It's been about a week since the absurdly profitable release of Halo 3, and I can guess by now that every slavering Halo fan from hardcore to casual has bit down into the piece of meat Bungie and Microsoft have thrown at us. Now, I know what I'm about to say is going to cause most Halophiles' ears to bleed, so, brace yourself...

Halo 3...was mediocre at best.

A bold statement, I know. But has anyone else bothered to look past the shiny new graphics and fairly useless new weaponry and really looked at this game? 4ish hours of prettier gameplay (that was actually pretty fun) that ruins any fun you may have head with spectacular flop of an ending that rivals the abruptness of Halo 2. Not only was this game shorter than the first two, but half of Microsofts' marketing was a lie. Where were the forerunners? Where was that huge battle at New Mombassa that stupid "Believe" site got us all revved up for? Wherever it was, I guess Bungie and Microsoft decided it was more important to capitalize off the fact that everyone was going to buy this game no matter what. Kind of like Star Wars 3, where George Lucas had the chance to actually make a quality film after the public outcry about how stupid the first 2 were; instead of take the time to write and make a good film, he hashed out Revenge of the Sith in the ususal cheesy, stupid flair he did 1 and 2 in, knowing people would go to see it no matter what he did.

This is what I have come to call Star Wars Syndrome: Where producers or designers shove out a half-made game or movie because they know they have a big enough following that they'll make a profit no matter how lame the product. Halo 3 was not something to "believe" in, it was a lame, barely improved version of its predecessor, and did not in anyway deserve the hype, or the billions of dollars it earned.

Recently, i have seen worrying amounts of callousness coming from fellow gamers. Nearly every time I express a feeling of remorse at seeing an innocent die, or something terrible happen to someone in in a game who didn't deserve it, I have been criticized for it, even been called "messed up." My own brother, has repeatedly spewed out that phrase i have come to hate: "It's only a video game." It is exactly that attitude that gives gamers and our world a bad name. I don't care where you come from, the act of killing an innocent or a child should carry a feeling of guilt. I don't care if you are reading a book, watching a movie, or performing the act yourself in a game, you should feel bad about it. If not, you
are the one who's messed up, not me.

It's not that I'm against violence in games. I like to pick up a good FPS as much as anyone, and am chomping at the bit to get a hold of Stanglehold when it comes out. The Godfather is also one of my favorite games to this day, and I love the Hitman series as well. I simply believe that actions that are inherently wrong should not be glorified or go unpunished. At least in The Godfather, your family stood for something, and had it's own morals and values, and if you were to go on a killing spree, the police came down on you hard. and in Hitman, all of your targets deserved what they were getting, and the world was not going to miss them.

The whole "It's not real" excuse simply does not fly anymore. With the increasing graphical quality demonstrated in games, virtual death is becoming more realistic day by day. I'm not saying that we go so far as to make laws against it or anything, because it is, god help me, "just a game," but the death of someone, real or imaginary, should carry some meaning, and not just be dismissed away as nothing.

You know there's something big going on when I start writing in a blog. I guess all the recent excitement has made me want to talk about it, even if it's just with myself, and anyone who bothers to read. So let's review: first up, Mass Effect, my personal obsession of the titles upcoming is slated for release "sometime this summer." Whatever. So long as it plays a phenomenally as it looks, I'll wait three more years if I must.

Then, next fall, the inundation of awesome: Assassin's Creed, released November, which most of my friends are obsessed over, (myself as well, though Mass Effect will always be my first love). If I even have to tell you why this alone is cause for excitement, just go it's sectionon gamespot and try not to geekasm to heavily. Coming right along on Creed's coattails is a game few will probably know: Obscure 2. The first Obscure is, hand's down, the best survival horror game I've ever played. If you want my thoughts on it, just check out its player review section. Needless to say, when I found th trailer for it's sequel, I was totally psyched.

Coming fall as well is everyone's favorite scare the poop out of you horrorfest, Bioshock, which looks to be the game that'll do everything Doom 3 kind of did. We may even get Splinter Cell Conviction in the mix, which would just about make '07 the greatest year in gaming...ever. I rarely if ever use that word seriously, but this has the potential. Barring the creation of virtual reality, this fall/winter has the largest cluster of great titles I've ever seen, and all of these games seem to indicate companies finally using these next-gen consoles to their fullest potential. And far off in the horizon, the titans of Starcraft 2 and Fallout 3 loom temptingly. Needless to say, '07's going to be an eventfull year to say the least. Until next time. Peace!