With the new title Halo: Reach Bungie is trying to recapture the audience it lost to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. I looked at all the hype surrounding Halo 3 and I can't help but sort of chuckle when I see how easy it is to get a copy of Halo: Reach now, and how little hype is going along with it. They just got lazy and complacent and it is a 100% their own fault. I think I know why they call it Halo: Reach; it's because it's kind of a reach to say that this can be packaged as a stand alone game, this is obviously just a Halo 3 expansion pack. And that being the case, it took you three fucking years to hit "copy/paste" to make a new Halo game? That kind of laziness makes me look like a John Henry-esque folk hero. You look at Bungie and then you look at a company like Blizzard who takes online gaming very seriously. Blizzard makes games like Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft and is probably most famous for World of Warcraft the MMORPG (Massive Muliplayer Online Role-Playing Game). I'm about 2 years clean from my WoW addiction so I haven't played in a while, but I can see why I got addicted to WoW. Okay so I'd first like to point out that Blizzard is in fact an intricate plot to harvest souls until they have enough to souls to awaken Ba'al Asmodius from his unholy slumber so he is finally able to take up his throne as the Dreadfather and ruler of earth-realm. It's in their mission statement and I think there is also something about it on their terms of service agreement; that is pretty much a fact at this point. But hey, they know how to treat their minions. This is why every Blizzard expansion is an unofficial holiday in South Korea (most companies close their business when a WoW expansion comes out because they know that they will have so many people missing work); and why internet console gaming can't compete on a global market.
Games:
The first thing to consider are the games that each of them make. As I said Bungie really likes to twist the knife when it comes to making and releasing games and even extra content. The map packs they released for Halo 3 took way too long and nearly everyone was sick of it by then; and then the wait between new games was a you-gotta-be-fucking-kidding-me 3 years. You know who likes sitting around waiting for things to come out? Gamers... oh wait, no they don't... they don't like that at all! Go into any videogame store and you will likely be asked if you want to "pre-order" a game; that's because they know that people will want it the day it's released and will be very upset if they can't get it the very second it's available. Look at that XBox 360 controller that leaked before the system came out; sold on eBay for thousands... and that is a CONTROLLER. Even South Park gets it; did you ever see the one where Eric Cartman freezes himself so that he doesn't have to wait for the Wii to come out? I've been there; I've considered freezing myself waiting for the PSP, and the Wii to come out. Basically Bungie would be like a crack dealer that says, "Well if we wait another week we should have some slightly better shit, plus it will make our clientele want it more." No, they are just going to go somewhere else for crack; that's why there is a new Call of Duty game every year. Are they pretty much all the same game? Oh yeah, but they have just enough to tide us over for another couple of months and we are just as psyched as ever when November rolls around and they have a new one.
Blizzard: What else is there to say; they focus on the World of Warcraft series but they are always updating their older titles. I know it's been way longer between releases of Diablo than any of the Halo titles; but they are always putting patches and new content in all of their games between releases. Not only that but they are spread pretty thin between all their titles.
Bungie: I don't know if there is anything else to Bungie besides the Halo franchise. According to Wikipedia there is Myth and Oni. I'm not very familiar with either of these but I did play a demo of Oni once. Needless to say they don't exactly have a lot of irons in the fire so there isn't really any excuse for not developing regular add-on content or releasing games annually or bi-annually. They have tried to break free of their FPS (first person shooter) game layout but each with very minimal success. They could be very good games; but I don't know if anyone would even know. People are simply getting sick of Halo; guys in green camo shooting bullets vs. guys in purple and pink shooting lasers. I was told Halo: Reach is a prequel because they've gotten to the end of the story line. I know it's been three years; but didn't Cortana get captured by the Flood and aren't there still a ton of those covenant elder guys left? Whatever the case, I believe the Halo series of games are based off of the Halo books so their lore is what the book's lore is. Blizzard's Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft each have completely different stories and folklore associated with them; and they have a ton of depth to each of them. Break free of the Halo series; I know it was badass but even things that kick ass get old after a while (see Grand Theft Auto).
Additional Content:
Blizzard: You buy an expansion every couple of years and that is worth the money; but then they start opening new instances (dungeons for multiple people to tackle together) all the time. There are even new areas that come around and I've actually been surprised and said, "I didn't even hear that they were making a new set of instances." There are always fun little extra challenges surrounding every major holiday. Anything from new monsters (there was a headless horseman guy on Halloween) to Christmas trees that give you little trinkets. They have little promotions going on all the time, like the Mohawk grenade, that give it a little extra spice and add to the enjoyment. Even stupid things like "non-combat pets" which just follow you around are kind of fun to collect. The one thing that Blizzard is one of the worst offenders, but really every MMORPG is sort of guilty of this, how stingy these people are with mounts (things you can ride to make you move faster). When I started WoW you needed to be a level 40 to be able to ride around on a little horse and save yourself some time. One of the main features of the next expansion, Cataclysm, is the ability to ride a flying mount in Azeroth. So basically you can ride a flying griffin wherever you want to in the game; even then though, getting the mount is only slightly easier than getting your own griffin in real life. I've actually heard of girls giving real-life sex for the money to buy the flying mounts. So what's the deal, why doesn't Bliz want you to have one? Well they claim they want you to experience all the game has to offer. Expansive games like Elder Scroll: Oblivion gives you a horse early in the game; Borderlands gives you a car to drive around early on too, but they don't think you are missing out on any content. I think it more has to do with the fact that you pay monthly for WoW and they want make you take your time getting around...
