Working Title 12.21.06: Hyped - Halo 3
Posted by Jordan Williams on 12.21.2006
Last week I said that SSBB was just plain 'hyped' and gave Sonic a peice of my mind. This week we get a return of some feedback, I talk about games that are just plain 'hyped', and I see what is the fate of Halo 3. Did Gears of War steal it's thunder? Man, I hate having short columns.
Welcome back to the #1 Column read by people voted "Most Likely to write an online column about video games", Working Title!
Last week we had the first edition of HYPED where I determined that Super Smash Brothers Brawl wasn't being overhyped, nor was it being underhyped. It simply was just hyped. We all know what we are getting, and don't expect too much more.
This week might be a different story, this week we talk about Microsoft's own version of video game Jesus.
This week we talk about Halo 3.
The first two games were overhyped, not bad games by any means, but they really got a little bit more praise than they deserved. Will they finally slow the Hype Train down when it comes to this one? You'll find out later in the column when I break it down...but first...
The Return of Feedback
Let's just get it out in the clear; I haven't been getting a lot of feedback about current columns. Although I STILL get feedback from people whining about me calling FF7 overrated, or just general "You suck, lol" stuff. I haven't gotten much feedback worth putting here. Well, last week I got a pretty lengthy mail from Mathew Sforcina. He seems to agree on my stance on keeping Sonic out of Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Let's take a look (I apologize for the conflicting format. If anyone knows how to fix this, drop me a line.):
It's the single biggest dream fight in history, sure, spearheaded by
Sonic V Mario, but there's plenty of other brawls. Miles V Luigi, G&W
V Frogger, Mario V Alex Kidd. Snake or anyone else not directly
involved in Nintendo vs. Sega has to stay out (although there are
plenty third party people who could drop in.) I wrote a list a while
back on my rarely used blog, so feel free to rip it to shreds...
Aww, I'm nice. I wouldn't do that.
Assuming 25 characters (matching the 25 from SSBM, although that could
change now I guess) and making it solely Sega owned, not just Sega
famous...
Sonic: Obvious place to start, to match the Mario set. Mario had 5/6,
(Bowser, Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Luigi, and, technically, Dr. Mario).
So, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow and Dr. Robotnick/Eggman
(Still can't get used to that).
Alex Kidd: Before Sonic, there was Alex. Punches, the use of S/P/R as
a random special move, hell, if Ice Climbers, so does Alex.
Ryo Hazuki (Shenmue): He fights, he's newish, he's Sega owned,
therefore he's in.
Phantasy Star: To match Fire Emblem. Lots of different versions, but
let's stick to the original trio, Alis, Odin and Noah. That's 11...
Billy Hatcher: He's making the transition to Sonic Racers, so this
makes since too. Plus, Hatcher Eggs can be the alterative weapon to
pokeballs.
Virtual Fighter: This would be tricky, if it wasn't for the Kids
version. Thus, you can use their basic ideas, if you want cartoony. Or
they can go the Samus route. Let's say Akira (after all, he's the main
character) and Dural. 14.
Virtual On: If fricking Optimus Prime works, so do these guys. You
could pick any number of them, but let's stick to 2, and the rest can
be weapons or some such. As for which 2...Not my job. Pick your
favorite 2. 16.
Super Monkey Ball: Aiai and Meemee, main and the female. 18.
Comix Zone: Sketch Turner, bitches! 19.
YES!
Frogger: Not sure how it would work, but this is the real G&M fight.
20.
Kid Chameleon: I assume this is Sega owned. Certainly makes sense as a
fighter. 21.
Streets of Rage: Eh, held out long enough. Axel, Blaze, Max. 24.
There must be some ROO! I demand it.
And, lucky last...
Wonder Boy: Ecco wouldn't work and I just can't see Segata Sanshiro
fitting in. So, go with the guy before Alex.
Of course, if the console can hold more, make more. NiGHTS, more from
Sonic/Virtual On/Streets/Monkey Ball/Virtual Fighter, a Crazy Taxi
character, Intial D, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Space Channel 5 if the
law suit is settled, Panzer Dragoon, a Columns level (or better still,
a Columns vs. Tetris level!), Shining Force...I've just scratched the
surface.
And then the next one would be Nintendo V Sega V Capcom.
Very interesting. I think it'd be a bit much having a 25 vs. 25 battle but I think this is along the lines of what they should do. Tossing Sonic alone into a mostly Nintendo game just makes him look like an afterthought rather than someone who really should be getting hyped up to be there. It's a shame Sega or Nintendo probably won't do it this way. I think another route would be to make a literal Mario vs. Sonic game. Bowser and Eggman team up and somehow Sonic and Mario end up in the other's respective world and have to fight their foes. C'mon, think of Bowser with the Chaos Emeralds or Eggman with the Super Star. Pure gold. Thanks for the email. And again, if ANYONE (other writers included) knows of a way to fix the formatting issue, drop me a line.
Back to the show
Back to what we were talking about. This week I am going to look at the thing that most people bought an Xbox 360 for in the first place. Halo 3. If you've ready any of my earlier columns, you'd know I think Halo 1 is very overrated, Halo 2 as well. Does Halo 3 change my mind? You'll find out after the small rant on game being just 'hyped'.
Hyped
You want buzz around your big game, its bad business NOT to have a good amount of buzz around anything. We know some people are guilty of hyping up their games way too much, and there's even more who don't really hype their games AT ALL. But is there truly a comfortable medium between the two?
When most developers begin to run the motions trying to hype their product, they always hit the basics: Graphics, Features, and Story. Nowadays emphasis seems to be more on the first on that list, but even so its hype. They raise your hopes and expectations of the game. We know that happens a lot around the time of E3.
