I know the hardcore gamer demands -- EXPECTS -- an exceptional online experience or they will simply thumb their noses at the game.  In recent memory, I can't think of many games outside of Bioshock that were exceptional shooters without at least a last-minute online mode tacked on.

I know that Nintendo takes a lot of heat for lack of a comprehensive online selection but is it really that important to the "average" or casual gamer?

I think too much time and energy is being spent on creating exceptional online experiences and more time should be spent on lengthening campaigns, fleshing out the story details in various ways, environments, etc.

I posted in another forum how COD4 is such an exceptional game but at the same time I am sorely dissapointed because the campaign was just 4 hours.  If the game had been 10-12 hours long, I would have been thrilled.  4 hours is just ridiculous.  The same goes for Halo X.  Gameplay is good -- not exceptional.  Graphics -- Good.  Online by most accounts is exceptional.  The storytelling and campaign in Halo 3 seemed to really take a backseat to the online play.

With that said, kudos to game designers that focus on the story and the campaign.  Even bigger kudos to those that reach out and do local co-op since that is how I really want to play "multiplayer".  Sadly, the days of local co-op seems to be going away as more and more people get high speed. 

Lastly, I believe the games that rely so heavily on the inclusion of online should be priced accordingly.  They should sell two games or sell the "campaign only" version for 1/2 the price or something along those lines and let people pay for the online component.  I for one would gladly pay 35-40 for top shelf games and have the online component completely left out.

Online isn't extremely important to me, but it's nice.

As long as I have my Team Fortress 2 though, my online needs are satisfied.

For the core gamer demographic, yes
For the casual demographic, no.
But its a nice addition.

And yes, local multiplayer is dying, at least for the core games. It seems that its now easier to have online friends than have real life friends.

*use of the word core is arbitrary since it has lost its meaning a long time ago

Online is good when you are with your friends and play againist the world
it is also good after you've completed the game for you have nothing else to do anyways.

If you buy a game that was made for online like what CoD4 was then you can't complain, all the videos they showed were for online not offline. And CoD4 is screwed online anyways, its buggy and laggy. If you liked the CoD4 story then try it on the hardest difficulty you won't beat it in 4hours.

well it seems pretty major now - even Ninty realizes that with MK Wii and SSBB

Online play can extend a game's value to cetain gamers, as can the addition of customization tools. But for the majority of gamers, that sort of feature is not at all important or relevant to what they want out of games. A great deal of gamers just play games to have fun, to unwind for an hour or two, and/or to get some time alone. Multiplayer is not required for any of this.

Me. Yes and no

Yes now that I have XBL

But when I didn't, I still bought games that were major online games.

It annoys me when they focus on online at the expense of other features because it isn't permanent. When I buy a game I want that game to last for as long as I want to play it. Online disappears when they choose to close the server and if a game is too heavily reliant on it then it is ruined.

well, online gives u a different perspective knowing that ur playing a human that can think logically cs. a computer