Before many online video games, split screen played a big part in a majority of them. some games don't offer split screen at the expense of trying to prevent lag in servers and sometimes they can't do it due to memory restrictions.  
 
however this encourages lan partys and social gatherings. but sometimes it is downright annoying when you know a game could of had it. i'm sorry but even tho i have a high speed connection, i'd really like it if i could still invite friends over to play certain games. Because not everyone has internet and i used to be one of those people and i know what its like. 
  
i think its essential that game companys find some way to keep split screen in there as a alternative. because i believe it doesn't hurt anyone in the long run and it has been a standard for a long time. take it you don't look at there screen, its cool to only have the need to share one console and one tv. Not everyone enjoys plugs and television sets everywhere. 
 
For example, i own a video game that many of you probably haven't heard of. Its called tribes aerial assault. this game is on the Playstation 2 and i played this game when i was very young. it had around 16 players, now up to 32 players. And featured vehicles, weapons and expensive environments and had many multiplayer modes. no headset support, but that didn't matter much because i invited a friend over and we were able to work together as a team. We knew where each other's locations were and made it a lot less difficult. 
 
This was a short blog, but its bothering me because i am getting MAG for the playstation3 if any of you have heard of it. It doesn't support splitscreen, which i can understand to a degree. but developers need to knock it off already, they should at least try. After all, the game isn't the most beautiful considering the massive warfare the console has to support to prevent lag.

Split screen is over. This isn't 1998 anymore. We have the internet.

" Split screen is over. This isn't 1998 anymore. We have the internet. "

Split screen works when there's a mode designed specifically it. A great example is the spec-ops mode in MW2 which I found to be by far the best part of the game due to the split screen capabilities. Sure, I can play that mode online, but for a game like that split screen is just way more fun.  
 
I don't think developers should just throw split screen in there because Ted in marketing says he needs co-op on the back of the box - it needs to be there for a design reason, preferably with it's own mode. When it works, it's great. When it doesn't, it's just another feature I'll never touch. 

Just a note here: Borderlands splitscreen will make anyone still loving local play kill themselves.

yes, i do agree, they still need split screen. it is something that just needs to hang in there. some other countries out there have bad internet so they most likely enjoy playing split screen. i do some times split screening with a friend.

I enjoy playing split-screen games because I like being physically around my friends.  For some reason that defies logic, it's often easier for people to convene at my house and play MW2 than it is to coordinate a time where everybody gets online at the same time.  Split-screen also lets me play MW2 with my friends who don't have it.  I'm happy that MW2 added a leveling system to split-screen and allowed people to use their XBL account level in split-screen...but I'm hoping that we'll eventually get split-screen system link.
 
I hate that I'm locked into playing Halo 3 whenever I get 6-8 people at my house, all wanting to shoot things.

  Split screen is over. This isn't 1998 anymore. We have the internet.

Split screen in the traditional sense is dead.  If I am over someone's house and they offer to play something like a shooter split screen, I usually just decline. Though a game like Little Big Planet,Marvel Ultimate Alliance, or something along those lines, where you are able to get a group together and play together without having to deal with a smaller screen, I am all for.

Screw all the ppl who say screw split screen. I have a lot of friends (in fact most of my friends) who don't own consoles and don't play games (i don't count the wii) so when they come over and when we play halo or something with the consoles we do have split screen and system link is what we do. Split screen is fun as hell. Sitting next to someone so you can scream at them when u kill them, or swear at them when they kill u is pretty much awesome and just doesn't have the same feel as playing online. I just hope developers like Bungie continue to remember that a lot of hardcore gamers have a lot of non gamer friends who actually like playing games casually.

It's funny how splitscreen was all the rage when the TVs were SD and generally smaller. Now we have huge HD screens and people whine about the viewing space.

" Split screen is over. This isn't 1998 anymore. We have the internet. "

" Just a note here: Borderlands splitscreen will make anyone still loving local play kill themselves. "

I love split-screen.
 
Personally, I wish that more games had Halo 3 capabilities, where four people could be on one console split-screen, while also playing online with 12 others or what-have-you. That's where most of my fun times on Halo have come from.

" Split screen is over. This isn't 1998 anymore. We have the internet. "

Splitscreen is for poor people.  LOL, just kidding.
 
