Back when the gaming feud was between team Playstation and team Xbox, the fans of the latter would vehemently use Halo as the big guns. Understandably so, considering that the first Xbox used the franchise to launch itself into the gaming powerhouse it is today. Based on what I have heard from fans, the series has taken a dip in quality with its last few games. I wouldn’t know, because I have always stuck with Playstation and never bought an Xbox. Is it weird that I’m one of those gamers who didn’t buy a second console? The big thing nowadays is PC gaming, which I also don’t do, but who has the time? Apparently these hardcore gamers do, but for now, I’ll still stick with Playstation. For the record, I always enjoyed playing Halo and was upset that it remained an Xbox exclusive. That will never change, but lucky for me, I have plenty of friends who own and Xbox and almost all of the Halo games. As a guy who was on team Playstation during the days where gamers made it a big deal, I tried arguing against it, but I was still envious of this game. I’ll admit, I never played the first one, but as someone who grew up during the early 2000s, I had the chance to play Halo 2 several times at a friend’s house.
Despite being a Playstation guy, I quickly saw the appeal that so many Xbox fans were gushing over. On top of the very crazy story mode, what made Halo fun for me was playing against friends in multiplayer mode. Hearing the announcer yell “Slayer!” or “Hail to the king!” was just what every gamer needed to hear to get our bloods pumped. My personal favorite was “Capture the flag” mode, but instead of trying to obtain a flag, you had to capture and hang on to a skull. And if you got a hold of the skull, you could kill other players with one hit. Boy, that was so much fun and I still get together with buddies to relive the glory days once in a while. Needless to say, the Halo gaming series is the undisputed king of the Xbox games. It’s bigger and better than anything they have ever thrown at us, and yes, that does include Gears of War. Naturally, this kind of popularity would make some particular people in Hollywood interested. You know, because everyone keeps asking for more video game movies, right? And here we come to the center of shrubbery maze, as Stewie Griffin once put it. Yes, we will now get on the topic of video game movies, which I know full well is a touchy one.
How many times has Hollywood tried to make a good video game movie? Oh, only a couple of dozen times, and nine times out of ten, they fail miserably. We can make a whole list of the reasons as to why, but I think what it really boils down to is how the movies have a tendency to divert from the source material. Just imagine if they tried doing that for a Halo movie? Speaking of which, do we know how many times Hollywood has tried making a Halo movie? I remember when Peter Jackson was once attached to a Halo movie at one point, but Neil Blokamp was actually very close to getting the green light for one. Given that Neil Blokamp has a knack for directing science fiction movies, he would be an ideal candidate to direct a Halo movie. Unfortunately, that’s something that just never found its footing. So a Halo movie has never happened and that’s probably a good thing. But let’s be honest, as much as the fans say they don’t want a Halo movie to happen, they’ll still be the only ones to see it. Well, Paramount+ is giving them the closest thing they’ll ever get to a live-action Halo movie, but in the form of a television series. If you ask me, I think that does make it better. The majority of video games have too much lore to squeeze into a movie’s timeframe. I do think Halo is one of them and that’s probably why Paramount opted to adapt it into a series.
Speaking of that, has anyone seen the trailer? Oh, I have and I must say, I dug it. The first teaser trailer that was shown at the game awards just gave us a glimpse of Master Chief and some pretty shots of cities. The official trailer, however, gave us a look at pretty much everything. From seeing Master Chief in action, to Cortana introducing herself, to seeing several Spartans suit up, and to seeing the Covenant, I think that trailer did the job of sparking our interest. Then again, I am a Playstation guy and never fully played all the Halo games. I have already heard the big Xbox fanatics criticize it, but there the ones who know the lore. But before we count this series out so soon, guess what? Paramount has already renewed it for a second season. If a second season has already gotten the green light, then that’s a good sign. It shows that Paramount is confident the Halo series will do well, although I have a feeling the Halo purists will hammer it. Personally, I just hope Master Chief isn’t the supporting character and gets sidelined for most of the first season. This is basically his show after all and on top of that, he’s the mascot of Xbox.
As a Halo fan, but not a fanatic, I’ll admit that the trailer got me excited. I’m sure it has made some changes to the mythology of Halo, but I probably won’t even catch it. As long as it brings back some key character, such as Arbiter, I will be entertained. This series is right around the corner and I am very interested in seeing the militaristic science fiction elements of Halo in live-action. What are your thoughts, Halo fans? If Paramount has already gave the second season the green light, then that’s a good sign for their confidence in the series. That doesn’t mean it will meet our expectations, but I’m willing to give it a watch. Plus, Master Chief just looks so freaking cool.PlaystationPeter Jackson
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