The Big Picture: Combat Evolved?

[Mr. Omega]

I think it was looking a little too deep into things, but at the same time, that's what I enjoyed about it. Looking forward to future episodes.

Admittedly, I would have prefered a different topic, but as stated at the start, what better way to make a big first impression?

 

[firemark]

Personally, I want to know why you choose Halo? With all of it's fanboy/girls, it seems like you're trying to hard to make a splash with your first episode. Yes I've heard of the bad publicity is still publicity stunt and this just seemed too easy. I mean I enjoyed playing all of the Halo games and will defend some of them on creative merit, but the story...yeah...that's just way to easy to pick apart. Seriously, how many people have to pick on the space marines being an old, apparently dried up, boring storyline? It is, we know this, you know this and yet it still sold several million copies. What Halo does well, it does really well. What it doesn't do well is plot and characterization.

The idea that Halo is making some sort of social statement about racial inequality and diversity is just too far fetched. Let's look at it from a game developer's standpoint. When designing a shooter, is it better to have the player character shoot at the same thing over and over again, or for he/she to shoot at a variety of different looking/moving/acting enemies, each with their own weakness and strengths? Clearly the answer is to have a wide range of enemies to keep the game interesting. Therefore, a plot must be made that justifies a bunch of different looking aliens. I don't know if this is the ultimate driver for why it's so diverse, but it's more valid than the race idea. Does society still have issues with racism? Yes. In the United States we have a Black History Month. Do you know what this does? It further separates African-American's from Caucasian's by forcefully segregating the community for a month. I live in a city where, each year, there is a Black Expo. Is this supporting diversity? No! It is drawing lines in the proverbial racial sand, saying that we have our culture, you have yours. It is an underlying current in political, economic, and religious stereotypes and it only makes sense to try and find it in obscure places such as a videogame where you play against a variety of alien species.

I'm sorry, I guess I may have gone on a rant there, but I've come to expect better from Bob and I hope you get enough views to justify a more interesting topic next time. Overall, I like the premise and I like the person.

 

[walsfeo]

And so The Game Overthinker gets buried deeper yet under the ever growing pile of Moviebob's obligations.

This episode was just like a Game Overthinker episode, only on The Escapist.

Bob, I think you missed a real opportunity to contrast the Halo mono-culture against the multi cultures and integrated squad from Mass Effect.

In all I can't wait to see what else comes out here.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

Has it crossed bobs mind that maybe their isn't some big ugly subtext and maybe the reason for all the different creeds and colours of the enemies is to give you more variation in the things you shoot at?

He repeatedly says things along the lines of "It's unintentional, but seriously guys?" So in short, yes he has, it just makes for less interesting discussion matter. Think if you had to write an essay on a book. Would you write about the plot and characters, or would you discuss the similarities between the book and the blueprint for a giant mecha-zombie dragon?
The blueprint option of course, because people will keep reading that one rather than discussion about how character x and character y talked a lot.

OT: While your inferences are technically valid Bob, like you pointed out, they don't mean anything, that's just an accidental projection of the human state of mind of "different is scary".

 

[person11]

The diversity was totally not the defining characteristic, Y'know

 

[sagacious]

I know it's kind of your job to over think things but would you not think that maybe the reason that the enemies in halo are alot more diverse then the player characters is because......they're the ones we're looking at all the time. It's a first person game remeber?

Also there are no good guys in halo. The spartans kill just as many humans as they do covenant, and in all of the stories surrounding the series, just as much sympathy is conveyed for the races of the covenant as for the humans, including halo 2 where you actually play as an elite.
In fact the only thing that comes close to a villain in the entire series is the flood......you know the homogenous consumption driven mass, the only aim of which is to propagate itself by means of wiping all individualism from the face the universe.

Exactly. He is reading waaay to much into this, and he's coming at it from the wrong angle. By the end of Halo 3 you're practically working with the Covenant against the Flood, whose STATED GOAL in the ark terminals is the utter homogenizing of the entire galaxy/universe.
Oh, and also: We were fighting the Covenant because their "arcane belief system" led them to try and wipe us out. I guess because they looked more diverse we should have just let them kill all the humans, right? Oh, and they were going to extinguish all life from the galaxy because their crazy prophets wanted to become gods. THAT is why we were fighting them, not because they were "the other". And honestly, DIVERSITY IN YOUR ENEMIES IS NECESSARY FOR INTERESTING GAMEPLAY. Oh, and one last point: you might want to note that for Halo 3, your team is comprised primarily of an alien, a black guy, a robot, and the love interest is an AI. If that isn't a diverse cast, I don't know what is.

wow, I never thought about it quite that way, but you are exactly right

 

[HT_Black]

Somewhere, A HALO designer just filled his pants. Kudos, Mr. Chipman. Kudos.

 

[imnot]

Atlhough is nice the covvies all work together, they are meglomaniacs, who will kill everyone and are bit mean and nasty, I mean the jackels eat grunts s o i'm told.

Still nice new show.

 

[Ampersand]

I know it's kind of your job to over think things but would you not think that maybe the reason that the enemies in halo are alot more diverse then the player characters is because......they're the ones we're looking at all the time. It's a first person game remeber?

Also there are no good guys in halo. The spartans kill just as many humans as they do covenant, and in all of the stories surrounding the series, just as much sympathy is conveyed for the races of the covenant as for the humans, including halo 2 where you actually play as an elite.
In fact the only thing that comes close to a villain in the entire series is the flood......you know the homogenous consumption driven mass, the only aim of which is to propagate itself by means of wiping all individualism from the face the universe.

