Disclaimer: Rumor Killers is a speculative opinion piece and is by no means intended to disclose as fact whether a rumor is true or false - even though the Rumor Killers team are usually right (usually...)

It looks like multiplayer gaming has gone and exploded, what with rumors of four sequels to big single player franchises offering either online co-operative or multiplayer modes. Avoiding my anti-social gamer bias which desperately wants to shout "Oi – Multiplayer Gaming – NOOO!" at the propositions, let’s see just how plausible these rumors actually are.

God of War 3 Co-op?

It’s a slightly tenuous one to begin with. There have been rumors circulating of a co-op mode being added to God of War 3. These started thanks to an eagle eyed writer from TheGamerAccess noticing Sony’s Retail Loyalty site suggesting co-op mode will be included. The Sony site educates retail employees about upcoming products so it does seem a little strange for Sony to spread misinformation about such a highly anticipated game. However, this does raise a couple of questions: what character would be used alongside Kratos, and if trye why has this not been mentioned before?

Sony has beenquick to dispel the rumors with SCEA representative Eric Levine stating its falsity, but things shouldn’t stop there. After all, only eight months ago were we told that the God of War Collection wasn’t going to happen, and we all know how that one worked out.

Having said that, I think this time round Sony is correct in saying that there won’t be an online co-op mode. It all seems ltoo vague to be true. Besides the problems of just who the second character would be, it’s difficult to understand why has there been no coverage of this co-op mode before? The game is only months away from launch and there’s been plenty of coverage so far; surely details would have emerged much earlier. Don’t get your hopes up God of War fans.

Jen’s Verdict: False 

BioWare co-op games?In a very surprising twist, it’s looking like BioWare is considering adding co-operative and/or multiplayer features to future Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles. BioWare co-founder and CEO Dr Ray Muzyka stated in an interview last week that it is considering such plans in the hope that it "could make a great gameplay experience". Role-playing game fans have no reason to fear yet as Muzyka went on to say, "it’s hard to weave a great single-player storyline into a multiplayer experience. It’s not impossible. We’ve done it, and we’re doing it again now in Star Wars: The Old Republic. But it is challenging." This suggests that BioWare do appreciate that tacking on multiplayer modes is not always a good idea.

The rumors are nothing new with many sites reporting last year that Mass Effect 2 would have online co-op modes and possibly even a competitive online mode, but I’d say it’s looking a lot more likely for future BioWare titles now. There’s no question that more online co-op modes are appearing more, what with the likes of the Call of Duty series, Left 4 Dead, Gears of War and Borderlands successfully jumping on the bandwagon. So why shouldn’t an RPG join in with the fun? The potential is there considering RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age involve a number of significant characters, all of which could potentially be controlled by another person. The party system that BioWare is so fond of could tie in with a co-op mode perfectly. Perhaps each player could control a number of party characters at once, or it might be a matter of dropping in and out of a game with your own main character from the single player mode. There’s certainly a lot of scope here that BioWare would do well to exploit.

The cynic in me is unsure how a genre which focuses so much on narrative can succeed when played with another person, but no one can argue that Bioware aren’t the best people for the job. They succeeded with such a mode in Neverwinter Nights so I’m sure some adaption could make the likes of Mass Effect and Dragon Age succeed admirably. Innovation is the way forward in this industry.

Jen’s Verdict: True (but don’t expect to see it any time soon)