Halo 3's 4-Player Coop Is A Hyped Cop-Out

The big news regarding Halo 3, ever since this year's E3 business and media summit, has been all about the coop: Four-player this and four-player that. Now that Bungie has officially let the news loose about the four-player coop over Xbox Live and system link, the author feels that maybe it was a bit of a let-down. Especially given the build-up surrounding the buzz-worthy news.

[Jay da 2KBalla]

"Now M$ fanboys, turn your eyes from this paragraph for a moment, because you’re not going to like what you’re about to read. But Sony’s first-person shooter exclusive for the PS3, Haze, (yes, the deal was made with Ubisoft at this year’s E3, in case you haven’t heard) actually prompts for four-player coop online, four-player coop offline, and a story mode that was built from the ground up with multiplayer cooperative modes in mind. See, that is this sort of thing that makes a gamer giddy all over."

Umm, haze is exclusive to ps3 this year and will be coming to 360 next year. And just because 4 player co-op was announced for halo 3 second doesnt mean it added simply because haze had it. Why in the world would bungie be worried about haze anyway? Everybody knows that halo3 is going to kill it in terms of sales and popularity anyway.

And the only reason 4 player co-op for halo3 is being overhyped instead of for haze is because the simple fact that halo has a strong brand name and huge fanbase and any halo news is going to be hyped up and haze is a new ip. Plus four player co-op in halo 3 is going to be the sh1t.

Personally, I cant wait to play both games on my 360.

[closedxxx]

I fell in love with the original Halo because I sat down multiple times next to a buddy to blast through the campaign missions while throwing back a respectable amount of beer. SO much so that I ended up staggering upstairs to my bedroom (after beating the game on LEGENDARY!) and nearly urinating on my girlfriend (now wife) in my drunken state.

All I'm saying is... Halo is a blast to play cooperatively, and I personally see myself getting more gameplay out of the online co-op than the other online multiplayer modes.

[doublertist]

thats just disgusting...

[Omegasyde]

I agree, I am still trying to figure out how it was a cop-out.

I believe the author of that article doesn't know the meaning of
"cop out". Or the meaning of the "Halo Effect".

[Zhuk]

People are making a big deal about Halo 3 co-op because it is massively popular, while HAZE is an unproven franchise that has nothing on the Halo fanbase. People want Halo 3 news, not HAZE news.

I think it's great both games have 4 player online co-op, but who really cares about 4 player offline co-op??? playing co-op with 4 tiny squares on my tv sounds like a crap idea to me.

any supposed journalist who says 'M$' loses any credibility and respect from me.

[crck]

I use a 110" screen with my projector. So yes 4 player co-op split screen is very welcome in Haze and Warhawk. That being said I dont agree with the article either. Seems like someone who is just fishing for something to cry about in regards to Halo 3.

[nasim]

HAZE is a realistic shooter.

HALO 3 is a cartoon game with powerranger KIDS in green diapers.

this is not last gen

no one wants a cartoon game anymore

[Zhuk]

maybe if i had an IMAX screen i'd like 4 player offline co-op, but sadly i'm stuck with my 32inch hdtv :(

lol@nasim over 4 million pre-orders of Halo 3 say your wrong

[i Shank u]

Halo 3 does have offline 4player co-op, in the form of system link; hell he even mentions it in his article! this is the best way to play offline co-op for sure, but the fact that it's forced sucks, why do they do that? and yea, this author sucks. he says "look away M$ fanboys" and "yea, thats right, haze is exclusive to PS3" like hes got an attitude, whattadouche

[MoonDust]

Seriously. Mentality of a monkey.

[candystop]

I thought that halo 3 recently hit 5 million preorders according to gamestop I believe! Anyway Halo is not a cartoon game and will sell no matter how much you hate Nasim lol!

[sjappie]

"HAZE is a realistic shooter"

Nektar anyone?

[Omegasyde]

You should of used "Socom" instead of "haze" as a comparison.

But still Halo isn't cartoonish its an
"Arcade Style first person shooter" that.., wait a second, Haze is also.

