Video Games Reach New Level With Halo 3

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about Halo 3 advertising, and obviously the advertising helped. According to Microsoft Halo 3 became the highest selling entertainment launch in history. In a one day total it sold 170 million dollars.

I understand that a game sells for more than a ticket to the movies or a book, but I never ever thought that Halo 3 would be the most successful one day entertainment sale ever. The sterotype of people playing video games, and Halo, are that they are nerds who sit in front of the television screen and are attached to their seat. But obvioulsy there are alot more nerds out there than we thought there were.

Dance, Dance, Shrink Your Pants

We have been talking about the importance of video game culture outside of the entertainment value in our pop culture class, and here is an interesting example. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (still can't believe I'm saying that) is trying to combine video games and fitness together.

As Los Angelas is opening a new fitness center, Schwarzenegger is featuring Dance Dance Revolution within it, in which you can dance those calories off! The game is designed for kids in the age group of school grades K-9. For those unfamiliar with the game, it is another Japanese game import, in a somewhat arcade game style, in which the game is played with your feet on a dance pad, with four arrows. There is also a screen in front of the players and they try to repeat the arrows on the screen with their feet, and you can make some sweet sweet moves without needing to be a dancer.

I think this is a great way to get kids to lose weight. Kids seem to love the game, and they probably won't even think about losing weight. Obviously eating healthy and having some other form of exercise won't hurt, but I think if parents want a new way to get their kids in shape they should try.....A VIDEO GAME...quite amazing.

The Halo Phenomenon

The new Halo game comes out in the U.S. on Tuesday at midnight. I know why gamers love Halo, because you get to shoot creatures with the best weapons ever created. But how does the hype for this game become larger than any other game, possibly ever?

For example, their is a new Moutain Dew called Game Fuel that has a Halo 3 picture on it. This made me wonder, was this whole new drink created just for the Halo 3 game? Did Bungie (designer) pay for advertising for a new soda? So I went to my second brain, Wikipedia, and searched Game Fuel and it brought me to Halo 3 advertising! So I instead searched Mountain Dew and Game Fuel is only available for 12 weeks, so my assumption is yes Bungie did create a whole new brand of Mountain Dew just to advertise Halo 3!

Also, what seems to be the ultimate advertising spot of late, Burger King, is going to have Halo 3 promotions on their larger drink cups and french fry cartons. To my knowledge this is the only video game I have ever seen advertised on Burger King cups and/or Mountain Dew cans. This is amazing to me that a video game has this much hype. Only the Simpsons movie has had more hype of late. Halo 2 sold $125 million worth of copies its first week. So lets see how this version, with its mass advertising does.

Play Station 4, Xbox720?

I am not one to go out and get the latest version of a video game counsel because I don't feel like shipping 400-500 dollars of my own money just to have a new system come out two years later. In 2004 my PS2 that I originally bought broke and I paid $350 for a new one. Then that one broke and I paid the same amount for an Xbox. I still have that Xbox today, but no good games come out for it anymore! So this made me wonder if, IF i bought the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 soon, when would I expect the new system to come out for it.

Well, Ken Kutaragi, the chief executive officer for Sony, says, ""As a matter of course, I have the vision of Playstation 4, 5 and 6, which will merge into the network." Not only that, he sees the sixth version coming out around 2018. He already has PlayStation 6 in the works 12 years down the line! That means one every four years, if it goes according to plan.

I like playing video games, and i think video game systems are better than computer games (takes up too much space). So in order to keep playing video games I have to get the new system, pay about $500 every four years or so, and that's not including games and accessories that I will need to pay for...it makes you wonder if they don't already have more plans than Kutaragi has mentioned....maybe they already have version seven made!?

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For my first research paper in my Pop Culture class, I wrote my paper on the history of Final Fantasy. I am a huge fan of Final Fantasy games, but in doing my research I learned alot about the game. For instance it was rumored, the designer Hironobu Sakaguchi, named this game Final Fantasy because it was going to be his last game. I also learned the highest selling Final Fantasy game of all time was the seventh installment. You would think after all these years the first one would have sold the most, but it's not even close. Final Fantasy I has sold 1.3 million copies to date, while Final Fantasy VII has sold 9.8 million.