Despite its obvious lean towards supporting online video gaming, the Xbox One will still support local multiplayer in a very big way. The Xbox One’s Wireless Controller’s pre-order page recently went live on the the official Xbox website, and it confirms that up to eight can be supported at a single time.
The news comes as a shock seeing as how local multiplayer hasn’t been a focus of Microsoft’s since the original Xbox, and even then it was a pioneer in LAN gaming. I remember those 16 player Halo matches in my college dorm floor back during freshman year, and they were awesome. A combination of split screen and four consoles made it possible.
Even Nintendo’s Wii U console only supports a single one of its gaming pads at a time, alongside four more classic controllers, and Nintendo is generally given credit for being the reason people still play multiplayer locally.
This begs a question: how many games will actually require eight controllers at once? It’s unlikely that any of the big AAA studios are going to break the current online gaming mold in favor of creating a game which supports eight gamers on a single couch.
Is this a bragging rights perk and nothing more, or do you believe Microsoft has a big game up its sleeve that will actually support such an idea?
The Wireless Controller also supports a range of up to 30 feet.
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