HALO and the "casual gamer"

[Wan-Fu]

The meteoric sales successes of the HALO franchise is somewhat of a surprise to me, not because the game(s) aren't exquisite, but because I never thought the FPS genre attracted a boatload of casual gamers, but perhaps I am wrong. GTA III/VC sold so much becuase it allowed people to just f around, and not really worry about completing missions. It is kind of like drive-thru gaming, a quick fix of destruction and anti-social glee that caters to the rampant ADD in America that looks down on most anything that takes measured concentration and judges you if you fail.

HALO and other FPS, imo, do not fit that mold. But with all the pomp and circumstance surrounding HALO2, will and can it attract a GTA/casual crowd, or is it just an orgy of death and destruction for hardcore gamers?? Is it possible for casuals to get a gaming fix from HALO2, and will casuals who clamor for this game because of all the hype be disapponted? Just something I was pondering...

[joquito]

Once you play one FPS, its quite easy to play the rest. I for one typically pick up a FPS specifically to unwind, or frag for ten minutes or so. I enjoy playing story driven adventure games most but find myself going back to FPSs for straight mindless enjoyment. You typically don't have to get involved in the story as much as other games.


Yes I love FPS, some have great depth but some just don't, so please don't blast me for dogging FPS in this post, because I am not.

[Deathstroke]

Or, have you considered that Halo 2 is only selling to the X-box userbase. We'll see if it actually impacts sales of the X-box itself when the NPD rolls around.

[Wan-Fu]

Or, have you considered that Halo 2 is only selling to the X-box userbase. We'll see if it actually impacts sales of the X-box itself when the NPD rolls around.

Perhaps I should be asking to what extent the box has captured the casual crowd. Due in large part to GTA's time-exclusivity, I wold imagine the ps2 has a stranglehold on the mind of the average casual gamer-- i just wonder if the hype around Halo2 will break SOny's hold on the casual gamer, or if FPS is just the wrong genre to attract that crowd.

[Tappy_Tibbons]

The average casual gamer cares more about Halo 2 than GTA SA, that's for sure.

[Wan-Fu]

The average casual gamer cares more about Halo 2 than GTA SA, that's for sure.

Why do you think so?? Why wouldnt you think GTA has more casual appeal than HALO??

[Tappy_Tibbons]

BEcause the casual public LOVES FPS more than anyone gives them credit for. Why do you think 007 sold so well on the N64?

[joquito]

Casual games are predominately into sports titles and FPSs. They are also into whatever is popular which is why the Final Fantasy brand has trounced all other RPGs in sales.

[Wan-Fu]

Casual games are predominately into sports titles and FPSs. They are also into whatever is popular which is why the Final Fantasy brand has trounced all other RPGs in sales.

I always thought FPSers- especially console FPSers were just an extraordinarily vocal minority. If N64 goldeneye hadn't bend a Bond game, no doubt it would still be a classic, but the sales might not have been what they were. Before HALO, how many console FPS ranked in the top twenty or thirty best selling console video games of all time- at that time? I have no idea, but I am thinking not a whole lot. Perhaps a good definition of a casual gamer is in order.

To me, the Final Fantasy/RPG crowd and the Madden Crowd are completely different, with FPSers somewhere in the middle. Not that some people dont enjoy a mix of all three genres , but how many people who buy games with Ray Lewis on the cover are going to be happy playing effeminate Anime turn-based dungeon crawlers? The whole jock/geek split that largely defined the difference between casuals and "hardcore" gamers in the past has now fallen to the wayside with complete mainstream acceptance of video gaming as legitimate non-geek adult entertainment.

I think GTA 3 and VC did much to bring the Madden/NBA LIVE/MLB/NHL crowd out of the woodwork and left a financial and social impact on videogaming that has transformed the industry. Those games were a casual gamers paradise, an adult casual gamers paradise, and this relatively new crowd is here to stay and is spending big bucks. At first, the XBOX was just a toy of those in the know and the perpetually curious and or rich. But not anymore. On retrospect, I think it has turned out to be a trojan horse for introducing the previously PC-centric FPS genre to the casual gamer, and largely due to one game- HALO. Earlier I wondered if casuals would accept HALO2 with open arms like the GTA series, and perhaps I have answered my own question. After running over hookers and sellin dope, what better way to bring morality back to your soul than by saving the human race?

