6 ms·

What is the last game you can think of that has the cultural impact of the Halo 3 release?

by tekla 2y ago

Etheryte 2y ago
This is a common phenomenon, but I forget what it's called. Everyone thinks the golden age of whatever was when they grew up with it and it's never been quite the same ever since. Doesn't make it true though.
- tekla 2y ago
  OK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_gam... How many modern games are there on this list?
  - diggan 2y ago
    Almost half of the games on that list launched after 2010, 6 of those being after 2020. Not sure what qualifies a "modern game", but after 2010 would probably be where I personally draw the line. The most recent game on that list is from 2023, maybe it just takes time before a game end up on that list? Baldurs Gate 3 was beyond mainstream popular at one point, and surely will end up that list sooner or later, but maybe it's still too early?
    - robertlagrant 2y ago
      I wouldn't call a 16 year old game particularly modern. I would probably say the OP was commenting more on Western gaming, as that's the pattern (see UbiSoft's consecutive string of failures, for example). Games like Elden Ring, Animal Crossing, and Cyberpunk came out of popular non-Western gaming. The only Western games in that list for the last 6 years are Call of Duty games and Hogwarts Legacy, which was good, although from what I remember vilified by Western media for helping enrich JK Rowling.
      - johnnyanmac 2y ago
        Why are we using business expenses to argue cultural impact of games to begin with? And how does this relate to unions?
        robertlagrant 2y ago
        > Why are we using business expenses to argue cultural impact of games to begin with? I wasn't. > And how does this relate to unions? I was replying to the comment above, not a different comment.
    - mrob 2y ago
      I draw the line at the 2006 release of the Horse Armor DLC for Oblivion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_The_Elder_Scrolls_IV:_Oblivion#Background_and_Horse_Armor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_The_Elder_Scrol... This is the turning point where the industry began to change from selling products to selling services. Expansion packs existed before then, but they were sold as complete experiences, essentially mini-sequels sold at a discount because they reused the same engine. The horse armor was something different and controversial at the time.
    - ANewFormation 2y ago
      Think about what you're saying - the majority of those games are at least 16 years old. That itself is fairly damning but what puts it over the top is that there are wayyyy more gamers nowadays than there were 16 years ago. Modern AAA stuff is just simply pretty bad. Games made on a conveyor belt just don't work, at least beyond a point - and that point, wherever it may be, is well behind us for just about all AAA studios.
      - tmtvl 2y ago
        We should probably define what 'AAA' means, because Capcom has been hitting it out of the park pretty consistently as of late. The REmakes, Monster Hunter World and sequels, Devil May Cry 5,...
      - johnnyanmac 2y ago
        Yes... almost like 16 years ago is when game sales weren't depending on how long games were on shelves. Shocking that Minecraft can still sell today because it's been on a digial storefront for almost 20 years. >Modern AAA stuff is just simply pretty bad 1. your conclusion doesnt match your premise. what does sales have to do with quality? 2. this whole argument is just a useless tangent. If you want to look for games not on a conveyor belt, don't look at best selling lists. Especially for networked games continually updated for decades vs. hand crafted releases
        ANewFormation 2y ago
        There's obviously many more long tail games, but with few exceptions games, even long tailed, tend to be heavily front loaded. The list, in terms of games from e.g. 2018-2023 will likely look identical, so far as the games included, in a decade. The reason the reflects on AAA games is because AAA in modern times is much more about budget than depth or quality. AAA games are dumping massive amounts of money on titles with the hope of a quick turn-around, but sales for these games are increasingly meh, because the games are increasingly meh. Even the same studios do a poor job of rehashing stuff. There are currently something like 10x as many players playing Skyrim as Starfield. It's quite pathetic.
  - simonw 2y ago
    Games don't have the same effect as movies where everyone sees them within a month of release. It's hard for a game released in the past year to make it onto a top ten list full of games like GTA5 that have been consistently selling copies for over a decade.
