of your own living room and on a global level rather than city/local community level.

About the only negative I personally find with the continual move towards an all online video game industry, is that more resources are directed towards the real moneymaking element (in terms of repeat customers base) of a game (online multiplayer) with the obligatory single player campaign often being shortened accordingly as it's not very realistic (there are finite resources in game development as well as a finite number of hours that can be spent developing a game) to expect every game to have full online competitive support in addition to a 20 hour + single player campaign.

These days, the SP is often little more than a practice/tutorial run in preparation for the online game.

On the other hand, online play has helped certain genres, in particular the FPS, become more competitive as well as less restrictive. While it's still quaint to have 4 player split screen games, no one in their right mind would take that over have four separate full sized separate screens instead.

As far as the whole local gaming community element goes, there's nothing stopping people from still hosting the equivalent of LAN console parties, even if they're playing through XBL or PSN rather than an actual closed local area network. It's just not convenient and for the most part, unnecessary for a bunch of people to tote their consoles and a computer screen to a friend's house every time they want to play a game of CoD or whatever.

I don't play games online, I've tried, but it just isn't for me. So in some selfish respects, I do wish it didn't have such a big focus these days.

But then I'm not arrogant enough to think that what I want is what everyone else should want as well. If people enjoy it, then it's going to continue, and it's best to just get used to that whilst hoping that brilliant SP games still get made.

yeah, and its not like they are screwing with the offline that much. There are still split/screen games on all systems. Someone gave a list and ill add, Trine2, Rayman Origins, KZ3, etc. They did get lazy a bit, but i think they have righted that ship.  and people who complain about patches obviously dont have an HD console and are just complaining to complain. Most of the games released are actually not broken. There are only a few games i can think of that have problems Fallout/ElderScrolls, small minority. And its not like Ninty is perfect, wasnt there a glitch in MetroidOtherM that needed patching?? Isnt there a glitch in Skyward Sword? hell i wish they had patches, maybe they could've fix Smash Bros. terrible online

See im not sure i agree with this totally, i think that only applies to the FPS genre and maybe racing and even then. its just the CODs and there military FPS counterparts that heavily emphasize online.

This is one reason I keep all my old consoles. If single player games disappear all together I will play oldskool.

There is only few games I like playing online most are on PC.

Wait you're wrong here....The fact is people are still playing local multiplayer, meeting up at friends houses to play toghether. That's the reason why the Wii has sold better than X360 and Ps3, and that's the reason why Mario Kart Wii and Just Dance are selling much more than GOTY Uncharted.

btw. How can you miss the Sonic1 days if you said (on previous "Which company will be the next to leave" thread) you started playing on PS1 ??

I was born on 1993. When the PS1 first came out i started playing on it alot. About a year or so later i got a genesis from my dad (he had already had one before he got a PS1) and then i got hooked on Sonic. :)

As for your other statement, I guess your right about the whole Wii being a more closer console for friends. 

Ah, ok. Now I got it :)

FPS games are exactly what I was talking about. They're not my favorite genre by any means, but FPS games and by extension shooters such as Gears and Uncharted continually focus more on online as campaigns shrink appropriately (Uncharted not so much). 

EA even went so far as to say that the campaign for Battlefield 3 was little more than a practice session for online to paraphrase. 

I don't have a major issue with it, but as someone who primarily just plays campaigns on the FPS games I buy and typically only dabbles with MP online, it does make paying $60 for a new release a lot less tempting. 

But racing games, like fighting games, are only improved dramatically by the addition of online competitive play. Co-op online play is another great addition in games such as Borderlands, Dead Island and L4D which wouldn't be the same games without it. 

No, I'm glad it exists, but I wish it was different from how it is now. Or I wish the mentality about online was different.