Casual gamers love Halo 3 more than you

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 20th November 2007
Comments (22) Stumble
I don't care if it has Master Chief on it - I'm desperate for some more BeSpelled!

I don't care if it has Master Chief on it - I'm desperate for some more BeSpelled!

Microsoft is a greedy company sometimes and wants to appeal to both the hardcore and the casual markets at the moment, having just launched a massive advertising campaign to attract more casual gamers to the Xbox 360.

That said, it may be a greedy company but Bill Gates must be doing something right. A new independent study has just shown that Halo 3 has more of a casual appeal than Guitar Hero 3. You have to admit that that seems a bit odd.

The study, which was performed by the BrandIntel research group according to Gamasutra, looked at the appeal of the two games across a selection of different demographics. The end report said that Halo 3 had 'over-achieved' in terms of reactions from casual gamers.

There could be a few reasons for this and the massive advertising campaign for the game is the obvious culprit, but it's also possible that casual gamers are being drawn in by the promise of the Forge game mode and the simple multiplayer set-up.

So, will this news mean that a new Halo 3 version of BeSpelled could be on the cards? I certainly hope so and, in a world where you can play a Orange Box version of Peggle it doesn't seem that unlikely.

What did you think of Halo 3 and Microsoft's advertising campaigns? Let us know in the forums.
Quote Hamish 20th November 2007, 11:47
probably cos its so over-rated :p

/me dons the flameproof suit
Quote Delphium 20th November 2007, 11:55
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish
probably cos its so over-rated :p

QFT!
tbh. ;)
Quote sub routine 20th November 2007, 13:10
I concur.
Quote Daniel114 20th November 2007, 13:14
Wait.... do you mean they love the game more than they love me, or that they love the game more than I love the game?
Quote Cadillac Ferd 20th November 2007, 13:29
Wow, more than the Guitar Hero as a franchise? Or more than Guitar Hero III specifically? Cause Halo 3 has been out for a bit longer and is quite a bit cheaper than Guitar Hero III. I thought 'casual gamers' referred only to people who enjoy playing Wii 'games' and occasionally mixing it up and going for one of those oh-so-tough platformer adventure titles I hear so much about? I don't know if this is really all that surprising though because Halo 3 sold quite a few copies and there's more ways to play it than MLG players will have you believe.
Quote Gunsmith 20th November 2007, 14:34
its official, casual gamers are idiots :)
Quote capnPedro 20th November 2007, 17:04
Screw you guys, I enjoyed Halo 3!
Quote Cadillac Ferd 20th November 2007, 18:48
Pssh, I enjoy it way too much, at the expense of my grades.
Quote sui_winbolo 20th November 2007, 23:13
I <3 Halo 3. It's a great game.

Like it or hate it, you can't denounce it's huge success. Microsoft and Bungie just know how to market a game.

And it's much more popular than any other game on this campus. I know a couple of people that just bought a 360 to play it. There's at least a few people on it almost every night. Which is saying a lot considering this is a small campus.

If you can get 4 hockey players to spend hours playing a game on just a 19" screen, you know that there must be some appeal there!

I would allow them to play in my room on my TV since it's a bit bigger. But I don't want them to **** up my Halo 3 stats since they aren't very good. :p
Quote kempez 20th November 2007, 23:33
Meh the casual market can have Halo 3 tbh
Quote Fod 20th November 2007, 23:39
i like halo3! it's a good singleplayer game, and a GREAT multiplayer game. seamless online system - it's genius.
Quote cjmUK 20th November 2007, 23:39
Admittedly I've only briefly played it, but Halo3 is as 'plastic' as they come, and is designed to be played by kids and casual gamers. It's relatively low-tech (not that they market it that way) and easy to pick-up/put down. It's designed to be bought by parents as presents.

I guess some hardcore gamers will give it a go just to cross it off the list, but TBH, when you think about all the decent games that came out this year/are due to come out this year, Halo pales into insignificance.

It's also more broadly marketed than most games; not necessarily more heavily marketed, but the ads are aimed at the mainstream rather than higher-end gamers.
Quote Fod 21st November 2007, 07:13
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjmUK
Admittedly I've only briefly played it, but Halo3 is as 'plastic' as they come, and is designed to be played by kids and casual gamers. It's relatively low-tech (not that they market it that way) and easy to pick-up/put down. It's designed to be bought by parents as presents.

I guess some hardcore gamers will give it a go just to cross it off the list, but TBH, when you think about all the decent games that came out this year/are due to come out this year, Halo pales into insignificance.

