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500 Million Halo Games, Halo 3 Documentary
Gamespot reports on some interesting information for Halo fans. Bungie has created a seven minute documentary about the Halo 3 Trailer run at E3 this year. The short piece allows fans to see the trailer from different angles, and provides insight into its creation. They've also released word that there have been 500 million Halo 2 games played since the game's release. From the article: "This is just the latest of several impressive accolades the game has achieved. In just its first few months in retail, the game sold 6.4 million copies worldwide and logged 91 million cumulative hours on Xbox Live. According to NPD, the game has sold more than 5.1 million copies in the US as of April 2006, accounting for almost $253 million in sales domestically."
Frankly I have never played Halo.
But I am amazed that they have a full orchestra for a game.
Halo 3 production these days doesn't seem any different from a big budget Hollywood production.
Are other games doing this?
so what-- the other 6,399,999 of you have played like-- once each?
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Halo 2 sold 6.4 million copies. On the other hand, Nintendo has several different titles selling at least 1 million. Usually, quality is better than quantity but in this case I think Nintendo has the upper hand still.
Please note that Nintendo makes quantity "Quality" games so this isn't really a fair comparison. If it was Random Port or Sequel VS Halo 2 then it would clearly be Halo 2 being the winner of quantity vs quality.
Every geek has some sort of website, programming or computer project. Here's mine: www.youtasteit.com . What's yours?
Let's see... 91,000,000 hours / 8 hours in a day / 5 days in a week / 50 weeks in a year = 45,500 person years.
That's utterly... amazing.
In comparison, David A. Wheeler's paper Estimating Linux's Size approximates the work on Linux so far to be about 4,500 man years. (He uses the COCOMO model.)
That reference was off the top of my head - I think it was mentioned on /. before. Didn't have much luck finding other interesting estimates...
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i checked the documentary.... and it's only promotion about how Halo3 will be beautiful and how it will make a revolution in the graphics of games... and that they tell absolutely nothing about anything of their game!
it's an empty vessel repeating "my game is beautiful, buy it!"
saw it on GT and gave it a 1/10 for saying nothign new.. nothing interesting...
Didn't think they could keep the storyline going for 500 million sequels. Bungie have big plans, eh?
If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate.
Are you telling us that this purdy-ness isn't real, and that that the stuff shown wasn't in-game or real?
GASP, why pre-rendered graphics that don't turn out as claimed is something only the lying, EVIL $0N¥ is capable of doing!
What next, people telling me Microsoft pulled the same stuff with the first Halo 2 trailer? Now something like that would warp my fragile, hypocritical Xbox-fanboy mind even more....
This would be newsworthy if Bungie made a dollar for each game played.
But they don't. But hey, lets throw a party, based on some stupid "games played" rubric. Next party will be celebrating "500 trillion braincells killed" by the people who've played halo games.
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Is it just me, or is anyone else getting sick of the massive hype that keeps surrounding the Halo franchise? I was wonderfully impressed with the first game, which I had heard little about. For its time it was one of the best looking console games I had seen and coupled with the Xbox hardware the lack of loading was truly impressive for a console game. However, since then there's been entirely too much hype for the series good. The second game was massively hyped and generated insane sales numbers, but in my opinion was a let down (at least in terms of the single player campaign. The mutliplayer was still good.) and I'm sure many others have felt the same way. I was under the impression from various news that I had read that Bungie was planning on working on another franchise or an entirely new game before making another Halo. However, this was pretty much put to rest at E3 when they released the trailer. I watched the trailer and wasn't impressed in the slightest. Other than some eye candy we're giving nothing. However, major news sites covered the trailer quite extensively and I think Halo 3 was even nominated for some awards on some sites. Now we have a documentary about a 2 minute trailer? I can understand that Microsoft wants to build up some hype for their products and is probably trying to use announcements concerning Halo as a counter to anything that Sony might be trying to accomplish, but I fear that they'll only end up causing more damage to the series by creating an image that the actual game can't live up to. However, I'm even more disgusted with the media making such a big deal over the trailer. It's a 2 minute trailer that doesn't tell us anything important, reveal anything new, or show us any gameplay footage. As far as I'm concerned this is the Killzone trailer all over again. I think the best possible thing for the Halo series would be for everyone to get over it. It's probably the best console FPS I've played to date, but I'm sure PC FPS players would argue that it's nothing special and they may be right for all I know. I'd rather see Bungie move on to a fresh project and make something new and wonderful, rather than burn themselves out on the same franchise. I really want Halo 3 to be a great game that makes the Xbox 360 a must have console, but if Bungie really doesn't have it's heart fully set on making the game great and the level of hype is at the point where everyone goes bat shit loco over a 2 minute trailer, I have a feeling the game will be a failure.
