Is local multiplayer still important?

One of the sentiments frequently expressed on the Bombcast that always surprises me, is that local multiplayer features such as split-screen and bot support are somehow outdated. To me, this is rather shocking. Making the argument that online play has made local multiplayer obsolete seems akin to arguing that social networking has made hanging out with friends obsolete. I'm not alone in this am I? How do the people of Giant Bomb feel about the state of local multiplayer in video games?

If you look at the number of split screeners in Black Ops, Halo Reach, Left 4 Dead, etc.  Clearly local MP is still very important to a lot of people.

College dorms is why split-screen is still relevant in my mind.

Yes, there need to be more local multiplayer games.

Local multiplayer games are 
 

so much

Nothing beats sitting on a couch, drinking some beer and playing games with friends. So yeah, still important to me.

Absolutely, I wouldn't have enjoyed Gears 2 nearly as much if it didn't include splitscreen for both the campaign and horde. Same with Portal 2 or, you know, every fighting game ever made (though, that is admittedly a different example).

Depends on the Genre I think. 
For example, Fighting Games still have huge local gaming scenes.

I am gonna add a fighting game perspective to this conversation. 
 
Nothing online even "lagless" programs such as GGPO cannot emulate the accuracy and feel of a guy next to you or on the other side of a monitor screen concentrating what combo should be performed.

Hell-fucking-yes it is.  I appreciate a well implemented split-screen co-op mode more than I do an online multi-player mode.  It's much more fun to have a friend over and play with them than to play with random dudes online.

I personally don't think its very important, but thats probably because I don't live in a college dorm or know a lot of people who play games who live near me.

Local multiplayer is definitely important! For the sole reason of sitting around playing with your friends, the non-on-line type!

Simple answer, yes. Local MP games are still hella important.

I am gonna add a fighting game perspective to this conversation.  Nothing online even "lagless" programs such as GGPO cannot emulate the accuracy and feel of a guy next to you or on the other side of a monitor screen concentrating what combo should be performed.

Absolutely. Playing Borderlands in splitscreen (which was admittedly still kinda clumped together with the cutting of the screen, and made navigating the menus cumbersome) is some of the best cooperative gaming I've had in ages. 
 
The more games that allow split-screening online the better as well. Mighty chuffed that Uncharted 3's adding in that mechanic.

Not for me it's not. Though I miss the days hanging out with the guys playing Soul Calibur or Tekken 3 whilst getting high and listening to good music and drinking a beer.
 
Good times with local multiplayer indeed.

My son local co-ops when he has friends over, and I like to be able get multiplayer achievements by myself when I can.

It's not as important as it once was obviously, but still very nice to have. Plenty of modern games benefit greatly from local multiplayer. I probably would've never played Gears of War 2 if it didn't have split screen coop for example. 

I love the good multiplayer. Have a hard time putting up with split screen these days, so it has to be integrated into the game in a seamless way on the same screen. It's the only way to get my wife to game with me if she can be on the same "team" 

It's important to me. I shouldn't have to be online to play with the guy right next to me. Or a room over. Whatever the case may be.
Doesn't necessarily have to be splitscreen. Can be system link. Heck in some cases it'd be preferable.
Not a huge fan of having to buy two copies of  a game, but Saints Row 2 and Crackdown were fun enough to be worth it I think.

only in fighting games.

I had some of my best gaming moments in local multiplayer and I don't think online can achieve the same thing. I do see how it's more convenient, though. 
So yea, go local!

Played some yesterday, good as ever.

I still play split-screen all the time.

I certainly don't oppose games haveing split screen multiplayer but it's not as important to me now as it used to be when i was 15-16. Espeically now that i've moved out of my home state I have no use for SS gaming.

Nothing beats sitting on a couch, drinking some beer and playing games with friends. So yeah, still important to me.

yes, it's still good to do that. it's just something good doing it with friends. it's good when there are a bunch of people around to play. a little outdated but playing halo 2 split screen was awesome when i did that.

College dorms is why split-screen is still relevant in my mind.

Split-Screen Online Play. Being able to play 4 player split-screen online is awesome.
That's what makes Halo so damn great. More games need to do this.

Jeff, in particular, is crazy. Nothing will ever beat local MP for video games. Having the person in the same room doubles the amount of enjoyment (at least for me, personally) for any game. I hate winning a round online and finding that no one even saw, because they were texting after they died.  
 
Also, I hate online. I understand that some people don't have easy access to a good splitscreen session, but people online are jerks. I'd rather just play with bots (and I do).

I use local multiplayer more than I do online multiplayer, I prefer it in fact.. It's more fun when you're playing a game with a person in the same room as you.

Not to me in the slightest, but I can see someone with friends or brothers/sisters that are around a lot would want it.

I think it's still pretty important.

Local MP is the only MP I care about.

I think so yes. Growing up in a full house it was important to rent games that me and my siblings could all play. To this day my friends and I still like to get together to play some Mario Kart 64. Good times
 
We even still like having a LAN game with our lap tops to play some old school PC games like Age of Empires 2 or the Original Dungeon Seige.

I wouldn't say they are relevant, but they are fun. Almost always the mainstay of LAN parties I go to. 
 
Then again, you could argue that LAN parties are Local Multiplayer as well. 

Local MP is the only MP I care about.

Local MP is very important to me, I know Jeff does not care much to play games with his friends and rather takes it online. 
 
Me, I prefer to play with my mates or my GF rather than a random stranger on xbox live.

Well, the Wii didn't sell 12 billion units based on it's cutting edge hardware.  So I'd say there's still a market for playing together on the same screen.  Personally, I'm part of that market.  It sucks when you're hanging out with a friend and want to play a game, then realize that playing together requires one of you to leave.

Local multiplayer has seemingly been forgotten. I love playing co-op when my friends come over, but often enough the co-op is almost always online only.

Playing with your friends in split screen is so much better than playing with them online despite the fact you get only a half screen.

For some games.  I think a game like Battlefield 3 can still be huge without local multiplayer, but a game like Mario Kart would not. 

No. I'm an adult. I don't really even know anyone who games (much less on the same platform, same genre of games, same time of day/week). I absolutely don't know anyone that I would invite over to my house to sit on the couch and play videogames with and even if I did know someone, I wouldn't invite them. It was a big deal in the late nineties, but that was a very long time ago. If we're talking about split-screen stuff rather than LAN stuff, then an even more vociferous "no". The last thing I want to do is turn my 65" screen into a pair of deformed 30" screens.

For us gamers, yes; for game companies, no.

I think they're speaking very much from their own perspective on LAN/Split-screen gaming. As older (I'm talking 30+) guys living in a country with good online penetration it is certainly easy to dismiss LAN as no longer needed, LAN is very much centred around a younger demographic. I remember a few years back when my and my mates would regularly have games nights where we'd have a few beers and play LAN/Split-screen games like CoD4, PES, Burnout and Top Spin. 

Nothing beats sitting on a couch, drinking some beer and playing games with friends. So yeah, still important to me.

I think the importance of it has been greatly diminished with the rise of online multiplayer, but I believe local multiplayer is still important. Having someone in the physical space around you when playing a game with them is a very different experience than just playing with them over the internet.