There is no spoiler warning to be issued with this article.
At ‘Tied the Leader’ we don’t traffic in leaked materials nor breaking news nor rumor nor rampant speculation nor gossip nor armchair analysis. There are already a number of horses running that race.
Too many, we would argue.
It was only a matter of time before unauthorized tidbits from the Halo 3 development bullpen at Bungie Studios would start escaping into the wild of the world wide web. That time is now, sadly. Every instance in which a new bootleg walk-through of the alpha build reveals itself on YouTube, it touches off a brushfire of pandemonium.
There is just no stopping geek fanboys from spreading sneak previews of their coveted properties. In the Digital Age, a surprise ending is an endangered species. Our modern attention spans have shrunk to a nanosecond. We can’t possibly wait until [insert your best guess here], 2007 to behold the mastery of Halo 3. We need to know now! It’s like a secret code that must be ciphered. It’s a challenge – a dare to prove that you are smarter than the people who would shut you out.
When geeks go naughty, they become hackers – after all. It could be argued that inside every geek hides a hacker begging to breach the borders of what they are allowed to see or know. The people who want to get outside of the map are the same ones who wanted to see it before it was ready for market.
Here is a counterpoint… This gamer likes a surprise every once in a while.
Surprises have become harder and harder to come by. My introduction to the territories of the Halo Nation came at small, split-screen LAN parties hosted in couch-filled apartments inhabited by friends. It was on one of those frag-filled evenings that I met The Flood for the first time. During a cessation of hostilities [read: smoke-break], two veteran players of the franchise entertained the troops with a co-op exhibition from the Campaign. One of them is a Gunslinger Overlord now.
Door after door in a small room was breached by hopping little pods of infectious ooze. I was surprised at how the tension built as the room filled with them – both them and their very large friends that I would later come to know as “warrior forms”. One of the gamers at the controls said something that always stuck with me…
“I was so terrified when I got to this part of the game!” he laughed.
This declaration haunted me when I finally hunkered down to stomp my way through the Master Chief’s first campaign on Microsoft hardware. I spent every plot-twist bracing for a punch that I knew was coming. When I finally reached the point in which The Flood came hopping for me, all I could think was “I should be so terrified at this part of the game!”
Alas, I was spoiled.
When Halo 2 launched, this same gamer insulated himself from the spoils of war in a concrete bunker of blissful ignorance. I was the last kid on my block to enter the matchmade fray on Xbox Live. The last thing I wanted to hear in a pre-game lobby was some mention of the tragic demise of a major character. As I plotted along through the Halo 2 campaign at my own pace, the only thing I knew was that the ending was [how do you say] “abrupt”. A cliffhanger, I thought. “Good” I thought, “there would most likely have to be a Halo 3 if that were the case.”
Not everyone wants a moment of “Eureka!” of course. Most gamers, in fact, have sites like YouTube and Aintitcool bookmarked. Who wants a surprise ending, after all, when you can be the first poster on a forum to know that Greedo Shoots First? These cyber sleuths are the same breed who went on latch-key patrols to discover hidden caches of gifts prior to Christmas morning. Immediate gratification wins out over deferred compensation.
The point of this missive is: “Why set out to deliberately spoil your experience with discovering something new?” The same gamers who say that they can’t wait for alien environments for their Multiplayer Addiction are the same ones who are swapping video files of those same environments – thus rendering them no longer alien. The interest may come from the desire for a tactical advantage – one that will evaporate mere hours after everyone else lays hands on the game. Patience is a virtue that pays out dividends.
The shenanigans of piracy can even compromise the very game that is the object of your affection. Developers have better things to do, after all, than to chase down renegade previews. When hackers stole source-code from creators at Valve, they delayed the release of Half-Life 2 by more than two years. When the game finally came out, it was almost impossible to install; what with the added layers of security that came attached to it. This example of gamers trashing the house that was built for them ought not be repeated; especially not on Halo Nation soil.
There are some cyber-pundits who think that Bungie is leaking these gameplay vids to us on purpose. Conspiracy theorists are convinced that they are giving us something to talk about, minus all of the effort that goes into making a video documentary. That notion seems silly to this blogger.
Something we all know to be true is that Bungie could go only as far as hosting one static page on their URL that said “Halo 3 Coming Soon”. We would still buy the game. Bungie knows this. Is there anyone out there that really needs leaked content to sell them on Halo 3? Even the Prophets of Regret at Halo2Sucks will pony up the dough to Finish the Fight – if only to arm them with an axe to grind in a place called Halo3Sucks.
Of course, I might be wrong.
If I am. The Men and Women in Redmond are even smarter than that for which we give them credit.
I love the leaks. Nothing and I mean nothing makes me more happy at work than watching some new leaked footage. If I can’t play it, the next best thing is watching someone else play it.
bungie did a pretty good job of keeping Halo 2’s biggest secret (the playable Elite) under wraps until the game came out. but yeah, you really missed out on a “holy shit” moment the first time the flood appears.