Bungie: Two words, Recon Armor. When Halo 3's map pack started to become stale there was another X-Factor being introduced into the game; and that was a handful of players in flaming armor. I don't know if there could ever be a cooler addition to the game than that. So after a while people started to write Bungie asking how or if they could have the armor; there response was literally, "No, you can't have it." Okay well is there something you can do to unlock it? "There is nothing you can do to unlock it." He even goes on to say that you shouldn't be jealous because it makes you an easier target. That's like the equivalent of saying, "Hey I'm going to eat this cake, you can't have any, but I can tell by how sweet it is that it would just make you fat anyway." Also, does he think people are going to feel sorry for him getting thousands of emails about people wanting FLAMING ARMOR? If it was me I'd just release it to everyone so I didn't have to hear about that shit all day. What kind of ship does Bungie run anyway? Every place I've ever worked you would get fired for addressing something like this so incredibly tactlessly. Furthermore, I am stunned that creating employee only content and flaunting it in front of the customers is even tolerated PERIOD. If you work in the mall, every year around Christmas time they force the employees to park in a designated further lot; is it because they are totally mean? Maybe, but the main reason is that the customers pay the bills and so you want to keep them happy and letting them have your parking spot makes them happy. All this just leaves me with one question, "How many times does a computer programmer's head need to get dunked in the toilet in high school before you decide to make a cool set of armor that is only for you and your friends?" just kind of curious... Bungie did eventually made it available when you preordered one of their other games but that is still prettttttyyy lame. So go into WoW and say, "I didn't even know they had a special Oktoberfest event!" But trust me you'll know when Bungie decides to throw some crumbs your way; they usually even have a countdown clock until they have new map packs. Here is a commercial for how cool it is that they will let you have this armor; looks the same as every other Spartan armor to me, but hey we should be lucky that customers even get to play it.
Gameplay:
Blizzard: Another good thing about WoW especially is that it has such varied gameplay. My first decision picking up the game is Horde or Alliance; the one I choose determines my race and basically the global team and pool of people I'll be able to play with. Suppose I choose Horde; well now I can choose Orc, Undead, Tauren, Blood Elf, or Troll each have their own strengths and weaknesses and even some abilities. Should I have chosen Alliance I would have just as many options about races; though they have completely different sets of races (Human, Dwarf, etc.). Then my customization goes to a class; depending on your race each character has a handful of classes which is the biggest part of determining your gaming experience and your class roles. So just for the sake of argument I chose "Paladin" I still even have further options to customize my character through a talent spec. I can choose "Retribution" and fill a DPS role (Damage Per Second) and help my team's damage, I can choose "Holy" and be a person to heal my party when it takes damage, or I can even be a "Protection" spec and focus on taking the damage from the enemy while they kill it. And for an amount of gold (in game currency) I can switch my spec at any time. So already I have hundreds of options for exactly how I want to play.