It's also more broadly marketed than most games; not necessarily more heavily marketed, but the ads are aimed at the mainstream rather than higher-end gamers.

my apologies but it sounds like you're disagreeing for the sake of sounding like one of the cool kids who wants to be in the minority all the time.
Quote Aankhen 21st November 2007, 08:59
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fod
my apologies but it sounds like you're disagreeing for the sake of sounding like one of the cool kids who wants to be in the minority all the time.
My apologies, but it sounds like you're in denial. :)

If you like it, that's great, you're entitled to your opinion. As far as I'm concerned, Halo is junk.
Quote Jamie 21st November 2007, 09:15
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjmUK
Admittedly I've only briefly played it, but Halo3 is as 'plastic' as they come, and is designed to be played by kids and casual gamers. It's relatively low-tech (not that they market it that way) and easy to pick-up/put down. It's designed to be bought by parents as presents.

I guess some hardcore gamers will give it a go just to cross it off the list, but TBH, when you think about all the decent games that came out this year/are due to come out this year, Halo pales into insignificance.

It's also more broadly marketed than most games; not necessarily more heavily marketed, but the ads are aimed at the mainstream rather than higher-end gamers.

For a start, this game is rated too highly so kids AREN'T supposed to be playing it. The fact that they do annoys me but is really down to the parents.

"low-tech", this game has an amazingly good multiplayer that's can be as tactical as Counter Strike when you play it properly. Whilst it's easy to pick up and play a couple of casual online games it's also very popular with a lot of the more hardcore 360 gamers. Unlike most MP games on the 360, Halo has a very well written match finding system that makes games like CoD4 feel dated.
Quote DougEdey 21st November 2007, 09:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie
For a start, this game is rated too highly so kids AREN'T supposed to be playing it. The fact that they do annoys me but is really down to the parents.

"low-tech", this game has an amazingly good multiplayer that's can be as tactical as Counter Strike when you play it properly. Whilst it's easy to pick up and play a couple of casual online games it's also very popular with a lot of the more hardcore 360 gamers. Unlike most MP games on the 360, Halo has a very well written match finding system that makes games like CoD4 feel dated.

qft
Quote cjmUK 21st November 2007, 09:36
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fod
my apologies but it sounds like you're disagreeing for the sake of sounding like one of the cool kids who wants to be in the minority all the time.

Blimey! I'm not sure how you drew that conclusion.

I'm not so bothered about being in a minority, but being a 'cool kid' would be great. At 37, it would be fantastic to be considered one.

Now if you pictured me as an intransigent old-timer, I think you would have a point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie
For a start, this game is rated too highly so kids AREN'T supposed to be playing it. The fact that they do annoys me but is really down to the parents.

A game's rating rarely indicates the demographic groups who buy (or end up owning) a game.
Quote:
"low-tech", this game has an amazingly good multiplayer that's can be as tactical as Counter Strike when you play it properly. Whilst it's easy to pick up and play a couple of casual online games it's also very popular with a lot of the more hardcore 360 gamers. Unlike most MP games on the 360, Halo has a very well written match finding system that makes games like CoD4 feel dated.

I'll take your word on the MP match finding system - plenty of MP PC games suffer in this regard IMHO. But as the reviews initially indicated, the gfx are very 2006 (not surprising given the standard hardware it was programmed for), and as for being tactical... in my [limited] experience it was more a game for button-mashers.

It's all very subjective of course; it's clearly not my type of game so I'll only see the negative, and I'll defend anyone's right to like the game. But it certainly doesn't surprise me that it's a hit with casual gamers.

[I've just had a little moment of insight: I think one reason I don't like the game is because it published by MS - as a developer on MS platforms, I have to use their products all day; I figure I can't really be doing with playing with their products in my time off]
Quote Fod 21st November 2007, 11:25
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aankhen
My apologies, but it sounds like you're in denial. :)

If you like it, that's great, you're entitled to your opinion. As far as I'm concerned, Halo is junk.

not at all! i don't care how a game looks, only how it plays. the single player campaign is nothing new i'll grant you that but its very well executed. what draws me in the most is the multiplayer - the matchmaking is slick as hell, as is the transparency of it all. the controls are streamlined and accessible (of course no way near as accurate as a PC shooter but meh) and the maps and weapons are balanced to the point of insanity. as much as i have played so far, it's goldeneye v.2
Quote kempez 21st November 2007, 19:27
I have nothing against MS tbh, just don't really like the game. SP was naff and uninteresting and the actual MP game itself isn't something I'm keen on. I agree on the matchmaking system although as I'm average at best, I still seem to play people a lot better than me, unless I practice every day in which case I can occasionally come 3rd :p
Quote Cadillac Ferd 21st November 2007, 23:47
@kempez: What playlist do you normally play in matchmaking? Cause in the ranked playlists I've found that it does a fairly good job of leveling you up to your appropriate level quickly then matches you against people of an appropriate skill level. As for the unranked playlists its obviously going to be kind of a crap shoot.
Quote kempez 22nd November 2007, 20:10
Yep I deffo always play ranked, but it seems to put me against a range of skill levels from really good to just above my own
Quote DougEdey 22nd November 2007, 21:23
That's because it expects you want a challenge, and if you're below the median rank it's all you'll get
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.





Stats: 0.260 seconds