A great read that rang strangely familiar with me. I first found Halo back in my mid-teens, my friend of the time who I walked to school with was banging on about how great it was for a week and when I finally got to try it, amongst the couple of levels he showed me was 343 Guilty Spark. When I came to play the game for myself, all shock at the apperance of the Flood was lost, and only with hindsight do I realise how disappointing this is (not that there was much I could have done, of course).
With Halo 2, I attempted to keep myself as isolated as possible from all the leaks and was rewarded with several of what I like to call “Jack Bauer moments”, the part where the camera zooms in on the Arbiter and you find you actually get to play him leaving me quite literally open-mouthed. I wish to repeat this experience for Halo 3, and beyond the beta I want to keep myself as isolated as possible from spoilers of any kind, to me it makes the game all the more fun and memorable. I think like this now because I’m approaching the age where I can feel nostalgic for a game, and I know that the games I feel nostalgic for are those I experienced to their fullest, as they were meant to be experienced.
Noone else see the irony in this?:
“At ‘Tied the Leader’ we don’t traffic in leaked materials”
...right above a picture of Zanzibar on Halo 3
Dearest Mathos,
In journalistic circles, that would be regarded as a “supporting graphic”. Its use is intended to lend context to the message – to get your attention and shed some light on the subject matter that is being discussed.
If I wanted to be ironic, I would have linked to the spoiler.
Once Halo 2 was leaked I stopped reading HBO, Rampancy and other sites, I went into a Halo 2 hibernation. If I had to read the weekly update or I was dying to hear more news, I would have my wife or friends read the news and let me know if it was safe to read or not.
I did everything I could to avoid spoilers, though I did read all the official news and releases from Bungie, I even watched the Red Vs Blue videos showing off other things, but I avoided campaign spoilers and leaked info like the plague.
That is all the primary reason I was in line for Halo 2 for the midnight release, why I took the following day off from work, why I rushed home to play the game and beat it to avoid any spoilers, why I did not play online until after I beat the campaign.
I plan to do the same with Halo 3.
I did watch the leaked video, only because it is Multi player leaked footage, if it were campaign footage I would be crying if I had watched it, I want the campaign to be a complete surprise.
I will be participating in the Beta next week, I am really looking forwards to it, sure it is going to give away weapon info, but that has already been done so by Bungie in updates in the form of field reports on their site.
In respects to Bungie leaking info purposely I have a slightly different idea on that. I believe they are not leaking but releasing lesser important stuff, the stuff not related to the story/campaign. Releasing Multi Player info, character background screens videos what have you, only to keep people busy viewing that only to make a more strategic move. Like a magician saying look at this card and watch this, while his other hand or assistant pulls off the real trick. Its not a big brother conspiracy, its keeping things secret and people satisfied all at once.
I plan on stopping my daily routine of reading gaming new in late July or August to avoid leaked info and spoilers, I have my legendary edition paid in full already, I will pick it up at the midnight release as well. I will race home and play the game until I complete is as I did last time as well.
I agree spoilers are a nuisance, people suck, Its not that hard to type spoiler alert before anything is typed. People in this day and age are always yelling FIRST and fighting for credit. Its pretty sad.
Personally I am looking forwards to the surprise and conclusion to the trilogy.
I am a sucker for spoiler, leaks and hidden tidbits of info about all my favorite games. While some say that leaked vids and images are maliciously placed, I say that some are intentional. Bungie has a knack for placing new stuff on the web for us to find just when we need it.
I try and stay away from leaked info about the story or campaign, but am a little bit less sensitive about leaked information from multiplayer. The real punch of the game comes in the campaign, and the replayabilty in multiplayer. I dont think that watching a 30 second video (or however long it was) of a leaked map is going to hinder my hours and hours and hours of enjoyment of playing on it.
A multiplayer leak is much different than a single-player leak. Don’t spoil the story and plotlines, but sure.. lemme’ know all about how we’re gonna’ get to play against each other soon.
I’m excited about the levels we’re going to see; the weapons we’ll use when we get there.
No, I won’t be surprised when a “spoiled” multiplayer map pops onto my 360.. I won’t gasp in awe.. I already did that, while it’s still considered forbidden fruit. All I got was a peek, and there’s so much more to see on my favorite map.
Plus, there’s also the aspect of fact it’ll
double your pleasureable previously-sheltered “awe” when I throw-down a portable lift, land on the turret gun, jump off the ledge and cut you in-half with it. I’m dying to do that! (not you specifically, but you see my meaning?) Had the spoilers not happened, would I be looking forward to anything remotely as detailled or specific as that? Could I…. “taste it”?
No.. I’d vaguely be looking forward to some kind of new versions of old stuff with new stuff like shields, and guns that use spike graphics instead of bullet graphics… yay?
My friends are dissecting levels we haven’t played in yet. It builds the excitement.
After you play it a few times, will you set aside time to turn off the x-box and reflect? Will you imagine? will you guess about how this nook or cranny might be a good camping spot?
No.. it’ll have been handed to you.. here.. imagine this. and 3 weeks later it’s gone, with no guarantee’s it’ll look anything like that when you get it back again.
Personally, although I’m typically in agreement with you guys, I think you missed the mark here, and compromised the integrity you’re trying to gain with this article. Why post a spoiler video on an article that rails against folks doing exactly that?