Generally from what I have seen, the PS3 doesn't do as much support for splitscreen in games.  Some its understandable like uncharted, but others like Killzone, its weird.  Sure graphics, but really?  You got other games with amazing graphics that do it. 
 
I love split screen because I can try out a game my friend has before buying it myself.  I have been convinced buy a lot of games that way.  But my dream...
Instead of splitscreen, you have split outputs.  4 HDMI outputs, so that the game system puts out 4 signals to 4 different TVs.  Think about how badass that would be.  Yes...  ok ok impossible because the system would fully render 4 screens.  But when processing power is as abundant as air, I will be the one who thought of it first.

@TheHBK:

I remember the PS3 was initially designed to do multiple outputs but they scrapped it early on in the process.
@deusdigit:

We are brothers in arms, i love split screen and i wish i could see it implemented more. Nothing beats that personal interaction of you and your friends fighting it out or playing Co-op. I used to play an unhealthy amount of Golden eye, and i was pretty damn good at it too, even then when my friends would win sometimes you could see the elation in their faces, while their up on their feat making weird pelvic thrusts. God i miss them days, you know what FUCK THE INTERNET.

I see no reason to keep split screen.

Split screen is awesome and eff you if you don't think so.

i only play coop splitscreen and when i had an original xbox i would always play my neighbor in halo 2, good times!

Split screen must go on. Just because some you hate social interaction don't mean I do.

I think the developers just need to be smart about it. MAG is the very last game I would expect to have split screen, as the very nature of the game is based online. However something like Left 4 Dead (not sure if the sequel corrects this) should totally feature 4 player splitscreen co-op. Not everyone is financially capable of this I suppose, but generally my friends provide for their own console and we have a few televisions in the same room. Just as social with none of the BS.

split screen is definitely awesome. Sadly I dont play much anymore because I have been transforming into a PC gamer, but I always have a friend to LAN party with anyways =D

I have not seen a good execution of split-screen in a long time. It's better to just have your friend bring his console to you and hook them up. Then it's still personal.

I really like splitscreen still since most of my friends live close to me, specifically my best friend is a 5 minute walk, so we often hang out in my room playing games. I dont have the room for another console and TV (even temporarily) and he dosent want to carry a console around with him so when we play games its usually co-op but also versus splitscreen and its a whole lot of fun. Just because we both have internet dosent mean we want to play games far away from each other, though there are times when its easier to play over the internet, there are times when I want to see him sat next to me, to laugh we unexpected kills or other things which can be approximated online but cant be equal to the physical expression of a friend. I am all for more splitscreen, especially in co-op games, and im sad to see it going just because we have the internet.

I enjoy me some splitscreen, though I caved and bought another 360 at some point to take advantage of System Link.
Sucks cause I gotta buy two copies of whatever game I intend to play over it, but what can ya do?
As long as it's got some form of local multiplayer I'm cool, I shouldn't have to be online to play with a dude that's right next to me.

Splitscreen is only fun if you've got a beamer and a good, nice wall to project the image on.
 
On a single TV, splitscreen is crap, and I will always prefer playing co-op or competitive multiplayer over XBL/PSN.

As much as I love a good split-screen game, and despite the fact that I have zero interest in online multiplayer... split-screen isn't essential. Sad, yes, but that's just the way it is. The kids these days don't care about split-screen, and the few that do aren't enough to make developers go "Dude, we have to implement a split-screen mode in this game".

I feel that there is nothing like playing or beating ur friends when they are physically there. When you hear everyone just cursing and swearing and laughing at the same time it's fantastic. That's why there are still LAN parties. This is why splitscreen should still exist. It's a way more convenient LAN party, where instead of people coming over with huge boxes of machinery, everyone just gets a controller. And, you know what? When I'm actually playing splitscreen, I am not bothered by the size of my screen because I'm having so much fun. That's just my two cents on this.

Splitscreen can be fun in certain games. I´d rather play online too but the lag on my modem(!) is just, just, total a big pile of monkey shit. I´ve tried it and it actually does work but not worth it at all. 
 
So up until I (as egotistical that might sound) get broadband available at my house I´ll vote for splitscreen