Co-Op games for one gaming machine??

Patre

Senior member
May 29, 2013
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I'm a bit new to the gaming world and wanted to see if there are any co-op games that can be played on 1 gaming machine (keyboard & mouse)???

My nephew is visiting and is looking to play some games together.
Would it be better to get some kind of controler for the PC (instead of mouse/keyboard)??
 

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
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The Trine games do local co-op (multiple players on one PC) and as a bonus they are really good games. :)

I found the best combination to be one uses the controller and the other one uses keyboard and mouse. You could also do multiple controllers.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
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I'm a bit new to the gaming world and wanted to see if there are any co-op games that can be played on 1 gaming machine (keyboard & mouse)???

My nephew is visiting and is looking to play some games together.
Would it be better to get some kind of controler for the PC (instead of mouse/keyboard)??


Get some controllers for sure. I like either the XBox PC or Logitech F710 wireless units, but if you don't plan to use them too much you can certainly go cheaper and get decent wired units.


You didn't mention what kind of games you want to play. For a quick way to find some games, search "local co-op" in your Steam search box, and it will filter through all the games that are capable of it. I just realized you said you were "new" to gaming, so you might not be familiar with Steam(?) If you're not, you might as well get acquainted. ;)


Sonic Racing Transformed allows up to 4 people and is pretty much a blast. If you want to download a few emulators then you can play pretty much any local co-op game in existence all the way up to about PS2. If your nephew is very young, the LEGO games (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc..) have local co-op and are fun for that purpose. Awesomenauts and Trine 2 (as mentioned by Red Storm) are fun side-scrolling games.
 
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Patre

Senior member
May 29, 2013
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Get some controllers for sure. I like either the XBox PC or Logitech F710 wireless units, but if you don't plan to use them too much you can certainly go cheaper and get decent wired units.


You didn't mention what kind of games you want to play. For a quick way to find some games, search "local co-op" in your Steam search box, and it will filter through all the games that are capable of it. I just realized you said you were "new" to gaming, so you might not be familiar with Steam(?) If you're not, you might as well get acquainted. ;)


Sonic Racing Transformed allows up to 4 people and is pretty much a blast. If you want to download a few emulators then you can play pretty much any local co-op game in existence all the way up to about PS2. If your nephew is very young, the LEGO games (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc..) have local co-op and are fun for that purpose. Awesomenauts and Trine 2 (as mentioned by Red Storm) are fun side-scrolling games.

Thanks Red Strom and Stringjam (guitar player??) for the quick reply. My nephew is 11 and I just looked at Trine2 which looks like a good one. I just built a DAW/gaming machine (part time :)) and do have Steam......(I got Crysis3, Bioshock Infinity, Far Cry, & Tomb Raider which came free with my graphics card), but haven't played with them yet.

I really just don't know much about all the games out there that are good for both of us to play.....of note, I do have a Microsoft sidewinder keyboard and and a Logitech G700 mouse (not sure if that makes any difference before getting a controller or not).
 

toughtrasher

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Mar 17, 2013
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I've played Steam games like Dungeon Defenders and Nation Red on one machine witth me on the mouse + keyboard and my brother on the controller.

It's possible.
 

Patre

Senior member
May 29, 2013
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My nephew brought his Xbox 360 which has 2 wireless controllers.....could I just get a Xbox 360 wireless adapter to use on the PC?

Besides the drivers for this, are there any other things I'd need?

TIA...
 

toughtrasher

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Mar 17, 2013
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My nephew brought his Xbox 360 which has 2 wireless controllers.....could I just get a Xbox 360 wireless adapter to use on the PC?

Besides the drivers for this, are there any other things I'd need?

TIA...

I read up somewhere that that is how you do it. But I'd read the reviews on the wireless adapter (provided yo're buying it from Amazon) just to see how other people are using it.
 
Aug 11, 2008
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I agree on the lego games. Quite fun for children and not bad for adults to play along either. I recall the only way I could finish the flying level of one of the Lego Star Wars games with my grandson was to have a few glasses of wine, surprisingly.