Realism? Try Rainbow 6, or Socom. Heck you want even more, get into PC gaming. Haze might beat it the graphics department but like all the post above me....
Haze is an unproven franchise vs Platinum seller.

[castdreams]

This article sounds like it was written by a ten-year old.

[Trauma]

Yeah an angry ten year old that wants the Halo hype for Haze.

[ALIEN]

I like this idea. I don't care who came up wit this idea first, I know i heard it first from Ubisoft. Can't wait to play HAZE on my PS3 n HALO3 on my 360.

[sticky doja]

Kinda glad Haze isn't commin out on 360 this year, got to much money invested in to many other blockbusters right now. And I doubt I will grow tired of Halo 3 any time before next year. I'm still not tired of Halo 2.

[EZCheez]

I was playing SWAT 3 on the PC almost a decade ago with 4 player online coop. It was fun then and i'm sure it will be when Haze and Halo 3 come out as well. Most PC gamers would laugh at the inclusion of this even being news.

[iceice123]

Filled with so much failure, Halo ripping off 4 player co-op, filth idiotic filth. I guess to bring attention to your game you say the big one copied you. HAZE COPIED HUNTER THE RECKONING FOR THE XBOX IT HAD 4 PLAYER CO-OP! See how easy that was :)

[ALIEN]

I agree wit you. "playing co-op with 4 tiny squares on my tv sounds like a crap idea to me" I was about to say that. Agree!

[Dr Pepper]

This article was written poorly and seems like an uneducated blog post. I agree with Zhuk, anyone who uses 'M$' in their article looses credibility.

And I hope he's not serious when he's asking why Halo's 4 player co-op is getting all the hype and not Haze.

[Umbrella Corp]

He is just a sony fanboy trying to bring people to his side,why cant he admit both games seem worthy of game of the year and that he likes four player co-op sheesh its not that hard to say.

[nasim]

already KZ 2 killed HALO 3...and now this

poor MS with cartoon halo 3 and Mass effect

[Dr Pepper]

I can't believe someone would put "poor MS" in the same sentence as "Halo 3" and "Mass Effect".

[sticky doja]

I couldn't agree with you more. I might go broke buying those 2 games among others but that will be the only reason you could say I am poor for having a 360.

[Daewoodrow]

Did you know...
The world would be a slightly happier place if you DIDN'T EXIST.

For the love of all that is good, every damn news post I see your drooling monotonous slur, lowering the world's average I.Q. 10 points.

NOBODY CARES what you're saying. Peel yourself off the computer chair, go outside and preach your incessant white noise to something of your own IQ level: A ROCK.

[WIIIS1]

Poor Nasim. Must be painful not to be able to play GOTY. We'll be kind and let you continue dreaming that KZ2 will score anything more than an 8. But you've seen for yourself the standard set by Sony with Lair's score, so just be prepared for another letdown.

[ALIEN]

HAZE is an unproven franchise n HALO is a huge franchise wit a huge fanbase, like Jay da 2KBalla said.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I love these anti-halo articles they just toss dynamite into the fire. Im sure haze will do fine but I do see haze as a bigger competition against halo then say...killzone 2. I mean haze at least got one thing right. Vehicle combat in a fps is a good thing. And ubisoft is no stranger to 4-player co-op games so I don't expect bad things from them. But, Halo 3 is a beast of a game in multi-player. I can't wait to play it again. And since sony nuts have never played anything like Halo series on the ps1, 2, or 3 (to date) you little boys will be super dupper excited to experience haze...im sure.

[MarioFromTexas]

FPS are really not that big for PS fans....I bought my 360 to play gears and lost planet and I bought my PS3 to play heavenly sword and SOCOM...I'll play halo when I can get it on ebay for $25, I haven't bought a new 360 game since gears because the quality of the games don't justify the $60 even HALO..It's my opinion and 125 million PS2 owners will agree that FPS are only epic on the 360 because if halo was on the PS3 it would get overshadowed and wouldn't be recieving the hype it get's on the 360..

[candystop]

I totally disagree with you and can't believe you think that PS3 has a better or different variety that 360 somehow doesn't! Shooters are a plus for 360 owners but there's also something for everyone on 360 and many more to come! The PS3 is the system thats really limited to choice this time around and the 360 is even ushering in RTS's on console for the 1st time! It's ashame your so blind and but oh well to each his own I guess!

