Halo: Reach Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Please, do not follow the current FPS trend of...
  • Subject: Please, do not follow the current FPS trend of...
Subject: Please, do not follow the current FPS trend of...

....removing split screen in favor of higher end graphics.
Too many games have been doing this recently, but they have good reason. Every time you split the screen, you double the amount of power required to run the game. A four player match needs to process four times the graphics and four times the sound.

I would hate to see Bungie rid Halo of split screen just to push out a few extra pixels, some of my best memories with the series have been of playing custom, offline matches of Halo 2-3 with my friends.
I would rather have Doom-esque graphics with my friends than Metal Gear Solid 4 graphics alone.

  • 10.31.2009 10:08 PM PDT
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what is this halo you speak of?

glitch it

  • 10.31.2009 10:08 PM PDT

ah i see you are on my page...good choice

this is a good opinion. but why only settle for one? this is gonna be bungies last halo game, so it better have graphics that gonna make sony lock themselves in a bathroom and cry for a happy place.

  • 10.31.2009 10:10 PM PDT

I'm split in this decision. Half of me says Hell Yes make it so that the graphics can be even better, but the other half reminds me that the one of the reasons why I love Halo is because you CAN play it with friends all in one room, rather than always having to go on over LIVE to play. I have wondered the same thing, if the sacrifice would be worth it, but I guess we will see. If only the Xbox were more powerful, then we could have all our wildest dreams :P

  • 10.31.2009 10:12 PM PDT

ISU Cyclones!

Guests are becoming a lost art in online games and Halo is the only really big one that allows them in regular matchmaking anymore.

I'd be incredibly disappointed if they weren't included. More so than I would be if the graphics were only slightly improved.

  • 10.31.2009 10:13 PM PDT

93% of statistics are lies. Formerly Xfire Grunt. Unfortunately, you can't change the WLID for your BNET account, so I had to create an alternate account. My other WLID was spam city (and it was my e-mail account too).

How about they design it so the graphics are 4* better without split screen? Remember there is also 4* less screen space to process with split screen. I'm also not sure if there is really 4* more processor power required. Keep in mind that the game is still running there are just 4* more inputs and outputs to be processed from your console. 4* the processor power is really inefficient programming. The game is already running but the inputs and outputs went up.

  • 10.31.2009 10:16 PM PDT

Posted by: Cpl Crosseyes
Guests are becoming a lost art in online games and Halo is the only really big one that allows them in regular matchmaking anymore.

I'd be incredibly disappointed if they weren't included. More so than I would be if the graphics were only slightly improved.


They wouldn't be slightly improved, theoretically, they'd be improved four times over....but those graphical enhancements wouldn't draw me to Reach if I didn't get to play with my friends without asking them to spend $300 on a system and game.

  • 10.31.2009 10:18 PM PDT

Im 50/50 on this.... I agree that its nice to be able to play locally in the same room without needing seperate tv's/systems/discs on the other hand I hate playing split screen and avoid it when I can because of the fact that its harder to see on a much smaller viewpoint like since looking at half the screen means that the enemies will look half the usual size I might miss that grunt hiding with the fuel rod cause he is so tiny now compared to full screen. also people complain a lot about screen viewing where you look at someone elses screen... hello the screen is shared I see it in my peripheral vison and my eyes never stop moving lol

EDIT: I don't really have any friends that come over for splitscreen anyways well not currently anyways I have some who might be interested

[Edited on 10.31.2009 10:20 PM PDT]

  • 10.31.2009 10:20 PM PDT

*Bobfather17*

Agreed. Seeing the amount of people with 2+ guests in MM, I doubt they will take it out. I'm not worried because four player splitscreen is a major part of Halo's accessibility and Halo has always looked good without needing better graphics.

  • 10.31.2009 10:21 PM PDT

How to spell "space"?

S-P-ACE! SPACE!

I honestly prefer amazing visuals to online split-screen.

  • 10.31.2009 10:24 PM PDT

Don't worry about the graphics. Halo 3 was not the best they could do I'm sure. Every artist has a style and they chose to stylize real objects and people. Star Wars The Old Republic (MMORPG BY BIO WARE) is also stylized realism but only it leans more towards stylized than real unlike Halo which is a comfortable middle. I Think this Halo will push more for real but still be stylized enough to be the Halo we've all come to love.