Did you not set up the beginning of the article as though you weren’t going to spoil the game, and then post the spoiler video?
“hey, we won’t ruin your surprise, I HATE people that ruin surprises..oh, and check out this halo 3 video.”
Dunno.. it’s all good though, I’ll be back and stuff, it’s just a strange article, in my opinion.
After months of seemingly silent agreement, I am just glad to see people posting here again.
Consider the leaked footage a footnote. It’s important to cite references if a position is to be taken on an issue.
And, the purpose here is not to admonish anyone for viewing that sort of thing. I only sought to offer a counterpoint from the perspective of a gamer who wants to enter into a game with a clean slate.
I’m not watching any youtube videos of multi or campaign. Bungie has shown us some of what we can look forward to through the vid docs. We’ll get to play in a few days.
I suppose it all depends on whether you think knowing Zanzibar appears in Halo 3 is a spoiler, or whether it’s only the footage itself that contains any spoilers. I think the former.
Interestingly this is the only news item linked from the HBO homepage that has mentioned the Zanzibar movie, however indirectly. It could be that a lot of people find out about it here first ;)
(BTW I’m honestly not trolling – I was genuinely surprised to see that graphic, and just wondered whether anyone else considered it a spoiler. If it’s just me then fine – I’ll admit I was wrong.)
Dearest and Most Sweetest Mathos,
There is no such thing as “wrong” at TTL. Your opinions are welcomed and encouraged here.
All I wanted to do was clarify my position. I may have made an incorrect assumption. It seemed that the leaks themselves were common knowledge among citizens in the Halo Nation.
My article was an look at the phenomenon. I did not intend to shed new light on the multiplayer content for Halo 3.
If I have done that, it is ironic indeed. And I cry your pardon…
Best line:
“In the Digital Age, a surprise ending is an endangered species.”
On the one hand, it would be great to know everything, but then life would just become boring. That, or it would become an action flick starring Nicolas Cage.
“Life if supposed to be a suprise.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice.”
Nice post Deej. The flood was a complete surprise for me. I remember sitting in that doorway for like 5 minutes before the Flood broke out. I just knew something was gonna happen. It was very suspenseful. I’m glad I didn’t know ahead of time. Lock me in the insulated bunker with ya Brotha.
I love reading about the thigns I love, and getting little whiffs of what they smell like, so that I my mouth has properly salvitated for the first bite.
I’ve checked out a few various things about Halo 3’s multiplayer, but there’s no way in #3(( that I want to know anything about the Halo 3’s campaign. I was actually a little saddened when I read some of the stuff on the Halo 3 website, but nothng got too spoiled, I guess…
Knowing about multiplayer is kinda’ like this: It’s nice to know what a girl looks like, and what she does, but it’s best to experience things as they happen, and not know the play-by-play before it happens.
With these spoilers, I kind of know what the girl is going to look like, and the combat/weapons/equipment shows me a little bit about how she rolls, but the game-play is going to be where the fun happens, and nothing can ruin that.
I can’t wait to swing around in the Mongoose and nail some coffins shut wit hhe B. Spiker… and the new stuff that Bungie has talked about/been leaked by others has just gotten me more excited.
I’ve read dozens of theories tying the books and games together, and have learned things I could have never thought of from my own experience with the material—those things have kept me alive, and they peak the “what happens next,” when things start happening.
I think spoilers have become so popular because of the massive amount of terrible movies/over-hyped games that have filled our childhoods. People want to know what to expect, and they don’t want to be disappointed.
The jump from Halo 1 to Halo 2 was so large that it rattled a vast population of those who played both games. I’ve heard many people say that they never got into Halo 1 as they played it after Halo 2. The same has been said in reverse, about how Halo 2 isn’t as good as Halo 1.
Spoilers? I think they’re like life-preservers—magic 8-balls, if you will, and I’m sure that there will be more to shake things up as time goes by.
I’ll watch any multiplayer leaks as they appear around the community, but I also, want to go through the campaign with my jaw on the ground.
With multiplayer, it’s just so I can go “Oh ok, whew, this is going to be fun” and not be questioning how H3 is going to be in that regard.
They pretty much release all the multilayer information about maps and such a few weeks before launch. I like to know Multilayer maps because it helps me visualize possibilities for many different In game applications, machinima, special game types, ect. Single player I don’t look for spoilers about, and most of the rumored stuff about it I ignore since the only way I would believe it is if bungie said it. Now if there are ever videos of the SP campaign online I would want Bungie to hurt their paid tester that decided to break their contract, and no, I wouldn’t watch it.
I’ll admit, as others have, that when it comes to the multiplayer I’m guilty of watching. Stu put it best as a “whet your appetite” kind of thing. Do I like to be teased? Guilty.
Campaign however? Why would you skip to chapter 5 in a book you’ve never opened before?
Spoilers from multiplayer = good.
Spoilers from campaign = bad.
I love seeing some of what we’ll get to do in head-to-head action, but please don’t ruin my story before I’ve had a chance to experience it for myself.
Halo 3? Huh?