[ParaDise_LosT]

How does a person like Nasim have 5 bubbles?...
He's a disgrace to your community Sony...I hope you know that
He's the stereo-typical sony fanboy that has a supperiority complex, I have no Idea why people ignore him....

It hurts you more than it hurts us is what I'm trying to say...

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I am more impressed by the fact he has 59 ignores on his profile.

[ALIEN]

DUDE! Do you know you are about to star a flame war, not just that, but everybody is going to jump on KZ2, just becasue you fanboy spirit a@@ said that. NOW, you will see a bunch of people jumping on PS3 n KZ2 for no reason. PLEASE don't listen to him.

[ElementX]

I don't see why so many personal opinion articles written by nobodies get approved. These aren't news. This site isn't called PO4G (Personal opinions for gamers)

[Wile]

The new "Strawberry Shortcake" Videogame is going to pwn all! It's exclusive to the Intellivision, so you sony and ms fans can keep dreaming!

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

People are making a big deal about Halo 3 and even bioshock but lets not forget Haze, it's also suppose to be a very powerful shooter from Ubisoft.

[ALIEN]

You have said that HAZE will be a bigger competition for HALO3 then KZ2. COME ON DUDE! KZ2 hopefully will have vehicle, weapons n good graphics. DAMN! I just wanna see KZ2 in-action, just to shut people up.

EDIT: Im not saying HAZE will not be as good as HALO3, but saying that KZ2 will not be a bigger competition for HALO3 than HAZE, It's ignorant.

[ngg12345]

He is just wondering why haze 4 player co op wasn't as much hailed as halo 3 4player co-op, even though haze has 4 player offline, and online, while halo 3 does not. Was I the only one that read it?

[sticky doja]

Because Halo is proven and Haze is not.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Because haze hasn't sold systems, or spawned wannabe games and novels. It hasn't proven itself. What I want to know is why people are so quick to call new fps games the halo killer or put halo in the same sentence. Until something comes along and outpaces the Halo series. Don't Fvk with The beast that is Halo. Pretty video and graphics one thing but it has been said a million times gameplay wins.

[cyguration]

People are all in a bustle, but Halo 3 was never bad-mouthed the way people are making it seem. It just makes me more interested in both Haze and Halo 3.

[BIadestarX]

Did you know that Rainbow six vegas also has 4 players co-op?

Here is the reason why Halo 3 is getting so much hype...

Halo 2 is still the most played and the fastest selling game of all time. with a huge fanbase. with a huge fanbase with guarantee to sell millions within hours of it's release...

Now tell me.. who the heck knows. about Haze aside from us? Those concidered hardcore gamers?

It's not that there are games that have co-op that matters.. is that Halo 3 the sequeal to the fastest selling game (ever) which was NOT CO-OP... will now allow coop.. and if Bungie did a great job at keeping people still playing Halo 2 online for so many years.... who know how great co-op will be...

Besides... think of this...
Haze fanbase that actually play Haze = 0... isnt obvious.. that Halo 3 would have more hype?

By the way... unlike the typical fanboy that gets excited and sell their nuts for anything announce for the console you love... Haze still have to earn being excited for... none of you ever tried the controls... or how the game play.. and know almost nothing about the storyline... why should I be hyped about a game that's relative new... never played it.. and it can suck major balls? Haze have to earn the well deserved Halo hype... and even if you hate Halo (which 99% will be a Sony fanboy)... prove it with facts... millions can't be wrong...

[BIadestarX]

The author of this article represents the typical Sony fanboy... Angry little midget that hopes Halo 3 being released in less than 2 months is just a nightmare that they will wake up... Look at the losers (i.e. nasim, etc)... all they do is flame xbox 360 articles... if Halo and the xbox 360 didnt matter... why they can't shut up about it? This article is an example... They see the word Halo on the article's title and they run like a bunch of dogs after a b!tch in heat.