[Spastic Colon Powell]

I always thought FPSers- especially console FPSers were just an extraordinarily vocal minority. If N64 goldeneye hadn't bend a Bond game, no doubt it would still be a classic, but the sales might not have been what they were. Before HALO, how many console FPS ranked in the top twenty or thirty best selling console video games of all time- at that time? I have no idea, but I am thinking not a whole lot. Perhaps a good definition of a casual gamer is in order.

To me, the Final Fantasy/RPG crowd and the Madden Crowd are completely different, with FPSers somewhere in the middle. Not that some people dont enjoy a mix of all three genres , but how many people who buy games with Ray Lewis on the cover are going to be happy playing effeminate Anime turn-based dungeon crawlers? The whole jock/geek split that largely defined the difference between casuals and "hardcore" gamers in the past has now fallen to the wayside with complete mainstream acceptance of video gaming as legitimate non-geek adult entertainment.

I think GTA 3 and VC did much to bring the Madden/NBA LIVE/MLB/NHL crowd out of the woodwork and left a financial and social impact on videogaming that has transformed the industry. Those games were a casual gamers paradise, an adult casual gamers paradise, and this relatively new crowd is here to stay and is spending big bucks. At first, the XBOX was just a toy of those in the know and the perpetually curious and or rich. But not anymore. On retrospect, I think it has turned out to be a trojan horse for introducing the previously PC-centric FPS genre to the casual gamer, and largely due to one game- HALO. Earlier I wondered if casuals would accept HALO2 with open arms like the GTA series, and perhaps I have answered my own question. After running over hookers and sellin dope, what better way to bring morality back to your soul than by saving the human race?

I think that GTA sells well because it appeals more on a pop culture level. Unfortunately we live in an era where being a thug is cool. Now whether they actually take that to a certain extent in reality is another story. But to present the image of thug lifestyle is a big thing with a lot of the younger generation. Look at Def Jam Vendetta, a good fighter that I'll never touch because of the personalities and lifestyles that it represents.

On the other side of the coin, you have the other crowd that GTA appeals to. The already established casual and hardcore gamers. GTA3 really opened up a whole new world that many had not experienced before. And it's open-ended nature was very appealing. For me, it was the only thing that worked in the series as the missions later on in both 3 and Vice City became so cookie-cutter and uninspired, that both remain unfinished as I spent 99% of the time just screwing around in the game.

I think it's really been the "flavor of the week" mentality that has kept the GTA series going for the most part. Like all fads, it will die out over time.

[PapaSmurf]

The casual gamer likes Halo more than GTA, thats for sure...
.PLEASE. Are you kidding me? Maybe the hardcore gamer, but casual my ass.

[Wan-Fu]

I think that GTA sells well because it appeals more on a pop culture level. Unfortunately we live in an era where being a thug is cool. Now whether they actually take that to a certain extent in reality is another story. But to present the image of thug lifestyle is a big thing with a lot of the younger generation. Look at Def Jam Vendetta, a good fighter that I'll never touch because of the personalities and lifestyles that it represents.

On the other side of the coin, you have the other crowd that GTA appeals to. The already established casual and hardcore gamers. GTA3 really opened up a whole new world that many had not experienced before. And it's open-ended nature was very appealing. For me, it was the only thing that worked in the series as the missions later on in both 3 and Vice City became so cookie-cutter and uninspired, that both remain unfinished as I spent 99% of the time just screwing around in the game.

I think it's really been the "flavor of the week" mentality that has kept the GTA series going for the most part. Like all fads, it will die out over time.

Because GTA is so utterly fad-based, and because you are essentially playing a rap video, I have trouble putting it amongst the great original games of the past two generations. Not because the whole thug thing is not done to near perfection, but because the whole premise of living out 50 cent fantasies is just like contributing to the delinquency of morality and good sense in this fair nation. Not that the Rainbow 6-ey xenophobic stuff is exactly my cup of tea either.

However, witnessing the HALO phenomenon makes me wonder if casuals do accept HALO wholeheartedly, will that become the flavor of the month with the industry flooded with even MORE fps than they have now??

