The PS2, Party Games and Multitaps

[Sad_Genius]

I'm interested in how many PS2 owners actually have a multitap (it seems like few do) and what games they tend to play with it if they do. Do you think that consoles with four controller ports naturally encourage social gaming, or is it that DC, NGC and XB games have better multiplayer modes - Do you think a killer ap for multiplayer gaming on the PS2 could make you buy a multitap (they're quite expensive...)

Any thoughts very much appreciated.

-Martyn

[Oh! My Car!]

even the SNES had a multi-tap, but Sony's decision to leave the PS with only 2 ports so they can rake in more money from multi-taps was stupid, meaning less PS games are made for multi player......Timesplitters 2 is a good game on GC, so it may be good for 4 player on PS but i think a real party game would be something more like dance dance revolution or one of those weird but fun dance games, i don't know tho

[Hitcher]

And another thing, why cant you use the PlayStation multi-tap on the PS2?

[Lebowski]

i cant be bothered with ps2 multitaps as four on one screen always seems to much for me, apart from goldeneye or iss i dont think ive evere found the need to have 4 playes on one console,

any way paying ?30 plus for something that should of been built in is a con imo.

[2 Point]

Don't own a multitap, likewise I only have two controllers for my XBox. Social gaming doesn't necesarily equate to using all ports at once. Time trials and challenges are just as entertaining. One aspect of head to head gaming is the differnce in skill level, ie if it's my game/console I'm more likely to whip my mate who only has a PS1 or a DC.

I play 95%+ of my games solo, I'm quite happy with two ports and see no requirement to ever use four.

[Sad_Genius]

What about the rest of you - regularly get down with four playrs on yr Dreamcast, X-Box or Cube?

Reckon/should PS3 have four ports?

[Brats]

Not all four player means the screen will be split four ways. Virtua Tennis and Monkey Fight both use exactly the same screen size whether two or four people are playing. Four player VT is just gaming heaven.

The new Four Swords on the GC looks a scream too. few had the chance to experience the GBA version, but it was a absolute hoot.

I love party style games as I'm always getting together with my mates for big gaming seshes. I don't own a PS2 multi-tap though, because I don't know of any decent games that use it that aren't available on other systems.

Are there any that I'm not aware of?

[Papercut]

I'm interested in how many PS2 owners actually have a multitap (it seems like few do) and what games they tend to play with it if they do. Do you think that consoles with four controller ports naturally encourage social gaming, or is it that DC, NGC and XB games have better multiplayer modes - Do you think a killer ap for multiplayer gaming on the PS2 could make you buy a multitap (they're quite expensive...)

I have a PS2 multi tap which I bought for Frequency, but the split screen in that is a bit awful. It's finally found a use with Amplitude, not split screen. So thats two games there, Brats

The PS2 multi tap is ridiculously expensive too. If they were ?10-?15 a lot more people might pick one up. I'm the only person I know that owns one.

A console needs to have the extra ports built in for developers to seriously consider making use of them. The GameCube, N64 and Dreamcast all have many more multi player games per release available, just because the extra ports are there.

The closest thing the PS2 has to a Killer App for the multi tap is time splitters 1/2, but that doesn't seem to have convinced many people to go out and buy one.

Even with the PS2 multi tap, when friends are round we barely touch the PS2 because the 4 player games just aren't there.

A console with the extra ports built in definately encourages social gaming.

If you're interested, Beach Spikers (GC), Virtua Tennis 2 (DC), Super Monkey Ball 1/2 (GC) and Mario Party tend to get the most multi playing for me, with a little bit of Halo and Time Splitters 2 (if someone brings one, I don't own it) thrown in.

[Papercut]

And another thing, why cant you use the PlayStation multi-tap on the PS2?

Because Sony insisted on having memory card slots built into the multi tap. A PS2 multi tap needs to have the expensive-sounding magic gate decryption hardware built in to handle the 8Mb PS2 memory cards, as well as being back compatible with psone memory cards.

On top of that, I think you still need a psone multi tap to play psone multi player games. I'm not 100% certain about that though.

Silly really, having three extra memory cards is of almost no use whatsoever. I remember it was intended that each player would have his own character on his own memory card, but I can't think of a single PS2 game that does this.

I reckon if they dropped the Memory Card slots they could 1/2 the cost of a Multi Tap.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Don't own a multi-tap for the PS2 due to, primarily, the ridiculous price as Papercut mentioned, but also the games that support it compared to dedicated ones like Super Smash Bros seem to be precious few. It does seem like a pretty silly move by Sony not to have four controller ports, as this means most Devs have automatically discounted decent four-player modes whereas on the XBox and GC they are taken as the norm.