[kewlkat007]

is an un-proven, wanna be Halo killer. It's just not going to happen. while it may be a good game, Ubi's wants it to be it's answer to the Halo franchise. The similarities look all too familiar, when I first seen Haze. They added drugs(nector) to the game, as if, that's revolutionary and criticize the Halo franchise.

Halo franchise = Proven franchise.
Halo 3 needs no hype, it's Fn Halo 3.
FPS games on Xbox consoles= Proven.
Halo Fran,have helped push the FPS genre on "Consoles" after Goldeneye 007 did it's magic.

Didn't Rainbox Six have 4+ player multi?
Even Too Human was going to be 4-player multi, given it had come out this year. 4-player co-oop is expanding the genre, in terms of Online play. No more split-screens..ala early days of Goldeneye on a 27 incher.

When you are un-proven, there is really not much you can say, until you deliver, not just with another same ol, same ol day ol shooter, but by expanding on the genre, and as of right now, I really don't see Haze doing much, that's so different than Halo and other shooters.

Did they win anything at E3? While a lot, had their eyes on the main diversion, COD4 pwned all FPS's.

Both PROVEN franchises , Haze is not, simple as that. That's why no hoopla about Haze and 4-plater co-op.

Ahhh so many shooters, which one to play..COD4 and Halo all Daylo for me.

[PS360PCROCKS]

wtf? He is whining because we got 4 player co-op? Um wow ok that's pretty ridiculous. "We want 4 player co-op bungie!" "Ok ok here is 4 player co-op" "wooo 4 player co-op" "Actually on second thought 4 player co-op um isn't a big deal?" This guy is a jackass "And not only that, but aside from system link, the game is trailing Haze by not even offering an offline four-player coop mode" Other than what 2.1 said above, why in the hell would I need 4 player offline co-op? My tv is only 32"!! I don't want that split 4 ways, hell I hate it split two ways...

[ASSASSYN 36o]

You can tell the level-9 retard didn't want it to happen. I bet the fool was dancing and bragging about it possibly not happening then was stuck on stupid when bungie announced they will deliver.

[WIIIS1]

360 gamers, remember well the arguments in this Sonyboy's article when GT5 decides to include damage into the game.

Nah sorry, that'll never happen, the cell can't handle it.

[senerock]

if they made halo 2.1 i would buy it so why should i not care about halo 3...
beside the 360 is getting haze anyway, so i'll try it.

[toughNAME]

with the exception of nasim...everyone has agreed this is an immature, pointless article

im impressed

back to the article -
i think of it like this, gears is the best shooter on the 360, if gears has 2 player co op (and is amazing..like i mentioned) then 4 player would be twice as better, on an assumed, even better shooter, halo 3

simple...but it makes sense

[MoonDust]

Why would Haze more attention? It's a unproven franchise. Also, he doesn't know if the Halo halo campaign was build around co-op, it couldve been a surprise they were holding out on.

[Boink]

the article was obviously done by someone with a mental disability, so why pick on them so much?

4 person co-op over live for halo 3 was such big news because anyone who is a fan of the game, has pretty much been asking for it since halo 2 came out.

and why does halo 3 get so much hype? almost 5 million pre-orders to date, and one of the largest fanbases out there. Haze looks like a great game, but it's an unproven franchise at this point.

[killercam19]

Moving on this guy can go fvck himself

[TheFamilyGuy]

It is exciting when 4 player co-op is announced for Halo 3 because the Halo series has proven to be catering and entertaining to playing with co-op in the past, so now that H3 is not only XBL co-op, but also 4 players instead of 2, it naturally will make lots of people excited.

Now Haze says it'll have 4 player co-op...ok...well, no one has any idea what kind of experience co-op in Haze will be.

posted by ElementX: "I don't see why so many personal opinion articles written by nobodies get approved. These aren't news. This site isn't called PO4G (Personal opinions for gamers)"

I completely agree. I mean, i have my own 360 forum...so does that mean my opinions are news worthy too? lol.

[DaEnforcer]

"Halo 2 is still the most played and the fastest selling game of all time."

You must be crazy, not on this earth buddy. Halo 2 isn't high on the alltime bestseller list, it doesn't even make it to the top 20. As for most played is just your another wish, it doesn't even come close to CS or other PC games.