I think some turn based strategy games like the Civilization games can be played "hot seat", where you alternate turns on the same computer. Also maybe some of the Heroes of Might and Magic games.

Honestly it has been one of my pet peeves that with all the processing power of a PC there are so few games that you can play split screen co-op which is pretty much standard for a console. Even LAN games have pretty much disappeared. Guess they want to stick it to you to buy two copies of the game and have two computers if you want to play with a family member.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
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My nephew brought his Xbox 360 which has 2 wireless controllers.....could I just get a Xbox 360 wireless adapter to use on the PC?

Besides the drivers for this, are there any other things I'd need?

TIA...

yea just get an adapter Ive heard a few bad stories about buying ones off amazon that are actually authentic - so ive bought a few of these in the past to make sure mine is from MS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823109243 (usually around 30-40 bucks)

Someone mentioned emulators up to PS2 - but dolphin is an awesome wii emulator, and should make a bunch more local co-op games available for you. Using the gamepad to emulate the wii gamepad is fine - I havent messed around with trying to emulate the wiimote, but im pretty sure if you really wanna go balls out, you can buy a wii sensor bar and actually use the wiimote and nunchuck. Its actually much better than having a wii if you can deal with the setting up since all your games will look 100x better.

I forgot a few months back I started this thread to keep track of what games have it enabled: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2306583&highlight= Too bad no one seems to care about local co-op as much as I do :(

You can also check this website and sort by how many players etc: http://www.co-optimus.com/system/4/pc.html

I personally love playing games with people in the same room on the same screen. Ive had a PC in the living room for a long time now, and I seriously hope we get more PC games with this built in.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
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I personally love playing games with people in the same room on the same screen. Ive had a PC in the living room for a long time now, and I seriously hope we get more PC games with this built in.


I feel the same way. I have my own "hardcore" games that I love to dig in myself with, but I also love to be able to play split-screen local co-op when I have a few friends over, or with my wife.

I just pipe to HDTV via HDMI and kick back on the couch with some friends. I feel like some developers don't get this.....as the console versions of their games come with that capability but they yank it from the PC version. Pisses me off.

Steam has made it extremely easy thanks to their "Big Picture" utility, and it's about time the publishers started to recognize.

Oh....forgot to mention. If you (OP) like racing games, Dirt3 has split screen local on the PC version. Such a fun game to play if your friend is into that kind of game as well.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
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Sonic All Star Racing Transformed.
Serious Sam III
Deathspank
Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue

You will need at least one controller.
 

toughtrasher

Senior member
Mar 17, 2013
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Are there any "newer" co-op games that can be played on the same screen? Absolutely love these style of games because my friends come over a lot and I'd like to enjoy their company while we do what we love the most!
 

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
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Borderlands 2 can be done with a mod. i think that's a GREAT game to try it on.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
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On PC right? Heard about this somewhere but forgot how to do it.
When it sees you have two controllers plugged in it just says press start or something, and you have split screen co-op.

just to link what I posted in the other thread heres this
Long story short, my friends and I play a lot of video games together (on the same screen). Games we play are pretty much anything competitive, but unless you can do 4 player split screen - then we usually wont play them (which is a big reason i keep my 360 around).

I've been going through my steam library and trying to pick out which games can be played with two to four players on the same screen.

