Time: Halo players are hardcore geeks in own invisible ghetto

Posted Sep 4, 2007 at 10:40PM by QJ Staff Listed in: Xbox 360 Tags: Bungie Studios, Master Chief, Time Magazine
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Get back in your invisible ghetto, hardcore geeks! - Image 1Hardcore gamers belong to an invisible subculture in America made of enthusiasts who love games with a lonely, alienated, unironic passion. Or at least, that's what you'll find out from a Time Magazine article with Bungie Studios' upcoming Xbox 360 game Halo 3 on its cover.

To be fair, the article gave praise to Halo for its story "worthy of note." Master Chief's exploits are defined as "rich and complicated in ways that we're not used to in video games." Since our Spartan guy isn't Donkey Kong or an Italian plumber trying to save his girlfriend, he's deep - enigmatic supersoldier guy behind a mask and battle armor kind of deep.

Such a bad-ass video game character managed to have his own following of fans, and Bungie's office is considered by Time as one of his followers' temples. Those who dwell in Master Chief's universe were considered "hard-core."

Even before the third installment's release, Halo 3 is expected to be the premier example of video games as art form with genuine emotional meaning. That art though, is "not shared by the world at large." Mainstream media still enjoys its Harry Potter and Star Wars, while Halo gamers are left in their so-called ghetto.

As Time Magazine's writer sees it, Bungie Studios is yet to break out of its "invisible geek ghetto" to join the popular kids. Master Chief is not considered mainstream yet, and Bungie hasn't legitimized Halo by associating it with more "respectable" media. To stress this point, the writer said that "It's doubtful that many people reading this could say exactly, or even approximately, what the Halo games are about."

 
 
 

Comments [refresh]

by Glasseater! - 2007-09-04 18:35
» ha!

damn this guy needs to get off his pedestal, seems like hes just writing about something he dosent understand.

And video games arent mainstream?! they are commercials all over the place, just because the author is out of the gaming loop, dont mean he has to write a *****ty article about it.

"There is an invisible subculture in America. Those who belong to it love it with a lonely, alienated, unironic passion. "

Yeah because all gamers are nerds who hide in there parents basement.



/rant

by qw - 2007-09-04 20:38
» Agreed with above

This guy is a clown who needs to either be fired or given different assignments (preferably the former), because he obviously doesn't have a clue. All of the "popular kids" at my high school play Halo, and everyone who doesn't knows what it is, even most of the girls.



Maybe he went online for a game of Halo 2 and got owned by people less than half his age, so he figures his undeserved position at Time is a good way to vent? What a joke.



Let's see what N'gai Croal thinks about this, he is going to tear Mr. Grossman a new one.

by ITS TRUE - 2007-09-04 23:32
» !!!!

Halo players are hardcore geeks! No pu,s,s,y for geeks.

by Get a life sony fanboi - 2007-09-05 00:36
» even better get a girl friend

...

by kv - 2007-09-05 03:31
» Wtf?

I can say exactly what Halo is about, it's about Master Chief trying to stop the Covenant from blowing up the whole freaking galaxy with Halo because they think it will take them on a Great Journey...

by Xbox is the best - 2007-09-05 04:34
» oh jeez

probably another person hired by sony lol most likely not, most likely a non gamer trying to figure out why halo is so friggin popular

by Jesus Chrst - 2007-09-05 08:33
» ROFL

It's ironic how he goes on about it not being mainstream enough, yet it's one of the biggest stories in TIME magazine this month.



Duh?

by Spectre - 2007-09-05 10:43
» HAHAHAHA

You guys are retarded.



When an average person who doesn't play games thinks of games, what do they think of?



Mario.

GTA.

Tetris?



Halo, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Zelda, Street Fighter, Half-Life? These franchises have yet to make themselves iconic and represent video games. Have they come close? Yes. Are they known throughout the business? Yes. But until they've secured a place in POPULAR culture, there's no way in hell it will ever be what we all believe them to be.



Mario basically kept alive and revived the gaming industry in the 80's. Tetris was a puzzle masterpiece that's emulated by puzzle games til this day. GTA brought multiple lawsuits, controversy, and has secured its spot as one of the most known games because of its mature content. Everything else? They haven't reached that plateau.



Here's something to think about:

Super Mario

Michael Jordan

Muhammed Ali

Albert Einstein

Michael Jackson

Elvis Presley

Star Wars

The Lord of the Rings

Porsche

Toyota

Hulk Hogan

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hitler

Bill Clinton



Iconic. Mainstream. These are a list of what are both. RAWR

by muhammad is sorta known - 2007-09-05 11:54
» ohhh kay

porche and martin luther king , i know nothing about, and elvis was a fat overweight heavy, tub of lard, and died on slim shady's toilet









RE-ELECT Bill Clinton...........the bestest president eva'

or at least his wife, so we can see his funny antics in the backround......, i wish i can grow up and be just like him, play sax-a-ma-fone, and get blow jobs.... and have a country love me



BUSH sucks BHALLZ

by Skippedebebop - 2007-09-05 15:16
» Wtf

I like how TIME Mag acts like Halo has a deep storyline. It is known for its multiplayer and thats why my friends and I play it. The Story mode sucks.



The Only Stories that are good in video games are Metal Gear Solid, Zelda, Heaven Sword, gears of War, God of War. Not Halo, the only reason its so big is because of multiplayer. And It is mainstream. They sold out to mountain dew.

by Eviscerator - 2007-09-05 16:36
» Video games as an art medium.

Videogames sell well, and are definitely wildly popular. In many cases videogames make more money than movies. The only problem with video games is that they have yet to be respected as an art form and a way to tell an involving story. This is something the television and movie industry fears, if more people accepted video games as a valid art form it would REALLY start making a dent in the sales of movies as well as television viewership. That is why the media has a tendancy to be biased against video games by painting it as a negative thing. Anyway, just food for thought.

by James - 2007-09-05 17:59
» Okkkay

Heavenly Sword has a better campaign mode than Halo? Wow. You can probably count the people who agree with that statement on one hand.



Halo does not get 10/10s in mags and the original is not #7 on Metacritic solely because of its multiplayer mode, the story mode is amazing. Most of the people who think the Halo storyline is shallow are people too stupid to understand it, that's probably why you think it sucks. But you're apparently one of those people who thinks all "sell-out" things suck hard, so that's no surprise (it's called marketing, not selling out, when you get older you'll understand)



Just look anywhere, the Halo story has spawned tens of thousands of fan pages, millions of words worth of fan fiction, and some people work for years updating this little thing right here http://halosm.bungie.org/story/ Now tell me, what the hell has God of War done? Sure, it is a great game with a very good story, but it comes nowhere near what Halo has done. In fact, I'd say it's the same for the rest of those games, even Zelda doesn't come close to the level of fan interaction of Halo



LOL I still can't get over Heavenly Sword a better SP game than Halo, that's almost as funny as this Time article

by ACE - 2007-09-05 18:40
» Time Magazine?

How is that old piece of garbage still around? Do average people even read Time magazine....No. The demographic for their magazine has been religated to senior citizens. What a joke.

There is no relation to highschool popularity and video games in any way, shape, or form. I played some Halo. Im not a geek nor am I the stereotype of a computer nerd. Its still a great game. What a pathetic article. No "Pulitzer prize" for that journalist! What a jerk.

by ' - 2007-09-05 21:43
» One thing doesn't really belong on that list

Hulk Hogan is not exactly a household name, unlike the others. I'm sure there are many people out there who don't know wtf a "Hulk Hogan" is.



I mean, I know who he is, even tho I don't watch trash TV or garbage like wrestling, but many people don't have a clue.

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