[PS360PCROCKS]

and you were born with a brain...their is all kinds of myths out their buddy...

[kewlkat007]

WOW: burning crusades sold more than anyone in a day,(2.4 million copies within the first day of release ) but it was an expansion, then maybe Vice city on the PS2, and I'm not sure where Halo 2 stands.

Wii is the fastest selling console of all time!

Gears Of War for Xbox 360 - Fastest-Selling Title of 2006, as well as one of the best-reviewed game of all time.

yada yada yada..we'll see how Halo 3 does...

If you wanna talk about the most played on a "console network," then yeah Halo(I'm sure XBL have the stats)..until Gears borrowed the crown for a couple of months. Guess whos back to take it?..hehe

[Bnet343]

Halo 2 sold 2.4 million copies in 1 day as well. That was a $50 game, not a $40 expansion

[FeralPhoenix]

OK I have no problem with him or anybody else liking Haze more but how that translates into Haze deserving more attention from Halo fans and the media seems rather odd to me. Why? the only thing he mentioned was Haze does 4 player "offline" co-op= 4 split screens on 1 TV, uhmm Wow, really is that the amazing feature everybody wants.

If I recall correctly tons of gaming sites ran with the story and made a big deal about it when Bungie mentioned that it was hard work including this feature because of the sheer size of Halo3 levels, I remember the headlines and they were sensationalized to make it look as if Bungie was somehow slacking on the job, NOW (fastfoward to the present) this guy is saying 4 player Co-op is a "cop out"? He says he was wrong for praising the game?, huh? So does that mean he shouldn't have thought it was great that 4 player Co-op is a feature of Halo3? huh? OK now with Haze, I didn't see one site that bashed Haze because Halo3 now has 4 player Co-op confirmed, is it wrong to be excited about good news for Halo3? Does being excited about Halo3 make Haze any less of a game?

Is it surprising that good news for Halo3 has the ability to overshadow other games, Is it possible Halo3 earned its spotlight, last time I checked Gamers can choose any game they like, no ones FORCED to buy Halo3 or support it, Haze looks very promising, if it delivers it will get its recognition just like Gears, and if it goes on to keep delivering as Halo has done, one day we will be saying damm, why do Haze fans need to apologize because Haze 3 has such a huge following, nobody's forcing you to read about it, like it, or buy it. I'm a huge Halo fan like many others but I never understood why some people think that means we don't care about other games,[[Edit 360 attach rate is proof otherwise too]] I see alot of 360 fans excited about Mass Effect and many other games, including PS3 games, but I've been playing games for over 20+ yrs and its one of my favorite games and I'm not going act as if good news about Halo doesn't really get me pumped up, when clearly it does.

[FordGTGuy]

4 player co-op on Halo 3 for sometime now/

[power of Green]

By this fools logic every dev should lay all their chips/ideas down on the table as soon as they think them up and should never suprize the public to garner hype for their work. lol

Fuc TGS the devs should tell us all their secrets now. I can't believe people are in here fighting lol.

HAlo 3 wasn't getting much hype compared to how much it usually gets.

This is what happend: Halo 3 was dreamed about but not in the media much vurtually nothing had ever been leaked or said about the game untill the Beta announcement. People played Halo 3 and nothing really beyonds its fanbase which is huge" made much noise other than being gald to be part of the beta.

The fanboys/Halo haters/MS haters were the people hyping the game beyond reason, haters hyped the game so much Halo fans were sick of hearing about Halo 3.

The anti MS/Halo people continued to talk sh*t about how Halo 3 would suck because of the Beta looking like what they called 5th generation.

When Bungie finally released what the game really looks like it caused "i told you so" hype and even angrier haters.

Bubgie released gameplay secrets before launch to hype the game and haters are still going to continue to hype Halo 3 more than 360 fans.

Haze who?.

[power of Green]

When info's given about Halo its discussed briefly and people move on. Hype is when you say things like HAZE is the grown folks game and Halo's for kids(while 15 year old kids blow peoples brains out online in halo painting wall with blood).