Here is my list that i can think of now, but i will update regularly with any titles that are suggested. (all are 4 player unless noted)

4 player games: (ive played them and theyre all good)
Blur
Fifa 13
NBA 2k13
mlb 2k12
Sonic & All-stars racing transformed (havent tried the other ones, just bought this one seems really fun)
Virtua Tennis 4
Serious Sam 3
Jamestown
Castle Crashers
Monaco
Civ V (hotseat - up to 6 players)

Untested: (some of these i got from co-optimus, some i see in steam, but havent tried yet)
Worms crazy golf?
Serious Sam
A virus named tom
All zombies must die
Disney Universe (only on origin?)
Dungeon Defenders
insanely twisted shadow planet
magicka
nation red
protogalaxy
rayman origins
Retrobooster
shadowgrounds + shadowgrounds: survivor
TF2 arcade
Trackmania 2 (maybe other too)
awesomenauts (i think up to 3)


notable 2 Player games (some untested):
Dirt 3 - tested
Dirt Showdown
split/second (not on steam, maybe 4 player)
Audiosurf
Beat Hazard
Bionic Commando rearmed
Capsized
Colour Bind
dead pixels
Atom Zombie Smasher
Deathspank
Dogfight 1942
Dungeon Siege 3
Dungeonland (3 players)
Dynasty Warriors 6
frozen synapse
flock
gatling gears
LEGO games
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Portal 2 (now easier with big picture mode)
pid
Painkiller: Hell and Damnation
overlord 2
renegade ops
R.A.W. Realms of Ancient War
Retrovirus
Rocketbirds
RIP trilogy
Scarygirl
Shank/Shank2
shatter
sideway new york
sonic 4 (it only lists episode 2)
space ark
trine/trine 2
Adventures of Shuggy

unstable/not sure:
Left 4 dead 1 and 2 (2 players, seems easy enough)
Borderlands 2 - (using a program called sandboxie - which might open up a bunch of other games to local co-op)

All this being said - i really hope steam and PC gaming start incorporating this in more games. If steam wants to be in the living room, there has to be more focus on local multi-player gaming. It would be nice if you could search steam games that have this feature. (Also if they fixed their categories - half of those games dont list local coop or controller support when they actually do have it) It is nice to see that many of these games are newer - so im hoping thats the direction PC gaming is headed. I think once we see titles like COD and more sports games on PC, then well be on par with consoles. (I would kill for blops 2 to have this, and to see a game like NHL on PC).

If you have any suggestions to the list, post here and ill add them. Im going to be testing the games I havent played yet and will update as i go.
 

crazzy.heartz

Member
Sep 13, 2010
183
26
81
With a 11 year old nephew, these will be the most fun:

1.
Deathspank
Deathspank - Thongs of virtue
The Baconing
^^
(Just plug in the x-box controller at any time and you can play co-op, same screen, in the single player campaign)

2.
Blur
Split Second Velocity
^^
(These are car racing games and have Native Split screen support. One of them has super powers like missiles and bombs that you can fire at other players)

3. Left for Dead
(Gotta copy x-box controller files into your game folder and fire a console command to select horizontal or vatrical split screen )

I played all these on a 32" LCD with x-box controller + kb/mouse and it was amazing..
 
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Patre

Senior member
May 29, 2013
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Thanks everyone for all the great info here. I did get Trine 2 and we both have a great time playing it (lots of interesting challenges) together (he likes the keyboard & I use the mouse).

I'm ordering the adapter today (forgot about doing this after getting Trine2 :) as none of the stores carry it (including Gamestop and even the Microsoft store.....they only sell it in a bundle with a controller or 2....pfffft.)

Great list of games you all have provided.....will definitley keep adding some of these. :)
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
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I know my best buy carries it, but its usually in a different section than the Xbox controllers. If I remember correctly, it's with the mice and keyboards. Might wanna check any pc stores if you have any in your area.
 

Patre

Senior member
May 29, 2013
398
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76
I know my best buy carries it, but its usually in a different section than the Xbox controllers. If I remember correctly, it's with the mice and keyboards. Might wanna check any pc stores if you have any in your area.

Thanks Nvidiaguy.....I'll check some of the PC stores (before going through Newegg). I did call a few Best Buy stores and they didn't have it (but, I'm thinking they probably only checked the Xbox section).

I read somewhere that Microsoft doesn't make these receivers any more....are they all basically the same or is there a particular one you can recommend?? (Newegg had one with about 40+ good reviews on one for $12.99 and I was thinking of getting it).