We Are ODST

Wow.

As if the Halo 3 commercials (especially the one with the old soldier talking about how Master Chief gave the UNSC marines hope as he gazes tearfully at the now-famous diorama) weren’t enough to get you right there, Bungie/Microsoft go and pull this on us.

The academic in me also sees how this ad is a great way to reflect on the life of a real-world soldier. The first third of this ad, you would think you were watching a documentary about real-life special forces.  The second act might be fictional soldiers fighting aliens, but it is no less intense of a battle–and not that dissimilar from the kind of confusion and danger experienced in an actual combat scenario.  And the final third of the ad–well, the tone that a funeral scene conveys is never anything less than humbling and bleak, when said scene is done well.

And then at the end, the ODST put their helmets back on and run off to battle, ever-vigilant even in the face of grief.

So come on, college professors, let’s get Halo in the class room and get students talking about how it’s an examination of duty, courage, and sacrifice!

Microsoft E3 Keynote

For us video gamers, E3 is like a sports draft, election night, and a hot date all rolled into one.  Massive amounts of speculation to be confirmed or denied (in real time, thanks to the Internet: you crazy kids who never had to wait for your EGM features don’t know how good it is nowadays), a few surprises, and–if all goes right–a great feeling when it’s all over with.

Microsoft popped out their keynote today, and I’ve got to say that my previous “meh” attitude about the rest of the year has reached nearly debilitating amounts of joy.  It’s gonna be a good twelve months for 360 and PC gamers.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I was there.  I would have love to have been there, but I’m not there.  I’m not a well-traveled video game journalist.  I’m just a fat dude with a laptop and a reliable Interent connection.  So if you want professional, in-depth coverage and commentary, check out Kotaku and Joystiq.

If you want my opinion on the big news items from today, read below.

• Halo: Reach is indeed in the works. Microsoft rolled out a teaser that would make Michael Bay stand up and clap, and it ended with a Spartan saying “We’re not going anywhere.”  The Halo games may be the finest recruitment tool that the US military never realized it had.  The trailer implies that Spartans, not Marines or ODST, will be the main player-characters, and I am using the pluarl because I see this as a squad-based shooter.  Maybe even third-person.  After all, also revealed was the “Firefight” mode for Halo 3: ODST (think Horde mode), and 3rd-person shooter Gears of War did kinda-sorta steal the thunder of the Halo series.  If this game ends up being a 3rd-person tactical shooter, remember: you heard it here first folks.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic will have full-voice acting. I’m cool with this, so long as you can skip the dialogue and get to the freakin’ quest.  In even bigger news, the first cinematic trailer is out and it is beautiful–really beautiful.  This is what the prequel trilogy should have been, but no: we’ve got Jar Jar Binks and Darth Vader giving a slack-jawed “Noooo!!!” at the end of it all.  I will be picking this game up, and if any game can kill WoW it is this one.  I don’t think it will, due to economics of both time and money (that’s a whole new post), but last time I checked there are more people who don’t play WoW than do; this game could bring in those who would have never picked up an MMO otherwise.
• Summer of Arcade is back, or: more reasons to stay broke. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and a re-imagined TMNT: Turtles in Time won’t be hard sells.  Shadow Complex from Epic Games looks pretty sweet, for Contra fans, but it damn sure better have co-op.
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising is coming to the Xbox 360. Awesome.  Five hours of cut scenes punctuated by a few seconds of game play here and there.  I loved every part of Metal Gear Solid 3 except for the cinemas and the original Metal Gear Solid truly captured my imagination, but am I the only person in the world who thinks that Metal Gear Solid 2 was the world’s biggest vanity project?  Am I also the only person in the world who has not played Metal Gear Solid 4–and is perfectly fine with it?  In short: life was fine without a new Metal Gear Solid, life will continue to be fine.  Doesn’t mean I won’t buy it, doesn’t mean I will.
• Ozzy Osbourne is in Brutal Legend. \m/
• Project Natal is going to eliminate the need for the controller…supposedly. I’m sure this will be awesome for at first, but I see too much potential for gimmickry.  That, and so many games require complex body motions: can you imagine playing Gears of War with your body?  Yeah, I’d have a coronary.  Peter Molyneaux, who gave us the Fable series, is involved so we’ll have at least one innovative game, but I see this quickly becoming Wii Remote for the 360.
• Left 4 Dead 2 will be released this year. Too soon.  Way, way too soon.  It will apparently bring lots of cool stuff to the table–more melee weapons and an advanced AI Director–but Valve, would it have hurt you to sit on this thing for a year so I’d feel like I had gotten my money’s worth from buying the first game?  Are times that tough?  Oh, and this game will be set in the South.  Get your stereotypes ready, boys!  EE-HAW!  Break out the Beam and put your arm ’round your cousin’s waist–we gwine to a shindig!
• Nintendo continues to betray its once longtime fans and focus entirely on bringing in new gamers who may or may not stick with the hobby. Okay, we don’t know that for sure.  Their keynote is later this week.  I’m pretty sure I’m right however.  I’ll bet this year they’ll announce Wii Music 2: this time, all you do is put the disc in the machine and dance.  It’s like a CD player with Miis!  What fun!

NXE: Thoughts

I sat down with the NXE last night and played around with it in full.  All in all, it’s pretty cool.  Completely ripped from Apple’s Cover Flow, but pretty cool.  The Avatars (no, I’m not going to ironically call them Miis, because they aren’t Miis) are incredibly awesome.  They have much more personality than the Miis, even with limited customization options (which are, might I add, nowhere near as limited as the customization options that Nintendo offers up).  I have an affinity for my Avatar that I never felt for my Mii.

Speaking of which, here’s the little guy.

It would be nice to have more clothing options, I will admit, and Microsoft promises bi-weekly updates for the next six months.  Hopefully, they are free or at least ridiculously cost efficent (30 new shoes for 40 points?  72 color choices for 40 points?  Not bad.  One pair of NIKE’s for 80 points=EXTORTION).

The new Dashboard is much more aesthetically pleasing, even if it is lifted right from Apple’s Cover Flow style used in iTunes.  It’s quicker, more streamlined, and more visual; a welcome break from the text-heavy Blades system.  While menus are still organized in multiple layers, the transition from one to another is much smoother.

I can’t speak on the Netflix streaming movies, because I suspended my Netflix account.  I may restart it just to use this feature though, as it does seem promising, especially considering I’m a more impulsive movie watcher.  Once in a while, it strikes me that I may want to see movie, and if I’m not in a mood for movies then that’s that–which is why I suspended my account in the first place.

The socialization options offered in the NXE are pure win.  Chat Parties are great if you and a bunch of buddies are all playing different games, but you want to talk to each other (and as one guy who in my Left 4 Dead game last night, it will allow dead players in Gears 2 to remain at least somewhat active).  It’s also great if you and some friends want to arrange your multiplayer sessions then and there, and the new Avatars give the friends list much more personality.

I have read of some problems with the NXE, with Red Rings a-plenty and Microsoft not exactly winning customer service awards, but hopefully the kinks will be worked out soon.  Even Gabe from Penny Arcade is having problems, it seems; hopefully his celebrity will be enough to motivate the engineers into overdrive hot-fix mania.  Maybe Microsoft rushed the release, wanting to beat out Sony’s Home.  Since we all know that Home is never coming out anyway, that was a mistake on their part: or it could just be Microsoft being reliable in their tendency to be less-than-efficient.

If you are one of the lucky ones though, then the NXE is a refreshing take on the soulless Dashboard of old, with more options to game with your friends and a more streamlined interface all around.