Tuesday will be a defining day in video gaming history

With 1 million pre-orders in the can, Microsoft’s Halo 3 release tomorrow is already guaranteed to break first day sales records and rival Hollywood box office in terms of revenues around a blockbuster release. Who in Hollywood would sniff at a $60 million minimum opening day gross? Indeed, the early reviews are are as stellar as the game setting itself.

The launch of what is arguably the most anticipated game since, well, Halo 2, is a cause for reflection about why video gaming really has not gained the stature of the Hollywood box office even if it does have the revenues.

First, video gaming generally is still about a fairly limited demographic. Sure, sure, the various game organizations like to talk about the average age of the gamer being 30 and how the male-dominated gender split has shifted as women embrace casual gaming online and on phones. But let’s not kid ourselves here. Women and oldsters may be contributing to the games industry at the margins, but financially, the young male remains the cash cow of this industry. Female and older gamers do play, to be sure, but they aren’t fans in the same way these groups are fans of TV shows or celebrities. The kind of broad audience and devotion that fuels other kinds of music and filmed entertainment is not present in gaming.

Second, this is a tough entertainment form to report on. Take it from a seasoned gaming journalist, making video gaming interesting to the uninitiated is not easy. Look at all the gyrations the G4 cable channel goes through to make its game footage as entertaining as, well clips from this weekend’s blockbuster. Both music and film have eco-systems of media coverage around them that popularize and proliferate the properties. The gaming press continues to speak to and about the core gamers. Watch the Halo 3 coverage in the press over the next few days. Most of it will focus on the fans themselves, because they are easier to cover. There may be a clip or two from Halo 3 itself, but first-person game play does not convey excitement or entertainment to most viewers. Gaming is the kind of thing that is exciting to do, not to watch.

Which also explains why this medium still has failed to generate compelling stories and characters. Halo 3 has a hero, for instance, but who is Master Chief? Master Chief is you, and so as a character he must be an empty vessel, faceless, voice-less, character-less. Intricate compelling storyline only get in the way of interactive gameplay, or they get forgotten. As a form of entertainment, gaming has built-in a set of limitations that make it wonderful fun but bad mass media.  

Posted under Michael's Blog