My History of Multi Player Gaming

Super Nintendo

Aged 8 - Mario Cart – My first proper experience of multi player gaming was when I played Mario Cart on the Super Nintendo. It allowed four players to race each other, and A.I characters in a number of different championships. tured a battle mode were up to four players could battle each other in a power up based game. 

 

 In the early days of gaming colourful, pixelated, 2D characters were enough to satisfy most gamers young and old.

Nintendo 64

Aged 10 – Golden Eye – Was the first 1st person shooter I played which had a really good multi player, it had well designed levels were the weapons where fairly laid out, and had lots of iconic James Bond characters, it was also very competitive as player skill was a necessity for winning.

When Golden Eye first came out the graphics were considered revolotuionary, the detail of character and level design was unseen at the time.

Xbox

Aged 14 – Halo – for me this game took multi player to the next level of enjoyment, as it was the first game I played were you could have up to 16 players via linked up Xbox’s and TV’s. I remember the first link up I had, we had 3 TV’s in two rooms, with 4 people on each TV. It was a brilliant example of how computer games could be a social event.

Xbox Live

Aged 16 – Halo 2 – With the introduction of the online gaming technology that was Xbox Live, there was a completely new genre of games created, especially for games consoles which had only just caught PC’s up. Halo 2 was the first online multi player game I played, and unlike previous games you could play with guests online which retained the social aspect of offline multi player. 

Xbox 360 

Aged 18 

Gears of War - Only allowed up to 8 players, instead of the typical 16 used in other online games, by having less players the combat was more about skill, than just the usually fragfest.
 

Halo 3 - Was one of the first games to create an online community, it used new innovative game play features, such as a theatre mode and map editor. 

Call of Duty Modern Warfare - Brought first person shooters to the masses, with stunning graphics, addictive gameplay and a well designed matchmaking system. It would soon grow in popularity, and lay down the foundations for one of the most popular series of FPS games.

Aged 19 

Call of Duty World at War - With the addition of a Cooperative mode called "Nazi Zombies", a new gameplay mechanic was created. As a result the COD franchise grew in popularity and influenced a whole range of games from different genres to include similar co-op modes.

Left for Dead - Built on the success of the Cooperative mode "Nazi Zombies", the game was solely based on Cooperative play, it help to create a sub genre of online shooters. 

Gears of War 2 - grew the success of the first game, adding additional gameplay features that reflected the new trend of "Nazi Zombies" style Cooperative modes.

Aged 20

Left for Dead 2 - A slightly improved version of the first game, but was criticised for not being innovative enough.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - Helped grow the COD franchise even bigger, through slight gameplay tweaks the game was given new depth and helped destroy a whole new generation's social lives.

Aged 21

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood - Was a solid first person shooter with a very enjoyable multiplayer, however it was never able to distinguish its self among the vast number of online multi player games.

Red Dead Redemption - Was a moderately successful game, by using a free roam mode that allowed players to just play casually and with no clear objective, the game was unable to push the limitations of the classic game model. This feature created a more unique multiplayer experience than games like cod & Halo.

Halo Reach - Growing on the success of the Halo franchise, the game offered refined gameplay to appeal to its online community. It also showcased a new level of player/character customisation. A feature witch is soon to be incorporated into many future games.

TBC