Now back on the track FULLY, I would like to see splitscreen as well but at the same time I don't have any friends in my city anymore... They all went to different schools. That's just me being selfish though, split screen for the win.

  • 10.31.2009 10:24 PM PDT

ISU Cyclones!

Posted by: Quetzocoetl
Posted by: Cpl Crosseyes
Guests are becoming a lost art in online games and Halo is the only really big one that allows them in regular matchmaking anymore.

I'd be incredibly disappointed if they weren't included. More so than I would be if the graphics were only slightly improved.


They wouldn't be slightly improved, theoretically, they'd be improved four times over....but those graphical enhancements wouldn't draw me to Reach if I didn't get to play with my friends without asking them to spend $300 on a system and game.
Yeah I get what you're saying. I'm just saying that if I HAD to choose between no guests or inferior graphics I'd take the inferior graphics.

  • 10.31.2009 10:25 PM PDT

Every time you sneeze into an open Febreze portal the boner-tree drive shaft will spin into ketchup. But it doesn't stop at the number two pizza bell, not even close. It continues into the seventy eight minute long pile of green, sobbing cheese trains with no more butter, but more like the steak owed the tin cans some lovin'.

Ya, since each player's screen only ends up at 1/4 the resolution, there isn't 4 times as much work required. Still more than usual, but not 4 times as much.

It would also be pretty simple to just lower the quality using split screen to make up for the difference.

  • 10.31.2009 10:29 PM PDT

Posted by: Quetzocoetl
....removing split screen in favor of higher end graphics.
Too many games have been doing this recently, but they have good reason. Every time you split the screen, you double the amount of power required to run the game. A four player match needs to process four times the graphics and four times the sound.

Looks like someone read this month's issue of OXM.

Anyway, I can't imagine Bungie would leave out a feature that has been with us since Halo 1 in favor of better visuals.

  • 10.31.2009 10:39 PM PDT

Posted by: petarded2

Looks like someone read this month's issue of OXM.



You're good.

  • 10.31.2009 10:40 PM PDT
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I'm sure Reach will follow in the tradition of having the campaign look great and having the multiplayer take a hit in the graphics department to have split screen and all that good stuff, plus Bungie has already done 2 games this generation, and I'm sure they've learned new tricks and techniques to squeeze more out of the system while using less resources.

  • 10.31.2009 10:46 PM PDT

1.Arkham Asylum, 2.Mass Effect, 3.Halo CE, 4.Mass Effect 2, 5.Halo 2, 6.Splinter Cell Double Agent, 7.Gears of War 2, 8.Medievil, 9.Oblivion, 10.Crash Team Racing

Agreed. Graphics are just graphics and they get outdated anyways

I wonder if Reach could have 4 player offline campaign and firefight co-op if it had Halo2graphics. Easy "sacrifice" for me

Xbox1 gave us 4 controllers, system link and lots of games that support them. Now they went towards online "1 player per console" style

  • 11.01.2009 1:25 AM PDT
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Is it possible that they could turn some things off when playing with more people? Like how you can turn off certain effects on PC games if your PC is crappy.

I wonder how much it would help if they just took out all the glare/shiny reflective things.

  • 11.01.2009 1:30 AM PDT
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Posted by: Bobfather7
Agreed. Seeing the amount of people with 2+ guests in MM, I doubt they will take it out. I'm not worried because four player splitscreen is a major part of Halo's accessibility and Halo has always looked good without needing better graphics.


Exactly.

Halo: CE looked INCREDIBLE for its time. Same with Halo 2. Halo 3 wasn't as good as other game at its time, but it still had some jaw-dropping enviroments.

  • 11.01.2009 1:35 AM PDT

In Halo 3, when you play splistcreen, the maps' graphical detailedness is significantly reduced. Bungie knows how to do this.

  • 11.01.2009 5:34 AM PDT

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Your original post demonstrates a clear absence of the most basic understanding of computer graphics. You say that "A four player match needs to process four times the graphics". What the hell is that supposed to mean? What do you mean by graphics?

There are just as many pixels being shaded if we're rendering at the same resolution. DirectX doesn't know or care how many 'halo players' are in the viewport. There are many reasons it is more intensive to run a four player local game, for instance, there are now four viewing matrices that need to be multiplied and finally projected, but how can you say it "needs to process four times the graphics"? It is the most non-linear thing in the universe and depends on what the Bungie engineers do with their engine.

  • 11.01.2009 5:39 AM PDT