Bungie: The very first Halo revolutionized how we thought about in-game mechanics and collision detection; and vehicles in games today can barely even compare to the ones in the original Halo. Halo 2 came next and offered online play as opposed to only having the option of split-screen and LAN play. Since console games didn't have online play (for the most part) they really had a big expectations from people joining the Xbox Live network; and they didn't disappoint at all. Halo 3 came and offered high definition and a whole list of surreal additions. For instance if you killed the shit out of someone or had a 1 in a million kill somehow; you can record it and show it to your friends. But where do you go from there? There are 3 ways you can go from there. You can go the Modern Warfare II route and keep the gameplay mostly the same but inundate people with challenges and give people the rewards of nice, cheap little name tags and tiny icons to display next to their names. You can go the Boarderlands route and offer leveling, a talent spec, and a FPS tailored class system (sniper, heavy gunner, whatever). The final option is the Team Fortress Classic option where you have the ability to choose from specialists every time you spawn (a spy can change into a player from the other team, scouts run fast, engineers build turrets). All of these things add tons of depth to the FPS genre; so what did Reach do? They took a free-sample sized serving of the Modern Warfare II and Team Fortress Classic options. In Halo: Reach you can save up credits to unlock pieces of armor for your Spartan armor or effects for your player in general. The armor pieces are relatively inexpensive; however, it's kind of like when you go to the eye doctor and you do the "better or worse" when you look through that lens machine. To the eye doctor there is a big difference in your decisions, just as I'm sure whoever designed the armor pieces realize that each piece is very different from the others; to me there isn't enough difference to justify buying any of the pieces. In WoW at one time I had a set of armor that looked like molten rocks and flowing lava on my shoulders, anyone sees that and they are going to say, yeah that guy must have put in work for that. As for the effects you can unlock, they look cool but they take a shitload of credits to unlock; it's kind of like if you went to Dave and Busters and decided you wanted to save tickets up for a plasma screen TV you'd get sick of it and realize it's not worth it long before you actually got it. The reason why it works in Modern Warfare II is that you are getting these new nametags and achievements all the time; for instance you get one that says, "Not in the face!" for getting hit in the face with a grenade launcher. There are some that really are achievements you work to unlocking but it's nice to get some to tide you over for doing practically nothing. As for the Team Fortress Classic element; you can choose a "load-out" which is sadly only about 3-5 options per map and rage from being able to put the shield bubbles to being able to use active camo. In CoD:MWII you can choose your entire load-out from what primary and secondary weapons to even perks which give you a class boosting ability. In a way it is disappointing that you have to choose from the small amount of options they give you; but I guess it does level the playing field. In TFC you can pick a completely different character when you die; so let's say you need to guard something you can make an engineer and build/repair turrets. But the turrets kill the hell out of anyone on the other team; so they need to be a spy who can sneak past the turrets. It adds an extra dimension of strategy and teamwork to a very simple capture the flag scenario.
Customer Service:
Blizzard: There is an in-game chat you can have with admins and customer service if something happens and you need it. The wait times can be long when something is wrong globally but if you experienced a bug and didn't get the item you were supposed to for a quest you just tell them and they usually give it to you.
Bungie: You can see how they react when you show interest in their products; by the link above but what about day to day hum-drum game play? Well after nearly the dozenth time of being called a "n****r lover" by a child probably not more than 10 years old I decided to ask about maybe having separate gaming rooms for adults who want to play with other adults. Their response was, "Heh, well we can't discriminate against anyone on our game for any reason. Besides how can we even tell how old they are?" Cool it Che Guevara; far be it for me to question the inalienable rights of an elementary school aged child to scream hate-speech into my ears, but isn't there a way to make it so I get paired up with people that are just there to have a good time? As for how you do it, I don't know, it's not my job it's yours. This brings me to my next point...
The Banhammer:
For those of you who don't know what the banhammer is; it's the invisible hand of justice and order put in place by the admins that help casual gamers enjoy their gaming experience online. In a perfect server the banhammer puts the kibosh on hackers, harassers, and general dickweeds that are just there to crash the game.
Blizzard: I have no idea what if any part of this story is true; but one of my friends was on WoW and he set up a deal to buy an item from another player and got bamboozled lost all of his materials and money. According to the story the admins set up a similar buy from the same character and when they got ripped off as well they booted him off the realm (server). I'm sure how it really went down is that some admins scrolled through the log and found some jerk jacking people's money and booted him off the realm; but the idea of an in-game sting operation gives me a chuckle. But this is how it goes, if you play like a creep you lose your guy for an indefinite amount of time. They do have a very hard time tracking people doing legal operations with a cheater method; for instance in Diablo II they have PKers (Player Killers) that use hacked items to kill people's characters forever. And in WoW there was a trick where people would drop 1 piece of gold rapidly in order to crash the server. But keep in mind they are on PC's (as well as Macs) so doing counter hacking for an online game would be like being a hall monitor during a riot at San Quentin.
Bungie: It's pretty much the wild west on Bungie's servers; with each succession they are getting better at halting hacking; if you want to see what I'm talking about you can still go onto Halo 2 and within about 2 or 3 games you will see someone using a cheat that teleports them behind a player giving them an instant kill. But as far as stopping harassment by players... No attempts have ever been made to do it. In fact if you want to harass someone in Halo 3 you just click on their name and say "I like playing with this person" and you will get matched up with them more frequently. What caliber of people are on Halo? Well imagine you are in a movie theater that is packed to the brim and you give every single person a laser pointer, a cell phone that can't be silenced, unlimited beer, and a baseball bat. That would be a pretty tame Halo server.
Conclusion:
Blizzard games are something to be feared for their addictive nature; online console gaming, while popular in the US, is a long way from being able to compete on a global market. Even Sony who does actually compete on a global scale is even hurting to get a piece of the online gaming pie. Is online gaming a billion dollar industry? You bet your ass it is. Who is going to corner the market? Is it the company that gives it's player a new reason to turn their computer on and play every couple of months or the ones who are busy making wrestling belts for "best boss fight" at 1:20 (a serious wtf, since I can't remember a single boss fight in all 3 Halo games).
