Halo 5 Split Screen DLC

[Garthsylte]

So... I don't want to be just another individual whining about no split screen. If you want evidence of what people want hop on a couple matches of big team on MCC and look how many guests are in the lobby. Then bear in mind most people play split screen with their own profiles as opposed to as a guest. That will give a quick, accurate and undeniable glimpse of local multiplayers significance as opposed to us loud mouths complaining.

 

Sadly at this stage they can't go back and fix it with so little time to release without risking another Master Chief collection matchmaking nightmare.

 

With halo being the "brand name" for xbox splitscreen the same way Mario party/kart was back when we were wee lads it's safe to say we want it today... "Demand"

 

So now we need the supply. The features etc that are in Halo 5 are certainly compelling and a sequel to serve the splitscreen purpose would be excessive. Now full disclosure I am STRONGLY OPPOSED to planned DLC. I buy a game, I own a game, I shouldn't have to spend a penny after I take the disk home tof keep it fresh *cough destiny*.

 

All that said I think the demand is sufficient that I would she'll out $20 for split screen DLC in a heartbeat. I want to sit on the couch with a buddy or two and play some halo. I don't want to sit at my house with a microphone strapped to my head that is so cheap it squeaks every time you move. I don't want to load up my car with my flat screen, xbox and all the cables and BS just to sit on the couch with my buddy and play halo.

 

As a PC gamer I do consider 60 fps to be a standard that next gen consoles should be held accountable for. But I get that splitscreen and 60 fps wouldn't both realisticly happen. Lord knows many of you can remember sloppily optimized 343 created halo 4 forge maps running at a steady 10 fps. But hey you know what. I bit that bullet when it came up and still had a great time playing splitscreen!

 

TLDR Rant summary:

 

We are ok with 30fps and occasional spikes

Halo is THE split screen shooter game

We spend more time playing halo sitting next to a buddy on a couch than with them over live

We all want it but it's too late to add it for release

We hate DLC and the direction of the industry with it

But in this case, we would only buy the next installment in the haloop series if 343 flat out said it is on the way as DLC EVEN IF IT'S PAID.

 

Summary: 343 get back to work and take my money!

And PS Halo wouldn't be the same without the occasional clueless guest J walking out in front of your warthog

Ok I cooked up a plan of action. As many of us have discovered 343 is a but shy with their contact info. That said I live near their head office.

 

I just setup a purpose built email address at [email protected]

 

Any email you send to it to the effect of add DLC and I will gladly pay for it I will print and hand deliver to them. Try to keep it a paragraph or less and fairly to the point but I would love to actually bring a compelling enough amount of feedback to them to get their attention

[Buns]

As a PC gamer I do consider 60 fps to be a standard that next gen consoles should be held accountable for. But I get that splitscreen and 60 fps wouldn't both realisticly happen.

 

We are ok with 30fps and occasional spikes

This is the big deal part here. It isn't that 343i couldn't implement Split-Screen its that the current generation of consoles simply are not powerful enough to maintain a high resolution and 60FPS.

 

It is easy to say  "Give us split-screen even if the game has to run at 30FPS during split-screen!" and heck I wouldn't mind that either, but the reality is there are much larger implications then just lowering the framerate. i'll run over a couple of scenarios why this most likely isn't possible.

 

1.)The games physics and mechanics could be tied to the Framerate

Since the game is going to be running at a constant 60FPS that means the experience of Halo 5 is fundamentally tied to this. This could be scripted events, cutscenes, actual mechanics, etc. There have been some games where the game physics are tied to the Framerate(The last Need For Speed game that came out for example) and when people doubled the framerate by changing the files the ENTIRE games speed doubled. Cars went twice as fast, flew twice as far, the same logic applies to lowering the framerate. Now I do not believe 343i developers made such a fatal mistake like this since no other Halo game has had this problem but remember that as a possibility.

 

2.)It could do more harm to the image of the game.

Similar to what I said above the experience of Halo 5 could be tied to framerate in a different way. It could very well be that having the game run at 30FPS ruins the player experience more then you might believe. This could tarnish the public reception of the game and hurt sells. Also to the uneducated consumer(which is a lot of the people who buy games) they might not know that Split-Screen will make the game run at 30FPS and they start the game by playing split-screen and their first impression could very well ruined because they were expecting a better performing product. This could lead to them returning the game and not recommending it to friends which leads to more lost sales. 

 

 

I'm not going to like the fact Split-Screen was removed because I don't. I do like how constructive your post was and that you remained positive and offered a solution compared to most other people who just complain. Thanks for that its nice

 

While we won't have Split-Screen for Halo 5 there are some alternatives you could try to still achieve a "co-op" experience. It won't be the same but its still a way of having two people engaged and actively playing. 

 

1.)You each use one half of the controller. 

Seriously this is so much fun! I do this with my girlfriend a lot since she is not good at games whatsoever and we have a blast. She normally gets the left half and I'll get the right and we have even managed to play through most of Wolfenstein The New Order like this. Sure you won't have that same level of finesse you get with two controllers but this is a nice gimmick that could result in a lot of funny bad communication moments.

 

2.)You take turns.

As simple as it sounds. Just take turns with the controller. I don't recommend the "everytime you die we switch" method. Rather use a timer in intervals like 10 - 15 minutes and be serious about it. Don't say things like "just one extra minute!" because then you ruin it for the other person. You could also take turns playing missions or MP matches like "every 3 CTF matches we switch" or just switch after every campaign mission.