Memory card slots in the multitap........what the bloody hell is that all about then?

[Dunedin397]

I actually don't mind using a multi-tap but I would like to have seen the PS2 with 4 controller ports & memory card slots as standard.

What I do like about the multi-tap for the PSX\PSone is that instead of having 4 controllers plugged directly into the console, the controllers plugged into the multi-tap on the floor & then there was a single connection to the console. This allows the players to position themselves better as their controllers don't have to connect all the way to the console.

This is fine on the PSX or PSone (or the PS2 with PSX\PSone games) but not with the multi-tap for the PS2.

I just don't like the desing of the PS2 multi-tap. The lead is way too short & I've never seen an extension cable for it. I would have preferred a design that mimicked the PS2 (as do some 3rd party multi-taps do).

What's odd about the PSX\PSone multi-tap is that it connects to the controller port only, yet it can read the memory cards. The PS2 multi-tap connects to both the controller port & the memory card slot.

Don't Quake 3: Revolution, Unreal Tournament, TimeSplitters & TimeSplitters 2 use the multi-tap & its memory card slots?

Dunedin397

[Papercut]

I just don't like the desing of the PS2 multi-tap. The lead is way too short & I've never seen an extension cable for it. I would have preferred a design that mimicked the PS2 (as do some 3rd party multi-taps do).

I think the short lead is also down to the PS2 memory cards, to cut down on interference. The data is sent at rather a high speed, and so I imagine the interface technology was built without thinking about having to pipe that data down a cable. Thats just a guess though.

What's odd about the PSX\PSone multi-tap is that it connects to the controller port only, yet it can read the memory cards. The PS2 multi-tap connects to both the controller port & the memory card slot.

Thats because the memory card and controller ports on the psone are part of the same data bus. The pins for controller port 1 and memory card slot 1 on a psone are actually connected together, and the psone requests a specific device when probing the bus. Ports 1 and 2 are two separate data buses.

This would, for example, allow you to easily add a memory card slot to a psone controller, but I've never seen anyone do that (other than the psone multi tap, which is effectively a clever controller). Perhaps that was the original intention.

The PS2 memory cards are a different technology, so thats why the PS2 multi tap needs to connect to both.

Don't Quake 3: Revolution, Unreal Tournament, TimeSplitters & TimeSplitters 2 use the multi-tap & its memory card slots?

Yeah, but there is no real need for the extra memory card slots.

[saif]

I've got a tap for the PSone and the PS2. Am I sad? Maybe. I have an offial PS1 tap but a 3rd party PS2 tap cos they are expensive. The PS2 one (!) was a tenner so not extortionate. And seeing as the pads themselves are cheaper its not too bad.
But Smash Court Tennis four player is fantastic on the PSone as is bomberman micromachines etc.

There is a game on PS2 that is four player and "quite good". Thats Winning Eleven. Takes a while to get used to having team mates but then......
The benefit of the multitap is EIGHT player. Two taps. Nice.
I'm not sure what the best thing is really, obviously there are less "multi" plaayer games on the PS2 and having four ports does make devs think automatically of the fact that there are 4 players possibly. With the PS2 being so very popular, it does mean that I only have to buy 2 pads and then get people to bring theirs. Thats handy for costs and space! But then the tap costs and takes space.

[Muz]

I've got a ps2 multitap and it is regularly used for the likes of Winning 11 6 FE and Virtua Tennis 2. I know that most people prefer to buy the official stuff but i bought a 3rd party multitap around 2 and a half years ago and i have had any probs with it so far. 5 player winning 11 is absolute heaven... The tap cost me ?15...

[roobarb]

I have a multitap for both PS1 and PS2 - used the PS1 multitap regularly for micro machines, micro maniacs, and that mario kart ripoff whatever it's called

On the PS2, we only play 2+ players on timesplitters when doing a hub evening and that is set up with max two players per PS2/screen. Apart from TS, the multitap has never been used, apart from a couple of goes on ATV Offroad. We tried various 4 player games at a mates house which he picked up cheap, including twisted metal, fur fighters, and to be honest they were all completely boring

On the gamecube, we regularly use 4 controllers for SMB minigames, and have occasionally done a quick blast on waverace - but now the novelty of SMB has worn off we are still waiting on the next properly good 4 player game on that format as well.

Don't have an Xbox yet, but if I did I can't think of anything I would want to play 4 player on it.

IMO 4 player games without the need for split screen are the way to go - monkey fight, micro maniacs etc.