Is this [...]]]> There has been a trend in the game industry to move away from split-screen gaming to online co-op play. This removes the experience of shoulder-to-shoulder game play and replaces it with games where two players may never meet in the real world, despite hours of game time shared in playing a co-op game.

Is this a good move?

What do we lose when games are online co-op rather than local split-screen co-op?

Headsets and QWERTY keyboards for game controllers help to give players better communication options, but the close interactions shared by local co-op players is not present in the distance of online co-op play.

Even in games that provide for local split-screen play, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, there are local game play options for split-screen co-op play, but to earn the trophies the player who plays in position one needs to complete objectives for trophies, and many trophies can only be earned in non-split-screen single player campaign mode or in online co-op gaming.

Resident Evil 5 offers good intense gaming for local split-screen play, as do the Army of Two games. Each providing full campaign play that allows two players to sit together and play through the entire campaign story as a team. Other games that allow players to experience the full game in split-screen play include Call of Duty: World at War.

Other games fall short of the local co-op play potential, such as Uncharted 3. Players can play a series of local split-screen scenarios that are not actually connected to the main story line, but the main campaign is for solo play only. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 also falls into this category of games that failed to hit their true potential for local split-screen enthusiasts. Special Ops missions in the game allow for split-screen game play, and the game features online co-op modes, but the main story line is intended for solo play.

Mortal Kombat 9 is another mixed play game where players can battle in turns in local multi-player game play on an un-split screen, but the main campaign is for solo play only.

It is not uncommon to see local players share a spontaneous high-five or bump fists in celebration after completing a level on game play. There is a level of interaction that is unique to local co-op game play where players will watch out for one-another’s characters and protect their partner from in-game harm. These shared experiences build stories that are talked about by the players long after the battle is over.

In online co-op play there is limited interaction between players and in some games, such as Dark Souls, two players may never encounter one another again after a few minutes of either cooperative play or player-vs-player battle. This is true as well with many online co-op games where players are randomly assigned to a game session. Teamwork is difficult to build when players may or may not see one another in future game sessions.

The website Co-Optimus provides a list of co-op games. Filters can be applied to allow the list to be sorted to show only “couch co-op” which provides a list of games that support local split-screen co-op game play. Rows provide further details, such as rather or not the games provide campaign play or only special co-op modes outside of the main storyline.

What do you think? Are split-screen games a thing of the past, or is there still room in the game world for those of us who enjoy sitting shoulder to shoulder and battling through campaigns as a team rather than solo gameplay?

That’s right, the wonderful artist DryJack over at ShareCG has a collection of Rusty Junk that is perfect [...]]]> Ever wanted more junk lying around? Well, at least in your 3D renderings. If so then this collection of junk is just the ticket for your scene and, as with all wonderful dumpster diving finds, it’s FREE!

That’s right, the wonderful artist DryJack over at ShareCG has a collection of Rusty Junk that is perfect for any back alleyway scene.

There are several color options for the barrels and tin cans. The props are articulated, so you acn move the handles of the shopping basket to be down for stacking several together, or up for use by your characters such as Victoria or Michael to take them shopping for junk.

Item: Rusty Junk 1
Artist: DryJack
Usage: unrestricted
Source: ShareCG – Rusty Junk 1
Ideas For Use: Post WWIII ruined city decor, zombie apocalypse, old slum alleyways, far future civilization excavation of today’s artifacts, old homestead garage…

I can just see a shopping basket full of tin cans filled with assorted rusty nails, bolts and screws sitting on the workbench in grandpa’s garage…. Please let me know where I can see any renders that you might use this set for, I would love to see them.

This is ShadesDaugther, my online avatar on PlayStation Home.

Shades is a casual gal who just likes to wander around and look for puzzle games, although she has been known to duck into the occasional shooter action game or adventure game.

Shades got her name from an old character in one of my [...]]]>

ShadesDaughter

This is ShadesDaugther, my online avatar on PlayStation Home.

Shades is a casual gal who just likes to wander around and look for puzzle games, although she has been known to duck into the occasional shooter action game or adventure game.

Shades got her name from an old character in one of my stories I worked on years ago, a character named Zaphriell ShadesDaugther, who was the daughter of a lich scholar.

This modern Zaph is more of an adventurer than a scholar, she likes to get out and hunt for lost treasure in games like Assassins Creed, Uncharted, and even Resident Evil. (My game partner tells me I totally kick butt in Resident Evil 5 when I have the sniper rifle in my hands.)

Here Zaph is dressed in her COGS shirt, earned for playing the demo in the Mall area, and her hunter boots from Hunters Vs Snowmen… yes, Zaph likes to go after the hunters, the antler handheld crossbow is SO MUCH kewler than the little popguns the hunters get.

Note the hunter’s boots have a hunting knife tucked into the outside left boot. That is to more easily chop up online creeps and leave them for the wolves to chew up and spit out.

Zaph is likely to change a bit, I need to fine tune how her face is supposed to look, then I will post better pictures.

I also plan to recreate her in my 3D programs so I can give her a online home here at Phantascene where she can show off all of the accomplishments I earn in the PlayStation trophies and such.

We go to our favorite video sharing site to watch a funny video or maybe a video that will help us learn how to do something new we want to learn.

We load all of our vacation pictures up onto picture sharing websites, probably [...]]]> We visit our favorite sites every day without thinking about it.

We go to our favorite video sharing site to watch a funny video or maybe a video that will help us learn how to do something new we want to learn.

We load all of our vacation pictures up onto picture sharing websites, probably have some special moment caught on video at the video sharing site.

We rely on the information that we can find online at community shared information sites, online encyclopedias of collective knowledge that help us write terms papers, articles, or learn more about people and companies we do business with.

We laugh at the things our friends say on social sites and smile at glimpses we get into the lives of people we see in movies and on television.

What if it all started to go away?

What if you woke up tomorrow and found that the site you store your children’s pictures on was no longer reachable?

What if you tried to watch your sister’s vacation videos only to be told it was banned from viewing in your part of the world?

What if you lost half of the Internet in the blink of an eye?

How much freedom would you be willing to lose?

How much freedom have you already lost?

Online piracy is a serious issue, but so is online freedom.

SOPA seeks to stop online piracy, but what is Congress asking us to give up if SOPA passes?

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Almost 50 years ago the United States Army Combat Developments Command Combined Arms Group gave my father, Billy L. Fikes, a citation for meritorious service as Senior Programming Specialist in the United States Army Combat Developments Command Communications-Electronics Agency at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Between August 28, 1963 and Auguest 5, 1965, my father was recognized to have distinguished himself by exceptional performance of duty and leadership, and use of his broad technical knowledge and extraordinary grasp of the technical details of computer operations to guide the conversion of the Combat Communications Simulation Model from magnetic tapes to one that utilized the disk file for mass storage.

Techniques that the Army stated would have significant and far-reaching effects on the economic feasibility of utilizing and Simulation Model for evaluating future communications-electronics concepts and doctrine developed by the Communications-Electronics Agency.

At the time my father worked on the programs he had no idea that one day his efforts would be part of the start of a communications network that would span the world with all the knowledge of human history and all our dreams for the future. He did, however, live to see what that tangled mess of code would become. And I know that he was awed and amazed by the world wide web and all that it gave to the world. He would be heartbroken to think that the same government that had fifty years ago given him a commendation for his part in bringing the world together might have laws in Congress that would want to black out entire sections of the web from Americans.

My father did not serve his country for over 21 years, and through three major wars, to have the freedoms of his children and grandchildren to utilize the web to its fullest stripped away.

Keep the web free, keep information free.

Stop piracy, but not at the cost of our freedom.