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Letter to the editor

Josh Korr on Halo 3: It's just a whole lot of hype

By JOSH KORR, Times Staff Writer
Published September 21, 2007

Boy, Josh has got it bad. I can't think of anything that would make me think of dropping three grand on A/V goodness. (No wait: If Square One ever came out on DVD, I'd pay that much to watch Mathnet in full, high-def glory.)

But come on. Almost a year later, Gears of War is still the best-looking game ever made, and BioShock has just upped the ante big-time for story, atmosphere and ambition. What are the chances Halo 3 will leapfrog both of those, plus what promises to be a ridiculously good-looking Call of Duty 4 and the more-ambitious-than-BioShock Mass Effect?

The Halo craziness has as much to do with timing and hype as it does with Master Chief. What might have been a genuinely innovative or just super-polished shooter in 2002 is now one of a dozen top-shelf games. And as derivative as movie sequels are of the original, video game sequels are usually even more repetitive.

The sight of gamers lined up at midnight and the prospect of opening-day grosses that dwarf Spider-Man might be good fodder for media coverage ("Wouldja look at these crazy kids -- boy, they sure are crazy for lining up for a silly game!"). But there are plenty of other, better reasons to "accidentally" spend that insurance money on an Xbox 360.

[Last modified September 21, 2007, 01:21:14]