[PapaSmurf]

Essentially playing a rap video? That sounds kind of stereotypical to me. All of the GTA games have their basis, and this one doesn't even take place in the now, but ten years from now. I didn't hear any complaints about Vice City and all the Cuban remarks the game had. Now we get to play as a black person (which not many videogames let you do) in the hood (for only the first part of the game mind you) and all tthe sudden I'm living my 50 cent fantasy? Theres so much more to SA then random sterotypes. I don't know if you played the game, but its just good.

I've been a fan of the GTA series since the first one PSX with the birds eye view. They're all the same to me, people aren't buying them because you get to be a black guy in the early 1990's, they buy it because of the freedom of the game. You can do virtually anything. Streetrace, buy clothes, buy fews, mod your cars, sky dive, fly, SWIM, and many other things. The early rap scene and gang wars are just a coat of the game, its much more deep then being a thug.

As for contributing to delinquency of morality and good sense of this fair nation, I don't wanna hear about it. You played Postal 2? I didn't hear people baggin on that when it was clearly more violent. This nation isn't exactly a fair one either, and I'm not talking about the election. Videogames are least of this nations moral problems.

[Wan-Fu]

Essentially playing a rap video? That sounds kind of stereotypical to me. All of the GTA games have their basis, and this one doesn't even take place in the now, but ten years from now. I didn't hear any complaints about Vice City and all the Cuban remarks the game had. Now we get to play as a black person (which not many videogames let you do) in the hood (for only the first part of the game mind you) and all tthe sudden I'm living my 50 cent fantasy? Theres so much more to SA then random sterotypes. I don't know if you played the game, but its just good.

I've been a fan of the GTA series since the first one PSX with the birds eye view. They're all the same to me, people aren't buying them because you get to be a black guy in the early 1990's, they buy it because of the freedom of the game. You can do virtually anything. Streetrace, buy clothes, buy fews, mod your cars, sky dive, fly, SWIM, and many other things. The early rap scene and gang wars are just a coat of the game, its much more deep then being a thug.

As for contributing to delinquency of morality and good sense of this fair nation, I don't wanna hear about it. You played Postal 2? I didn't hear people baggin on that when it was clearly more violent. This nation isn't exactly a fair one either, and I'm not talking about the election. Videogames are least of this nations moral problems.

If somebody told me rockstar was making a game with a black character before I even heard of GTA SA or knew it was a GTA game, I would have said-- let me guess, he's a gangbanger. Freakin sad. *Thanks God for Men of Valor* Anybody could have called that one sleepwalking. I am not accusing you of living out .50 cent fantasies, but let us not fool ourselves that living out that fantasy is not a signifigant draw to white and black middle class kids and college students that are fascinated with the video veneer of that lifestyle GTA SA gives them.

Looking at the running "battles" between TMG and various board members, I do need to be careful not to fall into the trap of judging a game before I play it, which I am sure both "sides" are guilty of from time to time, and I have not played GTA SA. But, every screenshot I see looks like Boyz in the Hood, so what other conclusion can I draw?

VIdeo games are obviously not the largest moral problems we face, but being an interactive medium, they will naturally have a powerful, if latent and/or subconscious effect on the way people act and react to varying socio/political situations. And this is a video game board.

But Papa, this may be more interesting: what do you think the next generation of GTA games will give us?? We've covered the Mafia, we've done Boyz-n-da-Hood, what next?
Chinese Triads? Russian Mafia? Coffee-bean picker to Dictator? London Underground? I dont mean this in Jest, I really am thinking what Rockstar will do to further the series, or will this formula become played out?

[sw33tjimmy]

i love the black gunny in halo/halo2. "LOCK AND LOAD ONE 40 ROUND CLIP!"

[mandark]

But Papa, this may be more interesting: what do you think the next generation of GTA games will give us?? We've covered the Mafia, we've done Boyz-n-da-Hood, what next?
Chinese Triads? Russian Mafia? Coffee-bean picker to Dictator? London Underground? I dont mean this in Jest, I really am thinking what Rockstar will do to further the series, or will this formula become played out?

I may catch some flak here, but here goes. How about as a middle-eastern terrorist intent on blowing up everything in sight. Think about it. You get your assignment from the head terrorist and it will completely up to you how you will accomplish your mission. The only problem with this game is its only going to be one mission long since the first mission will obviously be a suicide mission. :D

[PapaSmurf]

but since its GTA, you'd just end up back in the hospital, and with that I've gone to far, last I talk about something like that.