Showing posts with label tablet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tablet. Show all posts

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Asymmetric Multiplayer

In my WiiU piece, I talked about how the new controller will allow for hidden information and asymmetric multiplayer opportunities. This has actually an idea that I've had on my mind for quite some time. Way back before the PS3 came out and and Starcraft: Ghost was actually still in development, I had an idea for a mixed mode RTS/FPS game where one player, using a PSP that was connected to the PS3 would control the RTS elements of play and the PS3 players would each take individual control of a unit on the battle field. Granted my idea was sloppy, but someone else has actually come up with a similar idea that should work out much better.

This idea has actually come to light in the form of Dust 514, a PS3 shooter that takes place in the persistent EVE Online universe. EVE players take control of the RTS elements and the Dust 514 players take control of individual soldiers.

At Nintendo's conference they showed a tech demo called Chase Mii where one player, using the tablet controller, is chased by the players that are using the Wii Remote. Because they are using the tablet controller, the location of the chased player can't be spotted by the other players. This solves 'screen looking.'

Up until now the significant majority of multiplayer games, both cooperative and competitive, have been symmetric, where each player plays the same way, has access to the same things, etc. So what are some ways that this new multiplayer paradigm can be leveraged?