Weekend Confirmed 109 - Prey 2, Trials Evolution, Fez, God of War: Ascension

Keep co-op as far as possible from God of War Ascension. I'm tired of hearing that single player games need to have multiplayer functionality crammed into them (co-op included). From my experience, there has never been a single player, story-driven game that has had its narrative improve by the addition of co-op. The gameplay may become easier, but the belief in the game world suffers horribly.

In order to fully experience a game, novel, movie or play, suspension of disbelief is critical. In essence the audience reaches a point where they forget that they are consuming a given medium, and simply become part of the world. In games, adding another person invariably breaks this suspension, as they will not be "acting the part" required of them at all times. Factor in voice chat, and things get worse. I can't count the number of times that I've tried to play online and had any one of the following:

-Random mic noise
-Eating/drinking sounds
-Screaming children
-The stereotypical 12-year old, whose vocabulary is composed entirely of variants of "Fuck!"
-Phone conversations!!!

Can you imagine things like this in a movie? Picture Colin Firth (as King George VI) stopping in the middle of his address to have a phone conversation with his wife... Now picture him tea-bagging some random cast members, randomly jumping around the screen, and occasionally just freezing for a few minutes at a time (the reason why I now only play Journey offline). The intended narrative is ruined, and this is what you want for God of War?

Correction, this is probably not what you want from God of War, but it's what you're going to get. Suspension of disbelief is a fragile thing, and even playing with friends can destroy its grip on the player.

It surprises me that Jeff is the one to suggest co-op so often.Given his love of films, he should recognize that breaking the fourth wall is something that must be done with great care, and under tightly controlled conditions for it to work. It doesn't work for many stories using film, and it wouldn't work for many games if they want to tell a crafted narrative. The kind of narrative that has personified God of War.