I think you should be aware that in developing a game like this, LAN play is there from the beginning. They are turning it off as an anti-piracy measure. It makes as much sense as disallowing a person to play Street Fighter IV against player 1 with controller 2, but instead requiring online play. LAN play is NORMAL, REGULAR, ACCEPTABLE use.

Starcraft 1 may have been pirated, but it has to give much thanks to LAN play for helping to give the game its foothold in gaming culture. You hear about how South Korea has major events based on Starcraft play. The game has a rich past in their gaming culture, and I believe it wouldn't have been nearly as deep rooted if it didn't have LAN play. Sure it was pirated there as well, but the game's pervasiveness contributed to many, many sales.

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At the same time, and perhaps it's just me, most households (especially those with computer gamers within) have access to the internet now; it seems like if a group of friends wanted to play under the same roof they could just do it online.

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Not if you have to sign into battle net in order to set up a LAN match. I don't understand why they didn't just think to do that.

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Screw local gaming! Online games are here to permanently stay! Why would anybody have friends for when you can listen to obnoxious 12 year olds online?

But to be serious, why screw local gaming for? Sometimes you just want to sit back and relax and unplug your friend's controller next to you, assuming they still have it wired. There is absolutely no reason why local and LAN isn't supported. The games can handle all of that. Even Call of Duty 4 and WaW has to be on private Xbox Live connections during MLG play.

I am guessing that's why the Wii is the winner of this generation. Why play against random 12 year olds to make them whine when you can do that to your 12 year old cousin and make him whine?

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How else is someone truly going to know who is #1 solo on a game? We all know who is #1 on a multiplayer game but not singleplayer game.

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