The death of local multiplayer.

Back in olden times, if a game had multiplayer, it meant that you could play with your buddies in the room, plain and simple. If you saw screen shots of a game in a magazine or online, you could tell if a game had multiplayer or not.

Super Mario Kart has always had local multiplayer.

One gaming trend that I'm quite tired of is the omission of local co-op and multiplayer from games. Certain game genres have always been just for the single player, like RPG's, more complex action side-scrollers, and strategy games. When I see these games, I'm not overly-disappointed that local co-op or local multiplayer is absent. However, there was a time when I could assume that if I was picking up a racing game, I'd be able to play it with a friend in the same room. This is no longer the case, as there are numerous racing games where the multiplayer is online only. I don't see any reason why nearly all first person shooters can't be splitscreen. 

I just recently read that the new Tony Hawk HD game is going to omit splitscreen play due to a "lack of time to develop it." I'm no programmer, but for the most part, it seems like you just shrink the screen in half and for some games you tone down the graphical quality, speed of the game, and/or the framerate. If people had to choose between having local multiplayer that isn't perfect or having nothing at all, they will likely choose the local multiplayer. Why is it so hard? Part of me wonders if it is a result of not just laziness, but also greed. If I have to shell out $60.00 for a new racing game that I want to play with a friend, he/she has to also shell out $60.00 for the game as well. If we're playing on an online service with a subscription fee (shame on you Microsoft), it means we both have to pay that as well. This is before even thinking about games with required add-ons like additional maps/characters/etc. to play, which means we have to buy those as well. The cost to play a $60 game with my friend is now looking like it's $150+.

Burnout is a series that has REMOVED local multiplayer. 

The fact that I have to actually consult a website before purchasing a game to find if I can play local co-op or not is silly, and I have to do it more and more often. Although I am still disappointed with Nintendo's Wii in that it lacks the graphical capabilities of the other current gen consoles, I praise it because it is a system where there are a number of games that can be played in the same room as your friends. There are numerous Wii titles that not only offer 2-player, but 4-player local multiplayer. Now, if the "inferior" Wii can do it, there's no reason these other current gen consoles can't do it more often. Game developers just don't want to do it, and it is a stupid choice.