no online co-op? in THIS day and age?!?

Bungie, how could you do this to me? for that matter, how can ANY of you companies do what Bungie did - or didn't do...

Bungie, how can you not have planned for online co-op for Halo 3? other companies, how can any game where co-op is expected NOT be online co-op in this day and age? The Simpsons, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe... i'm looking at the both of you. i would buy the both of you when you come out if only i could play cooperatively through you with someone online!

dear god, if Army of Two isn't online co-op, i'm not getting THAT game either!

and it's too bad to, because i want to buy you - all of you. Halo 3, yes i'm still buying you for the multiplayer - and the POSSIBILITY of a patch in the future that allows for online co-op (Bungie says they're exploring the idea) - but you're on thin ice.

from a interview with the face of Bungie, Frankie, that's appearing in the August issue of EGM -

Frankie: "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."

me: then you don't freakin' design levels like that! you design with online co-op in mind!

Frankie: "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."

me: sounds like a cop-out. in fact, if you're too lazy to do your level design with online co-op in mind, i've come up with solutions that keep the 2 players within close proximity to one another - maybe they're attacked to one another via shackles... or they've got exploding collars on and if they stray too far from one another, they blow up... or hell, it's the future - if one gets too far away from the other, they just ZAP transport to the first player's side!

totally unforgivable.

i'll cross my fingers for the co-op patch... good thing the friends i'd play co-op with aren't getting Halo 3 right when it comes out. Bungie, you're on the clock.

and let this be a wake-up call to all you other companies... if you say "co-op" it had better be online. it's just expected in this day and age, that's all.

(oh, and Bungie's claim that "oh yeah we'll fix it with a patch" plays to my dislike of companies releasing a product and then saying "oh we'll just patch it," which essentially means they're releasing an unfinished product... but this is a topic for another time)

- kawitchate