“Halo 2” Hits Xbox and Sells $100 Million First Day

To those unaddicted to video-gaming, a halo is what an angel has hovering over its head. For those who know better, “Halo 2” is the most intensely anticipated video game ever. The odd magazine article has told the world that video-gaming isn’t just the preserve of adolescent males, that it contributes to the obesity pandemic and that it may enhance eye-hand coordination. However, “Halo 2” may have changed something very fundamental. Consider that Pixar’s long-awaited film “The Incredibles” pulled in $70 million its first week-end, and that “Halo 2” passed that level within mere hours.

A review on the BBC website went into rather painful detail about the game. The controls are intuitively set, two weapons fire at once, and levels load seamlessly. The AI in the program still makes it too easy to kill the enemy, which tends to merely cower and await death when fired upon. The dialogue still sounds “bombastic and laboured.”

The inherent flaw in computer-based role-playing games of any variety is their inherent linear nature. Unlike good old D&D with a human GM, there’s a definite beginning, and a definite end. There isn’t anyway to go off to a corner of the “Halo” universe and do something other than shoot things to bits. Until AI is adequately advanced to allow more than just advance through pre-set levels achieving pre-determined goals, gaming can only go so far.

That said, the fact that a video game now can out-revenue a Hollywood blockbuster makes for interesting possibilities. The programming of an entire world still requires a great deal of time compared to filming a story, but not that much more. What is lacking in video games as well as Hollywood films is often imagination – the programming and filming are easier.

What was lacking originally in computer games was sufficient memory to make them run smoothly. That has gone, and memory continues to get cheaper and cheaper. Then, there was the problem of commercialization, which is certainly solved now that “Halo 2” has earned nine-figures over night. What remains is the challenge of the human imagination. Now that computer games of such sophistication are commercially outselling many films, where does a writer begin? “Once upon a time . . . .”


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


Home