A split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into adjacent parts, typically as two or four rectangular areas. This is done to allow the simultaneous presentation of related graphical and textual information on a computer display. TV Sports used this presentation methodology in the 1960s for instant replay. The original non-dynamic split screens differed from windowing systems in that the latter always allowed overlapping and freely movable parts of the screen to present related as well as unrelated application data to the user, while the former were strictly limited to fixed non-overlapping positions. The split screen technique can also be used to run two instances of an application, possibly with another user interacting with the other instance.
The :Category:Split-screen multiplayer games|split screen feature is commonly used in non-networked, also known as couch co-op, video games with multiplayer options. In its most easily understood form, a split screen for a two-player video game is an audiovisual output device where the display has been divided into two equally sized areas so that the players can explore different areas simultaneously without being close to each other. This has historically been remarkably popular on consoles, which until the 2000s did not have access to the Internet or any other network and is less common today with modern support for online console-to-console multiplayer support. Split screen is useful for people who want to play with other players, but with only one console. In recent years, split screen hasn't been used very often because the new frontier of video games is playing with other players online, without screen sharing.
History
Split screen gaming is said to have originated in the mid 1980's, there are no notable games that can be found to have it until 1991 when Lemming was released for Commodore's Amiga. It was the first Amiga game to support two simultaneous players with a split screen on the same computer while players used separate mice. However split screen gaming wasn't popularized until GoldenEye 007 in 1997, allowing players to take place in a four person deathmatch on the same screen. The game was said to begin a split screen craze. Continued in 2001 with on the XBOX, leading other shooters to pick up the trend, such as Gears of War and Call of Duty.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Users can see where the other players are while playing co-op
Users can communicate with the players who are near them
