What is the deal with Call of Duty system link?
CoD4 is an amazing game. I may like it more than Halo 3. But when it comes time to system link, we always end up playing Halo 3.
On both CoD2 and CoD4, if you do a system link match, the host console can only support one player. Every other console, up to 4. But that means that with two consoles, you can only have five players. Compare with Halo, where you can have 8 players play with two consoles.
I find it hard to believe this is a feature. If it limited you to one player per Xbox, then maybe, just maybe, I would believe that this was on purpose, on the grounds that split-screen multiplayer is inferior to online or system link. But that isn’t the case. It limits you to one player on the host console, and then up to 4 players on the other console(s). That can’t possibly be on purpose.
But then that leaves us with, what… a bug? But I find that equally hard to believe that a bug this significant has survived three iterations of the game, unfixed. Especially in the age of next-gen consoles, where patches can be distributed over the internet.
I’ve scoured the internet. There is no fix, this happens to everyone who has an Xbox 360 (although, I’ve heard mixed reports that this actually works on a PS3; can anyone verify this?), and nobody is happy about it.
So what the hell is going on here, Infinity Ward?
Actually, you know what? I don’t really care. Just get off your asses and fix this. If not in a CoD4 patch, than in CoD5. There is no reason for this to go on. Myself and many other gamers will be grateful that we can finally have CoD LAN parties. Because CoD fucking kicks ass. But this whole system link bullshit does not.
December 12th, 2007 | Gaming
How did you get 5 people to play over system link? i was only able to get one person on each screen.
Comment by Alex — January 16, 2008 @ 4:55 pm