Game Stooge

Halo 3 Co-op: Offline-only [UPDATE: For Now]

• Scribbled on July 19th, 2007 by Devin Grimes
• Filed in Microsoft Xbox 360, Shooter

Microsoft exec. Jeff Bell may have teased our hopes of teaming up with three others on Xbox LIVE to tackle Halo 3’s campaign, but the latest issue of EGM conversely reveals that Bungie has no such plans to include online co-op in the game’s initial release.

Speaking to Electronic Gaming Monthly, Bungie’s Frank O’Conner cites the lack of online co-op not due to the lack of fan appeal, but to technical, gameplay, and probably time limitations:

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. 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. If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won’t.

Bungie seems very aware of the demand for online co-operative play, and still hasn’t shattered all hopes of online support, mentioning that future downloadable packs could include a co-op mode.

[UPDATE] 1Up’s Jeremy Parish, who worked on the cover story for EGM just posted a blog entry that should clear up any confusion:

Bungie hasn’t actually denied or ruled out online co-op in Halo 3. What the developers — Frank O’Connor in particular — did say is that they’re still working on it. They’re trying to surmount the technical challenges that are preventing co-op from being as polished as the rest of the game. They know people want it. They want to add it. But as of our interview with them, a month ago, it hadn’t come together yet in a satisfactory manner. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, and in fact they’d like to make it happen. But they won’t include a half-baked implementation.

Sorry for being “the Internet”, Jeremy…

(Via CVG)