It’s often debated among gamers and journalists about the importance of a single-player component with a multiplayer feature, or a multiplayer online component without split-screen. Either way, everyone agrees that playing together is a heck of a lot more fun than playing alone.

This topic centers around Paul Brucato’s article on Platform Nation regarding the enhancement of fun for many games due to the ability to play the game online. Cooperative play was a big selling point for Crackdown, has been deemed one of the only good things about Resident Evil 5 (next to the graphics), and Halo 3’s campaign was pointless, boring and worthless without the four-player co-op feature.

The highlight of the article is that gamers can see gaming differently with the addition of multiplayer cooperative features, even for games that would otherwise deserve bargain-bin treatment from the outset (i.e., every EA Sports game released). A tolerable multiplayer component can easily change how gamers play a bad game, and it can make a great game nearly perfect. Both Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2 featured cooperative features that are landmarks of fun, and in return benefited from notable sales.

You can check out Platform Nation’s article for the full scoop. For more info, news, updates and media regarding the latest gaming titles, be sure to stay tuned in with Blend Games.