It is unknown if Ensemble Studios wanted a war, but it would already seem that some fanboys will give them a war.

The Halo Community has evolved into a ravenously loyal band of geeks. Like any breed of self-respecting fanboy, the Halophiles are fiercely protective of the Intellectual Property to which their imaginations have become bound. Like a mother bear at the mouth of the cave, they don’t take kindly to prospecting interlopers looking to skin a few humps for profit.

Nonetheless, the brainchild of the Bungie Mindshare has become a traded commodity. It takes a village to truly maximize the value to be derived from a fan-base. The Haloverse, if you will, is a multi-layered realm that can be explored with numerous artists through almost every medium: First Person Shooter games, books, graphic novels, action figures, conventions, audio CDs, live concerts [both orchestral and marching band]. Halo is soon to be the subject of a movie. Halo is, even sooner, to be the subject of a Real Time Strategy game. This only accounts for the officially licensed offerings. Let us not forget to mention a vast underground of fanboy-produced art, machinima, and fiction.

Make no mistake. A franchise the Haloverse has become. Of this, there should really be no remorse. Microsoft is not “selling out” as much as they are doing what they have always done – what we should have always predicted they would do… The crew from Redmond has gotten where they are by licensing Intellectual Property. You are surprised? It’s the new currency of the modern age, friends. Did we really think that the MS Machine would not butcher even the most sacred of your cows? I didn’t. And, considering my carnivorous appetite, I could not mind less. Bring on the feast, Bill!

For organizations like Ensemble Studios or Wingnut Studios [or even Bungie Studios], the rage of fanboys is an occupational hazard. When a commodity as precious as Halo’s Intellectual Property is handed by so many entities, it runs a higher risk of corruption. A Mutation can occur as it does with a virus that goes airborne or an Artificial Intelligence construct that runs rampant. It is inevitable that different storytellers will expose the fanboy to different interpretations of the story. It is equally inevitable that the purest of fanboys will complain about this.

In the grand scheme of things, Halo is still a very young franchise. The fans of franchises such as Star Wars and/or Lord of the Rings have had decades [ages, even] to wage war over perceived corruptions in the truths that govern their respective universes. Halophiles, on the other hand, have undergone only a few painful adaptations to new servings of their preferred strain of fiction. Perhaps this why the debates burn so hot. Perhaps we are struggling for a sense of identity and respect.

A scant week ago, Halo Wars was announced through the release of a beautiful trailer. Just beautiful! I am sure that I speak for many a fanboy when I say that I could watch hours of that cinematic animation. Already, the initial warning signs of Fanboy Psychosis are starting to break out among our adolescent population.

A first glance at the Halo Wars forum reveals complaints about inconsistencies between the story timeline and the design of the armor worn by “Spartan Group Omega”. Weapon loadouts for the marines are also called into question by Fanboys who claim knowledge of the launch date for the Battle Rifle [or the BR55, if you must]. These debates are among the most popular discussion topics within the budding community that is gathering around this upcoming title.

Never underestimate the capacity of a fanboy to pay an over-abundance of attention to detail.

I cannot help but wonder if we are in for a new batch of hater websites. I hope not. HaloWarsSucks.com is still available for registration. But for how long?

Posted by XerxdeeJ