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shining halo
Launched for Microsoft’s X-box console, Halo has been, both critically and commercially (it was the fastest game ever to sell 1 million units worldwide) one of the success stories of last year.
Bagging both the award for best Games Console game and the Multiplayer game award, it was also one of the big winners at the 2002 Interactive awards.
“In many ways, Halo looks and feels like a traditional shoot ‘em up,” said the judges, “but to really understand how far beyond that this is, sit down and play it for a while.” Ceri Thomas talked to Richard Teversham, head of Xbox Marketing.
Q. Was winning the BAFTA awards a surprise?
A. It was a fantastic surprise to be voted Best Console Game against such tough opposition. Winning awards is important to the developers of the game as a recognition of years working to create a great game. Awards like this also prolong the life of a game, as it will mean that more gamers will be interested in find- ing out more about an award winning game.
Q. Have you been taken
aback by the sheer acclaim that greeted Halo?
A. It has been overwhelming, and on top of this the fact that gamers continue to play and explore Halo is even more rewarding.
Q. Why do you think Halo struck such a chord? After all, it’s not as if there weren’t any first person combat games before it?
A. Halo struck a chord because it was totally immersive: you would start playing and when stopping for a break you would realise it was five hours later. The story line read like a book, it was an easy game to get involved in, it became progres- sively harder, it is a massive game in terms of scope and levels, and the fun doesn’t stop as there are so many ways to play the game - co-op, four player, 16 player, and every game is different.
Q. What’s next on the cards?
A. New versions of Halo, and, of course, other key games from Bungie. Halo 2 has been announced and Bungie are work- ing hard on it being a ground breaking game for Xbox and Xbox Live. In the mean time PC gamers will soon be able to get their hands on Halo.
It’s a very bullish attitude, but the numbers do back it up. A few weeks after TiVo’s announce- ment, Sky+ delared quarterly fig- ures that showed they were well on course to their 100,000 target.
And Soames believes that’s just the beginning. “We’ve now moved beyond the early adopter,” he continues, “As it gains acceptance and we achieve critical mass, then sales levels will escalate dramatically beyond their current level.”
So maybe the revolution is still coming. Just a little bit more slow- ly than everyone thought.
Photos from top:
Sky+ box; TiVo’s Create WishList screen image; TiVo box
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