How Many Players?

You've seen it, thought about it, pondered it in your mind. You see a game you might like to get and you flip it over to see if more than one person can play it at a time.

Sometimes this is the deciding factor for purchasing a game. Maybe you want to play it with your son, daughter, sibling, significant other, mom, or granddad. So you stand there at your favorite retailer and the game clearly states: 2 players.

Yep, you decide to grab the game, pony up your hard earned dough and head home for some local multiplayer mayhem. Only... it doesn't really turn out that way. You get the game in your favorite console, turn on the controller, and click start.

Only, now the game starts and there are no options for a 2 player game. What gives? Where is the other player?

Sometimes you have just been duped like in BattleField Bad Company 2. You get the "Ultimate Edition" that boasts the "Onslaught Mode" which has an "action packed co-op mode."
I was told that "Co-op" didn't mean local two player, but rather that you could play together with someone else online. REALLY!?!! It already states on the back "Network Players 2-24."

What a rip!

Saddened, you return to your favorite retailer and your 5 year old grabs a Wii game that has (comparatively for Wii games) gotten a good rating. You flip it over and lo! The number 2 is on the back. In fact, one of the screen shots shows 2 players and states play with a friend in 21 dedicated levels. Does this mean you are playing with your son? Nope. The two player mode is in "Eggman's Sonic Simulator." Is it truly 2 player (ala Super Mario Bros.)? Nope. If one of you falls behind, then that player is "dragged forward until stopped by a wall." Whatever that means.

These two are hardly the only culprits. There is not enough time in the day, or enough TB on this server to dedicate to all the games that purposefully advertise 2 or more players only to have the game be single player.

It is very simple, publishers. If a game is a single player game, don't try to gimmick it up to make it look like or seem like more than one player on a console can play it at a time. It is lying and doesn't encourage brand loyalty.

If you make a quality 1 player game and it wouldn't take too much to make it split screen go ahead... I am looking at you NFS: Hot Pursuit. Hell, if Toy Story 3 can do it, so can you.

But this is a serious plea for those of us who don't have limitless budgets: Please, just put the number of players on the back. Just the number that will play the main game.