The Walking Dead won Game of the Year at the VGA’s last night. So…how does this relate to Halo you may ask?
Simple, it brings episodic gaming to the forefront.
That means Spartan Ops! Now that the gaming community has giving it’s full seal of approval of episodic gaming with TWD winning, games like Halo 4 with an episodic feature can thrive even more.
What does this mean for we, the gamers? It hopefully means that Spartan Ops will continue beyond the initial 10 episodes. Borrowing from the success of the Walking Dead, Microsoft/343 need to strike while the iron’s hot so to speak. Continuing Spartan Ops not only gives us more fresh content to play, but more story and character development to look forward to. The potential for spin offs be they novels, toys, a spin-off game of more are all there on the table now. Personally, I’d LOVE to have a novel on Majestic Squad, as well as action figures from McFarlane of them, and Mega Bloks sets, not to mention a spin-off game ala ODST.
The gaming industry has been accused by it’s critiques of becoming stale. Well with episodic gaming, it’s freshened up quite a bit and thankfully, Halo is at the forefront!
So I have to give a full Kudos to the folks at TellTale games for winning GOTY with their episodic game as that means, Spartan Ops can/should/MUST live longer than 10 episodes.
Folks, NOW is the time to let 343 know you want MORE Spartan Ops. If you want more Halo, more adventures, more story, let 343 know that. Give them as many ideas as you can think of. (Be nice about ti though)
I’m SO glad TWD won for this very reason. Of course had Halo 4 been up for GOTY (as it should have been), then of course I’d have voted for it instead. As it is though, this is the next best outcome for Halo/Spartan Ops and the gaming industry in general. We’re always going to have campaign related games. Having episodes to continue to play only adds to the richness and replayability of games.
-Sal
As much as I loved Halo 4, I’m so glad that The Walking Dead won game of the year. It’s a master class in storytelling, in videogames. One of the best games I’ve played in years.
I’m excited to see what new environments we get in Spartan Ops too. While the first half of the season was fun, it deserves it’s own assets rather than re-used Campaign maps.
It makes me happy that videogames are finally starting to be accepted by society as an art form. While it was cool being part of a niche little outside group, at least now the industry should thrive more. Then Bungie can finally achieve world domination. 😛
I’m conflicted when it comes to GOTY. Although I’m biased towards Halo 4 simply for it being a Halo game, TWD was an AMAZING game. I’m hoping SO Season 2 (assuming there is one) can achieve the same level of storytelling, character development, even EMOTION. Not just “go save some egg-heads”. TWD is a perfect example of how gamers do want emotion and sure, Halo 4’s campaign did that (though perhaps not quite on the same level), but I’d love to see SO get some of it too.
I’m not saying I don’t like SO, I love it, but I definitely think it needs further development. And some more play spaces. And not have a random break in the middle (WHY, 343, WHY?!). Just my “2 cents”. That’s what you guys across the pond say, right? 😉