Thanks, Chris. It is amazing how few games really seem designed for co-op play. The few that are out there tend to be quite popular. One of the big "surprises" you're going to hear in the 2nd part of my interview with Sean Cooper is that Syndicate was designed as a 4-player game. That's right--four players on a closed network going at it. Then for obvious reasons it was re-packaged for a single player.

I think there's always an expectation from developers that gamers won't buy a game that *requires* multiplayer, unless of course you're talking about networked play. Except for a few party games, almost everything is intended for a single player, with co-op grafted on as an after thought. I can't think of hardly any games (outside of networked ones) that require two or more players, except of course for player vs. player games. I guess it just got much easier with network options, but I just don't like playing with strangers and people I will never meet. Half the fun is being able to see and hear your partners--being in the same room or even on the same couch. Having them thousands of miles away behind a crummy headset (if that) just doesn't cut it.