Halo's just an advanced FPS balanaced to perfection with vehicels as long as they bring new gameplay with good multi player and emmersive story whats to hide?. I would be worried about games where the devs are hiding something that boast and talk too much.

Here's a quote about a game with loud devs:

"If any game needs to be delayed, it has to be Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. We're confident that the team at Naughty Dog can make a stellar game, and we doubt they'll rush Uncharted just to make its November release. Considering how many other high-profile games are arriving on PS3 (and other consoles) later this year, we'd love to see Naughty Dog take the time to really iron out the bugs and refine the controls -- if they do, Uncharted can easily be one of the best games on the platform."

[okcomputer]

lol halo isn't overhyped? I guess you haven't noticed the halo soda, halo edition 360, halo cartoon, and the countless "special editions" of the game including the one with that big shiny helmet lol. There is NO game out there aside from maybe mario that gets nearly as much hype.

[Bathyj]

4 player split screen is awesome. Best multiplayer game of all time is MAriokart 64.

I really hope Halo has at least 2 player co-op offline but 4 would be better as I dont care much about online play.

[Dr Pepper]

Halo 3 does have 2 player co-op offline (like the others). But it wont be four player offline like Haze (unfortunately).

[FeralPhoenix]

I know some don't care for online, but I think it adds alot to gaming in general. I'm not a big fan of regular split screen of course it was great when it was all we had before online and now I think 4 player split screen is a nice option, but given a choice I would much rather play with 3 of my buds in co-op over Live so that I don't have my screen broken up into 4 sections, which I find a little annoying, I do have a 50" plasma so I guess it wouldn't be so bad, but hell its so much better when I have all 50" to myself. (err, I don't like the way that sounds but you get the point, lol) Mariokart64 best multiplayer game of all time?.....uhm, you *&^T%%**%, I'm going to kick your $%^**& no just kiddin.

[Daxx]

I'm glad that whenever I log off N4G and I go onto Xbox Live, xbox.com, or bungie.net that I'm surrounded by people that fully appreciate Halo for what it really is a fun game to play with friends.

Balanced, Addictive, and Fun are the 3 main things the Halo series is to me.

[_insane_cobra]

hahahahahahahahahahaha
Is this guy for real?

[etownone]

its great to see everyone realizes whoever wrote this article is an idiot.

anyone should know, you do not compare any new IP with HALO.

[Rhezin]

Halo > already a proven franchise.

Haze < still trying to be a decent game.

[BLACKJACK VII]

Is this just a mock up ? Will there be an RE4-like 3rd person view in Halo 3 for ALL weapons ???? Feel free to PM me if you have the answer.

[nicodemus]

That's just the way they take screenshots, I assume using the replay system, which also works on campaign (not just multiplayer). There were screens like that one as well before Halo 2 came out...

Unless Bungie's got even MORE stuff behind the curtain, I think it's say to say the only 3rd person view will be when you're using one of the turrets.

[BLACKJACK VII]

Here's a bubble & a chew toy for you !

[nicodemus]

How, at all, is 4 player coop in Halo 3 a "letdown"???

I was thrilled when I saw it, as I'm sure every other Halo fan was... But for some reason, this guy's acting like including 4 player coop is somehow a bigger disappointment than if the game shipped without it? It's so nonsensical, I can't believe people as stupid as this guy are the ones dishing out video game news to all of us...

And another thing: even if the author thinks Halo 3's coop is getting undue hype in comparison to Haze, then there's a simple solution to that --- Write an article about Haze, don't even mention Halo 3. Just talk up Haze, give it a shining "preview" and let that be the end of it...... or, I guess, he just realizes that more people will read if there's at least some mention of Halo 3...

[Bloodmask]

to other FPS. It is by far one of the most fun games to play online bar none.

It is number one online even today.

The party system is great.

All the hate is just from pure jealousy. Nothing else. Halo is one hec of an online experience.

Just ask all the people that preorderd it.

[Wii60_FTW]

All other games are crap compared to Halo. Period. With the exception maybe of Doom and Half-Life.

Halo 3 will be the #1 game on planet earth, whether the fanboys like it or not.