Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Or perhaps good evening? Maybe afternoon, or night? Regardless of where you are and what time it is right now, there is truth in the fact that Halo 3 is right around the corner. September 25th is now officially “tomorrow” for most of the world, and it is no doubt a date that has been permanently etched into your brain if you are a gamer.
There is no doubt that Halo 3 is the most anticipated video game for the Xbox 360 console and will be for the rest of eternity. If you had thought that the conclusion of the Halo trilogy would be quiet and in a way, melancholic, you were wrong. Microsoft can’t let that happen. You see, a lot of games are “highly-anticipated”, but Microsoft pushed Halo 3 to the point of no return. Anticipation is just no longer the right word for it.
Live action advertisements, merchandise, an aggressive marketing campaign – all of them have hit the spot. How do you know? When every minor ad, when the tiniest advertising gimmick becomes front-page news in over five dozen video gaming sites, you know. Microsoft realized two things – video games are going to be big in the mainstream real soon, and two – Halo is big. Combine the two, and Microsoft can’t resist making Halo 3 the biggest video game ever, at least in their eyes.
Another possible reason for this could be the intense competition. We’d be filthy liars if we denied that 2007 is the most exciting year to be a gamer since 2004 (which looks terribly bland compared to this). Crysis, Call of Duty 4, the next Medal of Honor, Mass Effect, Gears of War for the PC and several other awesome games are all hitting (more like assaulting) stores this year and Microsoft just has to use their deep pockets to get ahead of competition.
And that is not all! Halo 3’s extravagant advertising and Microsoft’s seriousness with its marketing has led many non-Halo fans to believe that Halo really is something. Many have taken up the task of completing Halo and Halo 2 before they “finish the fight”. When you have so many phenomenal events surrounding the release of just one video game, you know that have created a masterpiece.
It’s not just me. Metacritic shows a 97 rating for Halo, aggregated from several reviewers. Many have delivered 100% ratings as well. Of course, the scores may not be as phenomenally high as BioShock, but they are certainly way above average and you know that Halo 3 is a great game to play, in case you didn’t already. Many have also said that is, in no way a disappointing game. What does all this rabble mean? If you have an Xbox 360, it is illegal for you to not possess a copy of Halo 3 by the end of this week.
So if you haven’t preordered it yet, go do it. Or camp outside you nearest gaming store. Buy it on Amazon, beg for it on eBay, steal it from someone, break into Bungie or Microsoft’s studios and raid copies, do whatever the hell you love, but get yourself Halo 3. Why? Because you owe us bloggers who spent a good year and a half writing about it like we’re writing the Bible or something.
Thank you all, and enjoy your Halo 3.
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