I was worried that once I finished my work this semester, there would be too many games to play. Bittersweetly, the choice of which games to play is becoming easier everyday it seems. For instance today I read that the new Bond game I was anxious to play will not have any multiplayer component. Nice, check one off the list. I am sure I have mentioned this before but I enjoy socializing with others. When I say this I mean real tangible people that I know, not sidkid2349 and his/her whiny and vulgar friends.

To be sure I enjoy online gaming with my friends and I think it is a boon to the gaming experience, but it is foolhearty to drop the social aspect of games, especially in light of recent phenomena the Wii. There are some games out there still that embrace this approach, and there are even a few for this winter, but more and more abandon splitscreen/same screen coop and multiplayer vs. Does no one else find it ironic that devices like games and even cell phones, which were designed to increase socialization typically result in increased solitude? How many people play games at home, alone, with "others" on the internet. How many people do you see constantly on a phone even while at dinner with another person there.

Something else that disturbs me is that there are people out there who don't like split-screen or multiplayer optional games. I have encountered several here on GS who have said they hated those options. What in the world is going on. Seriously, has the state of our education sunken so low that this type of stupidity runs rampant. For heaven's sake it is an OPTION. You don't like the way split-screen shrinks your view or that other players keep you from moving on in a same screen game, then don't utilize the OPTION. How can you hate an option? How is that possible? I am not sure how it works but I think, perhaps, that some of these winners are now making games. I don't know, it's just a thought.

I hope that I am not the only one that laments this growing fad of less multiplayer options; or the only one who misses enjoying the company of friends while gaming. Maybe I will pick up golf or poker and leave gaming for those determined to live their lives alone with their virtual "friends." Whatever I decide to do I at least won't go broke this Christmas trying to play all the games I would like to.