Nick Hide
Nick has been playing videogames for 20 years. He believes games are as valid an art form as music or film. They are interactive sculptures capable of profound emotional impact, so it really annoys him when games come out where you can mug old women.
Tuesday 25 September 2007, 3:48pm
Ignore the hype: just play Halo 3
Hype is, by definition, extremely irritating. It's people who don't know what they're talking about -- let's call them the mainstream media, shall we? -- trying to explain to the general public, who couldn't care less, why a certain group is very excited about something. I'm a gamer. I'm very excited about Halo 3. And today I got to play it. Everyone else can sod off.
So Halo 2 didn't end the way I wanted. Never mind -- it made online console play come to life. It's like Heroes -- the first series didn't end in the maelstrom of an all-out powers vs powers firefight, but here comes another series -- the first ep was on US TV last night -- and it's almost certainly going to be great fun.
The hour or so of Halo 3 co-op I played at lunch confirms this comparison. It's packed full of the same brilliantly constructed set-piece battles that made the series so popular, with subtly upgraded graphics and a few tweaks to the weapons. Nothing radical, nothing revolutionary, just fantastic fun. So let's stop getting our knickers in a twist over everything around it, and what it 'means', and just have a game, shall we? Bagsy not being the Arbiter.
I don't care if Halo 3 is the game that makes gaming 'mainstream'. I'd rather play with my friends than a bunch of confused middle-aged people who'd really rather be talking about immigrants and property prices. More parochially, I don't care if Halo 3 is the game that 'wins' the console war for Microsoft. I just want to play the bloody thing. Dude, it's teh awesomes.
Comments on this post
wow nearly just ruined the ending of heroes for myself by reading this! the series in england hasn't finished yet! I can't wait to play halo 3 either, even though i don't own a 360 and won't buy one for this but i may be forced to live round my friends houses for a good few weekends
Posted by asmaticant on Tue 25 September, 2007 8:24 PM
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Sorry asmaticant! I didn't think that was too much of a spoiler. Don't worry, there's loads to look forward to in Heroes, I just think the ending was more about setting up the next series rather than finishing the story. As for living round your friend's house, buy a tent and camp in their garden - it might be a bit cold, but Halo 3's worth it ;)
Posted by Nick Hide on Wed 26 September, 2007 8:37 AM
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Hey now, I like talking about immigration and property price issues. But I can hold my own at multi-player thank you very much. Is 29 middle aged? I do have gray hair...
Posted by Ben on Wed 26 September, 2007 10:15 PM
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Articles by Nick Hide
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