They don't seem to make too many quality games inhouse that Nintendo seems to make. Although, I wouldnt' exactly call halo quality, it doesn't seem to be that much better then decent pc fps's.
Hmmm... Pie...
I've always been a fan of the Halo series and the hype just doesn't get to me. What was more hyped than Half Life 2? I still bought it, played and enjoyed it. I'm sure sony will hype the shit out of Spiderman 3 yet it will still smash records and be enjoyable. If you get tired of hype over games quit going to IGN and reading Gamepro.
" We don't need to find the weapons of mass destruction we just need to want to find them, that's the way it works!
It is telling that Microsoft has officially given up on backwards compatibility for the Xbox 360 after they got Halo and Halo 2 ported and finally running well enough to get people to stop complaining.
As anyone who owns an Xbox will tell you, outside of Halo there just isn't anything else worth playing. I know of people who have never had used their eject button with one of the two Halos sitting in the machine constantly.
Pity, for a fps both Halos are dreadfully mediocre. And the silly metal effect is like seeing someone walking around in bellbottom jeans - it was cool years ago but it just looks retarded today.
I think they would cry if they looked at how many CS or CSS games were played. Halo is for the unskilled.
Hahaha... You crack me up. I own every console, and so as an Xbox owner, I'll tell you there are PLENTY of games worth playing (in case you weren't aware).
The Xbox's catalog is smaller than other consoles... But there are a surprising number of quality titles, like:
Knights of the Old Republic
Jade Empire
Ninja Gaiden
The Splinter Cell Series (on Xbox first, and arguably best)
Forza
Riddick
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Crimson Skies
Jet Set Radio Furture
Doom 3 - yeah, I know... but other current-gen consoles can't even handle the game.
As for multiconsole games, the Xbox almost universally features better graphics. And Live, even on original Xbox, kicks ass.
With the 360 getting titles like Gears of War, all their arcade titles, 1 great Clancy game out and 2 great Clancy games coming (Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell), Fight Night, Oblivion, etc etc etc... I'm beginning to wonder how much time I'll even put into Halo 3!
(this Fall is going to be amazing - two new consoles, and 2nd gen 360... I'm giddy)
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The whole industry is filled with these marketing messages that are just in our faces all the damn time - with a wafer thin layer of "authenticity" painted on. It's like trying to have a genuine conversation with a car salesman. He's always going to be like that - always on message, with the glint in his eyes that betrays how he's trying to "angle" you with every sentance or smile.
I'm not just talking Halo 3 - but MAN was that a freaking infomercial or what?
Have you ever noticed that these days, games really try to get us on the hype wagon for months and months in advance of the game's release? Look at the Tom Clancy series of games - there are big long drawn out "developer interviews" that go on for HOURS (so it seems).
The "developer blogs" at 1Up.com are just... I don't know - they seem so transparent to me. I mean, I know that the site has to make money, and it's an OK concept for content I guess, but Mark Echo blog? Lego Star Wars blog? Ugh.
It makes you wonder if there's any humanity even left in the games industry.
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mod me down if you want, but I'm having my say anyway.
I loved the first Halo - it was pretty damn impressive - I still have a miscelaneous pc gaming magazine demo disk with a move demonstrating a working Halo for the PC. After significant delay from that demo disk, after they had to rip the guts out so they could cram it into the xbox's limited specs, it was still very "wow". It made me want to get Halo 2. I preordered and prepaid for TWO copies of the super DEluxe mega-cool metal-box version, stood in line to get mine at midnight (me usually being the one that laughs at fanboys who did that) only to find out that half the promised content wasn't in the game. That the game was SO short that a mediocre player like me only took under a day to finish on the normal mode. And that the game had no ending. A "clif-hanger", as some asshats will call that particular ending, doesn't belong in a $60 video game. It belongs in a weekly TV serial. I've said it before, and it's still true: How would you like to have been watching Return of the Jedi (because you liked the other two movies so much) only to have the film stop right before the big light saber battle at the end? Yes, I am still bitter, and no, I won't get over it. I wont be buying a 360 BECAUSE of the Halo 3 crap.
Screw me over once, shame on you, screw me over twice, shame on me.
