Have you guys watched the Halo OSDT marketing video?

Dunno if it is just because I've come up through years of misrepresentation in advertising starting back with the Atari 2600 but when a mythos based video game ad avoids showing the in game engine, the automatic assumption is that they are afraid to do so because the game is a steaming turd. Despite the language it seemed pretty American to me too, Starship Troopers with some Terminator future flashback thrown in.

Is post-traumatic stress disorder that big a sell in the US?

=)

Cheers
 
Is the long version of the 'realistic' commercial out yet? Saw snippets in Al's post.
 
I do not like the long version that much. The short one however is brilliant. Still, nothing can top the first Gears Of War ad on TV IMO.
 
What do I think?

It's Halo so naturally it'll be over hyped and exhaulted to the extreme.

The commercial is very cool. Using a foreign language and music makes it seem more "international" and insistent upon showing humanity in Halo is not just whitey but everyone else..........kinda............as everyone except a couple black guys in the commercial was white.

The production values are excellent, but god I've always hated Halo's mechanical and conceptual design. It seems pretty primitive for the 26nd century. I'd think even normal soldiers would probably have powered suits of some kind like the Master Chief's, especially when they are close to being implemented in the real world in the 21st century. Bungie and Microsoft didn't think about the technical stuff too much for wanting to create some kind of super realized universe that requires someone to waste their time having to read some books and stuff just to get the full story, but of course, that means possibly more profit.
 
Mobius1aic said:
It seems pretty primitive for the 26nd century. I'd think even normal soldiers would probably have powered suits of some kind like the Master Chief's, especially when they are close to being implemented in the real world in the 21st century. Bungie and Microsoft didn't think about the technical stuff too much for wanting to create some kind of super realized universe that requires someone to waste their time having to read some books and stuff just to get the full story, but of course, that means possibly more profit.
Click to expand...

This is all going into fantasy land, but...

I'd imagine even in the future, galactic governments will still face strict budget constraints. I don't imagine things suddenly get magically cheaper.

And if you look at contemporaries. Warhammer 40k in the 40th millenium, your standard ground troops don't have powered armor. Star Wars, Stormtroopers had some nice parade armor but it wasn't all that effective. And even then your standard Empire and Rebel soldiers had no armor whatsoever. Check out most futuristic Anime. Your average soldier still has no armor.

So I'm not sure why ODST's would be all that different. They are after all just a branch of the standard infantry. As with most other space opera's only your elite units (Spartans in the case of Halo, Space Marines in W40k) get the really spiffy uber armor and weapons.

Regards,
SB
 
Silent_Buddha said:
This is all going into fantasy land...
Click to expand...
Which is the key point here - all of these are fantasy computer games! The designers don't have to adhere to real-world realism if they don't want to. eg. MGS4 is beyond preposterous! If a game wants to push tech forwards, or hold it back, it's the designers choice with a view to creating the best game.
 
Again, it's about being generally negative towards Halo - if that's the case, you'll be able to argue about anything concerning the game...
 
Shifty Geezer said:
Which is the key point here - all of these are fantasy computer games! The designers don't have to adhere to real-world realism if they don't want to. eg. MGS4 is beyond preposterous! If a game wants to push tech forwards, or hold it back, it's the designers choice with a view to creating the best game.
Click to expand...

Aye, which is why I prefaced it with that. Was only showing examples that ODST isn't exactly an outlier when it comes to a Sci Fi/Fansty setting having some basis in real world foundations. :)

Regards,
SB
 
Silent_Buddha said:
This is all going into fantasy land, but...

I'd imagine even in the future, galactic governments will still face strict budget constraints. I don't imagine things suddenly get magically cheaper.

And if you look at contemporaries. Warhammer 40k in the 40th millenium, your standard ground troops don't have powered armor. Star Wars, Stormtroopers had some nice parade armor but it wasn't all that effective. And even then your standard Empire and Rebel soldiers had no armor whatsoever. Check out most futuristic Anime. Your average soldier still has no armor.

So I'm not sure why ODST's would be all that different. They are after all just a branch of the standard infantry. As with most other space opera's only your elite units (Spartans in the case of Halo, Space Marines in W40k) get the really spiffy uber armor and weapons.

Regards,
SB
Click to expand...

Powered suits/armor is just a way to differentiate units. Especially when you want to convey the "badassness" of a certain hero/group (Master Chief/Spartans). Arguably, you could convey MC's "badassery" more by saying he's got the same equipment through and through, but he just happens to be better trained and and has more courage, exemplifying his human merits rather than the technical ones. You see a similar issue with anime like in Gundam. Ace pilots are given specially tuned/developed mobile suits when in real life, with fighter aircraft, equipment is based on the mission, with ace and new pilots flying the same thing.

As for technological realism, MGS did a better job of actually explaining what it had going on as opposed to Halo, but Halo wasn't trying to. MGS was reliant on such explanations (whether real & practical or not) in order to establish a link between it's very near future world and ours. Sure it had many things that are technically infeasible, but it did a good job of making them seem so. However much of the tech in the MGS games certainly makes sense in usefullness, but the implementation is currently damn near impossible. The Cyborg Ninja is my favorite of these. While MGS took the idea to the extreme, an actual suit comprised of artificial muscle fibers contracted through electricity makes alot more sense in terms of flexibility and anatomical fitting I think in comparison to some servo motor frame. Only problem is that it still uses the human body as it's structure which means the body (specifically the skeletal system) will still be supporting the loads and impacts and a muscle suit would probably use much more electricity than a servo motor frame. It would make a better suit for most military applications. Also I must note that exoskeleton is not a proper name unless it provides any of the following: structure or load support. A powered suit with armor that does not bare movement/working loads (just bullet and damage impact) wouldn't be an exoskeleton either. Thought I'd just elaborate a bit with my nerdy-ness. Hence forth the Cyborg Ninja in MGS probably couldn't be equiped with an exoskeleton unless parts of his body were replaced by mechanical systems like the legs and arms. In real life such agility would probably only come from a "soft" powered suit. Also in such application, the same artificial muscle fibers could be used as armor as was displayed in Crysis. We already have the technology to change molecular properties such as pliability and shape with the application of heat or electricity. You can see similar effect with IIRC a mixture of cornstarch and water in the right ratio. It becomes very hard under load, but remains semi-liquid like in a relaxed state.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, I get all that. But it seems some aren't getting the idea of ODST.

It's not about being a nigh invincible Spartan.

It's about being a slightly above average infantry troop. Kind of like the US Marines in WW II. You go in, clear a beachhead, let the army grunts take over.

It's about experiencing the Halo-verse from a more fragile and vulnerable perspective, rather than being a one man army. Although I have a feeling you'll still be more of a one man army than not. :p Just with the story tailored around a not-as-invincible ODST.

Regards,
SB
 
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