A civilisation that can still seat two people on one sofa with one screen is in better shape than it looks. This sample essay is a small thank-you to split-screen — the unfashionable, local, slightly chaotic way of playing together.

A living-room couch and a second controller
The most luxurious hardware is a second pad.

A geek newspaper can say this without a culture war. Some Friday nights do not need a server. They need a cable, a spare controller, and a game that remembers the person sitting next to you.

A GPU lighting a living room
Native resolution, on the same sofa.

Split-Screen Saturdays Are Civilisation
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We will cover local multiplayer as hospitality. Drop-in that actually drops in. A campaign you can pause when the kettle boils. Difficulty that teaches instead of scolding. We will not invent outrage. We will not dunk on a named private developer.

Split-screen on a Saturday
Joy has a geography, and the geography is a room.

The Standard's Games desk is one rail on purpose. Sample copy, marked as such. Replace it when someone at the Host's house actually finishes a split-screen run.

A living-room tower at rest
A 240-hertz panel is not a number. It is a friendship.