No Online Co-Op? Wrong! 4 Player! Chocolate Rain...

[Wondermonkey]

Via 360Fanboy, which is via the latest issue of EGM:

Yeah, you read that right. As of right now, Halo 3 co-op remains an offline only experience. CVG has the scoop from the latest issue of EGM. According to Bungie's Frank O'Connor, the team is still working on a way to properly implement online co-op. As Frank puts it, it's possible for players to be nearly a mile apart at certain points in the game, which makes online co-op a challenge. He notes that measures could be put into the game to prevent such vast separations, but that it "would make it not feel like Halo anymore." He concludes by saying that "If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't." Considering that the Bungie crew is currently putting the finishing touches on Halo 3, we imagine online co-op won't make it into the retail disc. Any hope of such a feature likely rests in the possibility of downloadable content. So, if you've been waiting to try out some four player online co-op, you may be waiting for a while.

[Quo]

ugh. That seems to be a glaring omission by an otherwise extremely responsive game company. Very odd. I don't understand the "it would make it not feel like Halo anymore". Just doesn't make sense to me. If you played Halo co-op on the same console and everything was fine, what's the difference? Sounds like a very lame excuse to me... The "it wouldn't feel like Halo" excuse is very, very thin... for anything, from graphics down to this!

[solo blade]

No Halo3 online co-op?. Whats Halo without on-line MP? Dont get me wrong both of the Halo games are awesome SP, but the best part is the online MP. Hopefully if its not released on the final release disc there will be eventualy an update for online co-op. i will be one upset Solo Blade, and will take out my anger on lord sam on some other game.

[Gordon]

Uh... Crackdown... That had...

[Crippler]

That sucks ass. So, being a mile apart in Crackdown was a miracle of network coding?

[Crippler]

Originally Posted by solo blade

No Halo3 online co-op?. Whats Halo without on-line MP? Dont get me wrong both of the Halo games are awesome SP, but the best part is the online MP. Hopefully if its not released on the final release disc there will be eventualy an update for online co-op. i will be one upset Solo Blade, and will take out my anger on lord sam on some other game.

Has nothing to do w/ online multiplayer. Just the Co-op portion during the single player portion.

[ZoomZoom71]

Originally Posted by solo blade

No Halo3 online co-op?. Whats Halo without on-line MP? Dont get me wrong both of the Halo games are awesome SP, but the best part is the online MP. Hopefully if its not released on the final release disc there will be eventualy an update for online co-op. i will be one upset Solo Blade, and will take out my anger on lord sam on some other game.

I think you may be getting online campaign co-op confused with online multiplayer. Stop it.

[KEEZY]

That sucks! In Halo 1 co-op, wouldn't it just warp the person lagging behind up to the other player? I really would rather have to be warped up to somebody than not have online co-op.

Cool news about the new weapons though.

[ZoomZoom71]

I was thinking the same thing about v.1, Keez.

[solo blade]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoom71

I think you may be getting online campaign co-op confused with online multiplayer. Stop it.

your right i think i am too lol oops thanks zoom

[solo blade]

sorry guys i got confused, i should think before i type next time

[Wondermonkey]

I don't know if you guys are thinking of this correctly though. In Halo 3, the AI is always there.

In Crackdown, you and your buddy can be miles apart, but here is no AI moving between you both. Everything disappears in between the players, I forget the draw distance for the AI in Crackdown, but it was brought up when the game was released. Basically, the action stops where there is no player. No data needs to be transmitted any place that the player isn't currently stepping foot.

Frankie already mentioned that the battles never stop during the offline co-op, so I would imagine that's why it's so difficult to work around. If you can be a mile apart in a first person shooter, this shit must be huge apparently.

[Quo]

Originally Posted by Wondermonkey

Frankie already mentioned that the battles never stop during the offline co-op, so I would imagine that's why it's so difficult to work around. If you can be a mile apart in a first person shooter, this shit must be huge apparently.

hmmm. I see your point. I just don't know if it matters that much that a game continues to simulate when I'm not around. Seems overly detailed, and at this point to the detriment of gameplay!

I'd rather play with a real live buddy than have 1,000 bots killing each other in the background. I like that they are trying to sim an entire battlefield but wow... at some point isn't it overkill? I never felt restricted during GoW multiplay. I'm not comparing the two games, so don't get upset! But the co-op in Gears was butter-smooth and there was no shortage of action or enemies...

[ZoomZoom71]

The way I understand it, Bots and Simulations <> AI. Two completely different monsters.

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoom71

The way I understand it, Bots and Simulations <> AI. Two completely different monsters.

This is true.

The action continuing is when you're playing co-op. I don't want them toning down the size of the battles just to make it co-op friendly. Please Bungie, DO NOT DO THIS. This is the third in an epic trilogy, and I need you to concentrate on the campaign feeling, that's what made Halo what it is, and I need you to return to that. Here's Frankie's whole quote:

"We're not dumb. We know that people want it and we're trying to make it happen. I think the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That's a significant challenge. And there's lots of design things you could do to prevent that from happening, but they would make it not feel like Halo anymore. If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't.

As long as they bring the battles back to the feel of Halo: CE, and then multiply it by the power of 4, I'm good without online co-op, because chances are, my online time would rather be played in multiplayer anyway.