Video game developers, eager to please all consumers, are increasingly including features that let gamers play with or against their friends.
With Microsoft trying to convince people to plunk down $50 a year for its Xbox Live service, and Sony eyeing the sale of movies and music over its fledgling network, developers are under more pressure than ever to include some sort of online component.
The best-known example may be Microsoft's "Halo 3", but last week also saw the release of "The Orange Box" -- a collection of "Half-Life 2" content from Electronic Arts that includes a long-awaited multiplayer-only title called "Team Fortress 2". The week before that had the launch of "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" from Activision.
Yet for all the balanced play and refinement of a "Halo 3" or "Warhawk", sometimes you just want to dig in and work on a game by yourself.
Several recent and upcoming titles illustrate that solo gaming is still going strong.
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Later this month, owners of Sony's PlayStation 3 can get their hands on "Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction", the latest addition to one of Sony's most popular franchises.
Although some past titles starring the furry protagonist and his robotic sidekick let gamers play against each other, usage data showed something unexpected: only three percent of players bothered to try out that part of the game.
"It's something that can appeal to anybody and a lot of people just don't enjoy multiplayer," Brian Allgeier, lead designer on the series, said of the decision to focus on the single-player story.