No Online Co-Op For Halo 3 At Launch

CVG has the disappointing news, originally reported in the pages of EGM, that online co-op play will not be available when Halo 3 launches this September. In the game the second player would play the part of the Arbiter character, but fans will only be able to complete the campaign cooperatively via LAN or split-screen. Bungie stated the possibility still exists online co-op could be patched in at a later date, but significant hurdles stand in the way of the feature: "'We're not dumb,' says Bungie's Frank O'Conner. 'We know that people want it and we're trying to make it happen. 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.'"

Comments

Re:Not to smart either?

[Broken scope]

Apples to oranges

Minimal collision detection
AI is far more simplistic
Time based actions
client side positioning(You can teleport yourself around in the game, till you get caught atleast)
Are there any physics in WoW?

Those are the major differences i can think of off the top of my head.

Re:Online Co-op Possible

[TruePoindexter]

That's the problem though, lagging like crazy and moreover packet loss. In Co-op not only do you have to synchronize both players but also every single monster, vehicle, and scripted event on the entire map. Even the slightest difference throws the players out of synch destroying the experience and leading to some interesting situations, like being shot by an Elite five feet away that on your screen is a mile away. It only takes one dropped packet to throw a wrench in the works. I've written code before to synchronize mancala games across the internet while also allowing for observers. That was no small project mind you; and that was with Mancala, a game many orders of magnitude easier than Halo. Many developers with even more clout than Bungie have made claims that they would include online Co-op and then failed to deliver. It's a lesson on why you should take any features list published by a developer with a grain of salt.

Re:Not to smart either?

[ZorbaTHut]

You missed the big one - WoW has centralized dedicated game servers, Halo 3 doesn't.

Obviously, though, this reinforces your point :)