Yeah... I mean, why would a company want to hype a game that has already sold millions upon millions of copies? I mean... It's just stupid. Halo 2 was a let down? Tell that to X-Box Live. The oldest argument is that of Halo vs. CS and Unreal Tournament. But the numbers show the truth, guys. CS, UT, and all the others didn't generate the most profit ever on their opening day. When I say "ever," I mean, in entertainment history. Ever. I'll concede that CS and others may require more skill to play than Halo, but we can see where it got those games. Does that mean that the less skills a game requires the better? Of course not. It just means that there's a balance; one that allows new players to pick up a game and have fun and yet allows experienced players to be really, really skillful. It always amuses me to hear people trash the Halo franchise. The guys have revolutionized the video game industry. If you don't agree, again, look at X-Box Live and talk to the millions of folks who had never been into video games before Halo. As for the documentary, yes, they were saying, "Our game will be beautiful." And they've got a fan base of millions that want nothing other than to hear those words said. I can't blame anyone for not liking the game. It's not for everyone. But, like any cult following, its fan base utterly adores the game. I won't lie, the trailer brought a tear to my eye, as it did for many other fans. It may not have showcased gameplay, but for those of us who care, it said an enormous amount about the feel of the game, the storyline and the game engine. You just have to care enough to look into it. If all you care about is "immediately showing gameplay," then you don't know anything about how to present the newest installment in a multi-million dollar franchise. They showed what they showed for a reason; and guess what? They've got the money in their pockets and the millions upon millions of fans to back up one simple thought: Bungie knows what the freak they're doing.
Does that game count include all the crappy game types that no one likes, in which half of each team drops?
For those who don't want to go through the Gamespot article, here's the direct link to the Halo 3 documentary on Bungie's page.
So, I hadn't heard the claim that Halo 2 had the most profitable launch day in the history of entertainment before, and since you provided no evidence, I assumed you were just spewing garbage.
I decided to look it up, and I admit I was wrong.
GameDaily has Halo's opening day sales (first 24 hours) at 2.4 million, which multiplied by the $60 price tag (which isn't a static value in itself, as some collector's editions were made, and I assume sold at a higher price) gives us $144 million.
has Revenge of the Sith at $50 million on opening day. I was curious how much this would have been affected by the fact that big name movies like that usually relase on a Thursday (I imagine the number would have been higher if it were released on a Friday), but the biggest opening weekend was Spiderman at ~$115 million.
The most paid for any piece of artwork was Picasso's Boy with a Pipe at $104 million.
So I guess I have to admit you were right. But in the future, please back up your claims a little better.
It's amusing hearing about these figures. The XBox lost how much exactly? Oh yes, FOUR BILLION DOLLARS. Halo is overrated, especially when played on the PC, since much of what it promised never came about. Part of its charm however is that trigger-happy rednecks get to control one of their own, a military boot mentality grunt and not some random Japanese character they absolutely know nothing about his/her background.
I agree. I love most of the games you listed. I just bought an XBOX. The ciing on the cake is having it so easily modded and putting those games on the HD for easy access. And XBMC rocks too. I specifically bought it for FPSes, Western style RPGs, and popular cross platform games. Still have my NGC, but I've only kept the 1st party titles like Mario party, Zelda, Metroid.... I think they compliment each other well...
Not to sound like too much of a fanboy, but my understanding of the term "grunt" isn't really compatible with the Master Chief. Would you call an elite superhuman special forces cyborg a grunt? Not sure what you mean by boot mentality; that may or may not fit.
A couple of weeks ago I actually sat down and really played Halo for the first time. The story was suprisingly better than I expected, but it certainly wasn't a triumph of science fiction literature. It's still a bit contrived.
What kept coming into my mind while I played the game, however, was how much better the game would have been if it weren't an FPS. The game would have been far superior presented as an adventure game with minimal gunplay. Instead a fairly simple story is drawn out and interrupted by protracted gunfights. There's little attachement to the story because most of what happens involves blowing apart anything that moves. I'm guessing it's far easier to develop an FPS than it is to have gameplay that's intertwined with a strong storyline.
It looks to me like the gaming industry is turning into the movie industry in a big way. It's only a matter of time before game developers start blaming us for poor sales claiming we're all pirates.
So video is talking about an up-coming game. A game. But instead of discussing the most integral part of a game, gameplay, not a single word is mentioned and instead they go on and on about the damn graphics. It's almost like a parody of developers today.
"Marvel at the detailed battle scars on the Master Chief's armor!"
Great, I'm sure that will comfort me when I discover that a bowel movement is more entertaining than playing this game.
Hey, if it works for Budweiser and Miller...
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.