Is Single player gaming over?

[HeXen]

Agree, today's side scroller games are awesome. Trine 2 is my favorite of course. They are far from dying, i see tons keep popping up on Steam all the time and that alone is only a few of all the side scrollers produced each month

 

[shortylickens]

I just got a bunch of cheap ones from Steam that arent very good. The Basement Collection I think it was.
Braid is good. So is Trine. Capsule is OK. Theres plenty out there, it just doesnt get much hype so you gotta search.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Go figure. When Dragon Age (successor to Neverwinter Nights) was consolized and completely eliminated online multiplayer (which was great in Neverwinter Nights) I thought things might be going in the opposite direction.

 

[Smoblikat]

Single player is as strong as it ever was. When I buy a game one of the first things I find out is if it has a multplayer mode. I dont buy it and check for singleplayer, I just assume that ALL games have single player. SP > MP because of mods.

 

[Adrenaline]

I have seen that EA is stating that it is.

I stopped right there. EA is an awful company the hemorrhages money with awful products as of late.

 

[szplay]

Multiplayer is the trend now. Of course single player must be an option for nearly all games.

 

[thespyder]

Go figure. When Dragon Age (successor to Neverwinter Nights) was consolized and completely eliminated online multiplayer (which was great in Neverwinter Nights) I thought things might be going in the opposite direction.

Dragon Age 2 was horribly consolized. DA:O, although there was a console version, if you ever played both you could clearly see that the PC version was largely untouched by consolization.

 

[coloumb]

Naw - not dead by any means. I read it that EA demands mulit-player aspect be included with the game to cater to both crowds - those who want to play off line and those who want to be social with others.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Dragon Age 2 was horribly consolized. DA:O, although there was a console version, if you ever played both you could clearly see that the PC version was largely untouched by consolization.

IMHO, elimination of online multiplayer (and of mods?) = consolization.

 

[Raduque]

IMHO, elimination of online multiplayer (and of mods?) = consolization.

So a game, designed from the ground-up to be a PC-only game (For example, Hard Reset) that doesn't have a multiplayer component, is a console game?

You're full of it.

Edit: Also, quit shoving Sins down our throat. It has a vestigal at best, useless at worst, single player component.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

So a game, designed from the ground-up to be a PC-only game (For example, Hard Reset) that doesn't have a multiplayer component, is a console game?

In a case where the game is a direct successor to a game that did have online multiplayer and the game is also being released on consoles, the elimination of the online multiplayer is an aspect of consolization.

Edit: Also, quit shoving Sins down our throat. It has a vestigal at best, useless at worst, single player component.

Sins was a great idea that had failed execution for online multiplayer. I'm hoping to find "the next" game that will suck me in.

 

[georgec84]

I hope not. I don't care much for multiplayer, to be honest.

 

[Karsten]

EA wants it to be over so they can push their crappy always on Origin. Good example is the new SimCity.

I love to play with friends, but there is always some time where I play games where they can't or I don't feel social. But when you look at a lot of games that I play you see that quite a few are single player. Some wanted that way, some sadly that way.

Here is a list of what I play that is single player:

• FTL (Faster than Light)
• Borderlands (mainly played by myself)
• GSB (Gratuitous Space Battles)
• Jagged Alliance
• Just Cause 2
• Terraria
• Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
• Assassin's Creed II
• Defense Grid: The Awakening

Looking at my list it seems that the games with the most time played are the ones I was able to play by myself. Sometimes it's a simple schedule thing, sometimes a "veg" thing. Don't want to interact with people just relax and have some fun without having to schedule or coordinate. I don't think I am the only one. Sometimes you feel social and sometimes you don't, simple as that. Just because someone (that clearly wants it so for it's own profit reasons) declares single player dead doesn't make it so, just like books are not dead because we can be social and watch the movie together.

 

[Nirreln]

In a case where the game is a direct successor to a game that did have online multiplayer and the game is also being released on consoles, the elimination of the online multiplayer is an aspect of consolization.

How could multiplayer be eliminated from game that wasn't going to have multiplayer.

 

[Raduque]

In a case where the game is a direct successor to a game that did have online multiplayer and the game is also being released on consoles, the elimination of the online multiplayer is an aspect of consolization.

Since when was Dragon Age: Origins a direct successor to Neverwinter Nights?

 

[thespyder]

IMHO, elimination of online multiplayer (and of mods?) = consolization.

So that is a fair comment.

For me personally, when looking at what the console version of DA:O looked like, I would say that the PC version resisted quite strongly consolization. But then I do agree that DA:O was not half the game (in potential) that NWN (1-2) was, if only for the modding and online capabilities.

Since when was Dragon Age: Origins a direct successor to Neverwinter Nights?

I kind of take his point that it was a direct (spiritual) successor. I think it was more a spiritual successor to the BG series though.

 

[TheSlamma]

This is actually a good sign, if EA really thinks this and they produce products based on this the sooner they can go away.

We need companies like what we used to have like Cavedog, Lookingglass, Ensamble Studios and Bullfrog.

 

[Daverino]

I will see your 'Is Single player gaming is over?' and raise you:

X-COM:EU + FTL + Dishonored

 

[mattpegher]

Industry has a big push for multiplayer due to the total revenue. MMO's and some of the Multiplayer modes of single player games require subscriptions. At an average of $14/month that drives the industry to release more.
IMHO single player games have the advantage to the players, with story line, persistant changes to a world, etc. Unfortunately, most single player games have less than a hundred hours of game play vs thousands of hours with MMO's.
Hopefully there are enough game designers that want to continue to write good single player games that they can convince the execs to spend the money.
We all can count at least 20 MMO's that came out as junk only to loose money on the back end due to maintaining servers when everyone jumps ship.

 

[thespyder]

MMOs might have potentially thousands of hours of game play, but IMHO they are mainly empty game play. And the player (on average) spends a good deal more for an MMO than they do for a single player game.

And I'd rather have a 30-40 hour single player game with a good story line and effective impact on the world scape than have 10X that much of just mindless wandering around and leveling up.

And I think the point was made earlier. Although the big companies are pushing towards MMO and subscriptions/micro-transactions, more and more indies are coming out with really cool single player games. Yay.

 

[thelastjuju]

uhh, no way. Its all about a nice mix of single and multiplayer gaming for me.

 

[Dumac]

Nope. Not even close.

 

[EDUSAN]

I just got a bunch of cheap ones from Steam that arent very good. The Basement Collection I think it was.
Braid is good. So is Trine. Capsule is OK. Theres plenty out there, it just doesnt get much hype so you gotta search.

Limbo is good
I liked the idea of basement collection, i still need to play it a bit (the game with the little thingy that vomits its just hilarious)
super meat boy
vessell
rochard
Docclock or something like that, i need to play it (you go building stuff with different parts scattered in the map)
terraria (although its mostly MP)
Shank 1, Shank 2
Mark of the Ninja that was released this week i think

 

[mattpegher]

MMOs might have potentially thousands of hours of game play, but IMHO they are mainly empty game play. And the player (on average) spends a good deal more for an MMO than they do for a single player game.

And I'd rather have a 30-40 hour single player game with a good story line and effective impact on the world scape than have 10X that much of just mindless wandering around and leveling up.

And I think the point was made earlier. Although the big companies are pushing towards MMO and subscriptions/micro-transactions, more and more indies are coming out with really cool single player games. Yay.

Exactly, I hope some of the bigger devs continue to offer single player experience

 

[amdfanatic19770]

uhh... no