Like most of you reading this, my world has been swamped with Halo 3 marketing. Unlike a lot of 360 owners, however, I haven't bought the game, nor do I plan to buy it. I've said it elsewhere, but FPS games are not my genre of choice, and I never found Halo all that compelling to begin with. It's just not my thing.

Of course, Halo is the thing for a lot of gamers out there. I haven't ever played the series for more than a little bit of the first, but thought I don't like it, I'm not going to roll around on the floor screaming that it sucks. However, given the hype poured onto the game by Microsoft and the expectations set by fans of the first two games, I am worried that something inevitable is around the corner. The backlash.

It comes in a definite cycle. You might call it the Final Fantasy VII effect, in which the steps generally look like this:

1. Game X in a beloved series by a reputed developer receives massive hype manufactured by a marketing machine.

2. Fan expectations rise to a boiling point.

3. Game X is released to overwhelmingly fantastic reviews.

4. The game sells like crazy.

5. Some fans experience a let down, finding quirks and issues that all of the marketing and positive reviews glossed over, leading to a growing negative reaction to the game.

6. Offput fans riled by zealotrous fanboys.

7. Zealotrous fanboys riled by offput fans.

8. VIOLENCE AND CARNAGE.

9. Offput fans grow to resent the game and denounce the hype that went into Game X in the first place. Over time, numerous critical articles against Game X are written with varying degrees of argumentative and intellectual strength.

10. Next "God's Gift to Gaming" marketing campaign begins for Game Y.

Do you think that Halo 3 will suffer a similar fate? Do you think that it's already started?