But what about those people who simply just tell you it like it is? They pimp the game, but they don't lead you to believe there is going to be something there that isn't. Konami, Nintendo, Epic Games. These are all examples of people who just tell the game like it is. They know the risk of building up the hopes of the people who buy their games and then having them shattered when they aren't what they want.
Does not talking about your game have a benefit? I think it does. I want people to play my game, plain and simple. I would want them to be excited about it, but I wouldn't want to make empty promises and get their hopes up knowing that my game isn't going to live up to the expectations that I set up in front of it. So what do you do? You simply don't get the hopes up. You let the players know what's in the game, nothing more. Let's the game generate its own hype, don't push it down their throats and make empty promises. Let your game play the players.
So, nowadays we see less and less games that are just simply hyped. The game is either overhyped, or it doesn't get any hype at all and is just released under the radar. I hope that's a trend that really changes, because I hate having to spend a week researching a game that looks interesting because the companies haven't released any real information about it. I also hate having to wade through all of the fanboy bullshit to get to the REAL game only to find out it's been overhyped to godlike levels when it really isn't anything all that special.
But that's a rant for another week, next week I rant about how games are sometimes underhyped. Right now we FINALLY get to Halo 3.
HYPED: Halo 3
Credit to Gamespy for the image
"Finish the Fight". That's Halo 3's slogan right now. It's leading many to believe that this is the last Halo of the series. It's a bit misleading because now we have Halo Wars on the table, as well as the (eventual) movie. I don't think Microsoft is quite done with Halo yet, but this may be the last FPS Halo.
With that said, is this game really getting the hype treatment since it's arguably the main reason Microsoft even got its foot in the door in the console wars? I don't think it is.
Yes, I don't think Halo 3 is overhyped. Hell, I don't even think its being NORMALLY hyped.
It's underhyped.
Wait...what?
You heard me; I think Halo 3 isn't getting the hype treatment it deserves right now. It might just be because Microsoft is trying a different strategy, but I personally think it's because they know Halo isn't the big dong on campus like it was with the Xbox. And there is only one reason why that is.
Gears of War.
It's not an FPS game, but be damned if that didn't stop the FPS fans of the world to hop on this game like it was giving out free sexual favors. The game is great, it's NOT overrated, but this game is guilty of stealing every last little bit of thunder from Halo 3. GoW game out with impressive graphics some of the best gameplay ever, and a fairly decent story? Does that sound similar? Just add in first person and you have Halo's formula for success. Since Halo came out, many games have tried to become the "Halo Killer" and GoW is the first one that makes due on its promise. But remember, this is NOT a first person shooter, it's a third person shooter but even THEN it shattered Halo 2's reign at the top of XBL. I think once Bungie and Microsoft saw that they had some in house competition, they decided to shut their mouths.
At E3 this year, all we really saw was just a trailer. No features announce, no date given. No nothing. There was talk early that Bill Gates wanted Halo 3 to come out in time for the PS3 launch so they could capitalize. That didn't happen. Instead, Gears of War happened. They wanted as Gears of War crept in and took almost the entire market share that those games had. What could it do? Does it try to hype itself up for its return? Nope. They sat quiet and slowly teased us along with screenshots and trailers.
But it just isn't looking like enough right now. I'm sure I'll change my mind when E3 rolls around next year, because I am almost certain that the main focus of MS will be to pimp Halo for the masses, but for some reason it just seems like they aren't doing enough to let people know that Halo 3 is still coming. Hell, they haven't even done enough to give me enough material to write about. I'm racking my mind trying to think of a way to stretch this.
Most of these verdicts are based on how it stands right now; this is without E3 rolling around. I'm sure that soon as E3 starts next year that all of these games are going to get the hyped treatment SO bad that it won't even be funny. But as it stands right now, Halo 3 is being underhyped. Weird, isn't it?
Verdict: Underhyped.
This column is too short, you need to rant about something.
Okay, this is just to fill some space. Shameless, but I hate having short columns. I was playing Final Fantasy III last night and I realized just how painfully annoying that game can get sometimes. I've already beat it once, but this time I am trying to go through using a not-so-standard party. Oh man the Crystal Tower is a bitch.
It's like a lecture of "Famous Last Words of Gaming". Matter of fact, I'll go ahead and give you some Famous Last Words of Gaming.
In FPS Games-
"Don't worry, they don't see me."
"I've got the flag!"
"This is the best camping spot."
In Action/Adventure/Platforming Games-
"Almost at the end of the level..."
"Don't fall. Don't fall. Don't fall."
"WHAT THE HELL!? THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE!"
And I know EVERYONE has said the ONLY one that matters most in RPGs-
"Eh, I'll save at the next save point."
That right there explains my current problem in Final Fantasy III. You can't save inside of dungeons, so it's a bit frustrating when you are about 6 floors into a dungeon and you get pwnt by a single Yellow/Blue/Red Dragon. I want to find the bastard who thought it'd be funny to give a NORMAL enemy 79999 HP a kick in the balls. In a boot covered with glass and cows blood. ROTTEN cows blood.
Next time...
There will be NO Working Title next week as of right now, I might do a VERY small blurb one, but I have no official plans of working on one on Christmas week. So, in the first week in January we are going to kick off the New Year of Working Title with the final installment of Hyped. Now, with PS3 losing all of its exclusives left and right, it was pretty hard to me to finally settle on which game I wanted to use. Originally it was going to be Assassin's Creed, but that fell through. So I'll go to one of the few games that HOPEFULLY will stay exclusive for a little while. In January I'll wrap up HYPED with my rant on Underhyped games and we get to see if I think Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots is Overhyped, Hyped, or Underhyped.
Until next time, I'm Jordan Williams, and the column with no name wishes you a good Christmahanakwanzaka.
