If there’s one element that is least appreciated in video games, it’s the subtleties that go into making the game world seem real and believable. Little pieces of scenery that, while essentially make the world less boring to look at, typically exist to make up the history of the world. It goes without saying that games like Tetris or the original Mario Brothers are going to have close to no scenic backstory. Unless of course you wish to think that shortly being forced by cruel King Bowser to build a bridge over a lake of lava, the poor mistreated contract workers created the “A.X.E.” mechanism in their one and only act of defiance in attempt to rid the world of the greatest threat to civilization.

See what I did there? I helped fill in some backstory with just a little graphical information and some imagination. Albeit it’s completely over-thought and suggests that I’m potentially retarded, but I digress.
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There is a pretty heinous trend that seems to be appearing more and more in this next-gen era, and it has already started to destroy some potential good times. I am referring to the fact that games these days are starting to avoid or limit one-console multiplayer for the ability to play online with friends.

In particular, I must bring up Left 4 Dead.

Picture renting the game with the intent of making a weekend of it. You tell your friends to come over Saturday night for beers and zombies. Truly it will be an event that the gods themselves might envy. You set up, every-one’s settled in, you turn on your console and… you come to find out that you can only have two players per console. The rest of the night everyone is arguing about whose turn it is.
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