Exactly. He is reading waaay to much into this, and he's coming at it from the wrong angle. By the end of Halo 3 you're practically working with the Covenant against the Flood, whose STATED GOAL in the ark terminals is the utter homogenizing of the entire galaxy/universe.
Oh, and also: We were fighting the Covenant because their "arcane belief system" led them to try and wipe us out. I guess because they looked more diverse we should have just let them kill all the humans, right? Oh, and they were going to extinguish all life from the galaxy because their crazy prophets wanted to become gods. THAT is why we were fighting them, not because they were "the other". And honestly, DIVERSITY IN YOUR ENEMIES IS NECESSARY FOR INTERESTING GAMEPLAY. Oh, and one last point: you might want to note that for Halo 3, your team is comprised primarily of an alien, a black guy, a robot, and the love interest is an AI. If that isn't a diverse cast, I don't know what is.

but does that mean your ALLIES have to look the same? hell no.

Their soldiers the wear uniforms, also theres normally only like 2 or 3 or them on screen at a time and in spite of that they still have a surprising amount of diversity (they were even given names.)

 

[Ferricyanide]

I always saw halo not as mono-culture vs multi-culture, but more as the enlightened Atheistic minority triumphing over the crusading majority.
I'm a christian mind, but that seems to be the attitude/message the halo games convey. After all, The Humans (read: atheists) only start to triumph after they win over the elites to their cause. (The elites find out that their religion is bullshit meant to control them)

This was always what I read into it. The Covenant are fanatics being manipulated by "Prophets." Pretty obvious symbolism, I think.

But that trailer with the blue eyes thing... that's a little unsettling. I definitely agree with the idea that the Covenant is more interesting. I always preferred the Covenant's style to the comparatively bland Spartans, and this was true even after I found out they were basically trying to kill everyone in the universe. (Speaking of which, regardless of what you might think of the Covenant, they were trying to kill everyone in the universe. Kind of an important factor in the discussion.)

 

[Jikuu]

The faces creep me out, but that's probably a good thing in the end. I really enjoyed it, but in general, I like it when MovieBob gets deep into culture or history in his movie rants even though I dislike watching movies. Keep it up. Nice to see the new series.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Ok, I'm just gonna say one thing, then I'll leave.

The reason the Spartans are so mono-typical is that they represent the human race sacrificing it's own humanity to prevent their destruction.

And that "common goal" the Covenant are working towards is the accidental destruction of all life in the galaxy.

 

[Bobic]

Has it crossed bobs mind that maybe their isn't some big ugly subtext and maybe the reason for all the different creeds and colours of the enemies is to give you more variation in the things you shoot at?

He repeatedly says things along the lines of "It's unintentional, but seriously guys?" So in short, yes he has, it just makes for less interesting discussion matter. Think if you had to write an essay on a book. Would you write about the plot and characters, or would you discuss the similarities between the book and the blueprint for a giant mecha-zombie dragon?
The blueprint option of course, because people will keep reading that one rather than discussion about how character x and character y talked a lot.

OT: While your inferences are technically valid Bob, like you pointed out, they don't mean anything, that's just an accidental projection of the human state of mind of "different is scary".

But I could argue that there's no projection whatsoever, they just wanted some funky looking creatures to shoot at.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

Interesting, this show looks like it could be either pretty good or awesome, however i'd keep the political stuff to a minimum if i were you.

I think you may have a point with this though i don't own any of the halo games.

However i wouldn't worry much about it spreading some sort of message. Most (not all) halo players are stupid, already racist 10 year-olds and incabable of noticing something like that anyway.

on the other hand...

Has it crossed bobs mind that maybe their isn't some big ugly subtext and maybe the reason for all the different creeds and colours of the enemies is to give you more variation in the things you shoot at?

Like i said i don't own any halo games but i'm pretty sure that each type of enemy would use different tactics. so yeah, i'm pretty sure it would be a gameplay thing, interesting episode though.

If you're right however maybe bungie is putting the player in the posistion of a citizen of the country/planet that the spartans are defending and the games are like war films that paint the obviously evil/not as good as we're made to belive spartans as the perfect citizens of america/ earth (i think most of them are american).

 

[Mechsoap]

yeah i always wondered why the multi cultured aliens where evil.

 

[Littaly]

Nah, I'm really not with you on this one. Whatever racist undertones there are in Halo, I'm pretty sure they're coincidental. Still, I guess it's an interesting thought nonetheless.

Also, congratz on an intro theme that doesn't suck

 

[WaderiAAA]

I love reading too much into things.

Also...Movie Bob is the one to get a second show? No offence ment but...Movie Bob?! Da fuck?

Can't wait for that Hit with an Axe spin off...

It was either that or give LRR their fifth show.

 

[Prince Regent]

"I'm Bob and thats the big picture"

I really hope you aren't planning to make this your "catchphrase" because if you want to be taken seriously you shouldn't try snound like an a local American television host.
I'm very serious about this too, anchorman catchphrases are really really anoying to the rest of modern society.

Aside from that, I've never heard anyone else compare Halo to facist ideology.
So good job.

 

[Padwan Panda]

While I didn't exactly agree with Bob's views I still found this entertaining and look forward to future instalments.

 

[ZelosRaine]

Look out Extra Credits!