  - Goronmon 2y ago
    Well, Halo 3 isn't on that list either. And I see a handful of games released since 2020 on that list. It also only deals with games that are sold. Whereas games like Genshin Impact have a massive worldwide audience and yet aren't going to show up on that list.
    - dangisautism 2y ago
      [dead]
  - jcranmer 2y ago
    First off, video game sales are notoriously opaque, and one always has to take numbers like this with a grain of salt. (I particularly doubt the number for The Oregon Trail here, and the citation for it is extremely weak). But also, note that many of the games--especially the ones near the top--also double- and triple-count their numbers by doing rereleases and special editions and whatnot that all get to count for the "same" game. Next, note that already 10% of the list came out since the COVID-19 pandemic started--is that not modern enough for you? Finally, several of these games are continually being worked on and receiving content updates. Minecraft and The Sims 4 may be over a decade old, but they both received updates within the past several months, and their players fully expect more updates in the next several months. Does that mean they aren't modern?
- dandellion 2y ago
  It's not that. Some of my favourite games of all time have been made in the last few years. Japanese devs, eastern European devs, Nordic devs don't seem to have any issues making absolute bangers. Meanwhile, the most recent one in my list from an American developer is... Skyrim. Over a decade old.
- smeeger 2y ago
  and it doesnt make you any more right. i remember in 2007 i noticed that movies sucked… i was a teenager. and i was right because every industry has its ebbs and flows. if you just measure the metrics of cultural impact, halo is a high water mark. people dont even play single player games or watch movies anymore. now the big cultural impact is happening on tiktok and things like that. things are not the same regardless of how much you want to believe that
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    >i remember in 2007 i noticed that movies sucked… i was a teenager. and i was right You had an opinion, it was neiter right nor wrong. I was a teenager and watched Juno, 300, Bay's Transformers, And Pirates of the Carribean 3. I thought it was a renaissance. It's all based on personal experience. > things are not the same regardless of how much you want to believe that So how is this related to a union in 2025?
pmalynin 2y ago
Most recently I think Baldurs Gate 3. People have also been enjoying Balatro a lot
- smeeger 2y ago
  go out onto the sidewalk in your city. ask a hundred people what they think about balders gate 3 and then ask them what they think of halo… doing so might break your mind open to the truth
  - Maxatar 2y ago
    I didn't go out and ask random people, but as far as sales figures go from what I find Baldur's Gate 3 has sold more copies than Halo 3 has. Of course it's not a fair comparison since Halo 3 was released in 2007 and only on a single platform, but I would imagine if I went around and asked a random group of people they'd likely be far more familiar with Baldur's Gate 3. Halo 3 seems to also be very popular only in the U.S., while Baldur's Gate 3 is more recognized internationally.
  - daedrdev 2y ago
    Only if they are in your age group though. People older wouldn't know Halo, and Fortnite is far more popular than halo ever was both overall and with the youth.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    break my mind that... most people on the street didn't play halo. Or any "hardcore video game". Sure.
SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
Just from the 2020s, Hogwarts Legacy, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and Valorant. I think you're overweighting the impact of Halo 3 - note that its sales numbers put it nowhere close to the list of best-selling games you linked below.
qingcharles 2y ago
Is Halo 3 good? I honestly didn't even know there was a Halo 3 and I'm an ex-gamedev, so I'm thinking the impact of it wasn't that huge?
- ANewFormation 2y ago
  It set the standard for online matchmaking, had exceptional (if not revolutionary) AI for an FPS, phenomenal level design, and is a definite competitor for the best game soundtrack ever. It is probably Bungie's magnum opus. So it makes perfect sense that contemporary AAA devs would have no idea it even existed.
  - silisili 2y ago
    I'd argue Halo 2 set the standard for online matchmaking. I don't think younger people understand just how popular xbox live/halo 2 were in that era. Probably how us olders underestimate just how popular stuff like Fortnite is today.
    - Jach 2y ago
      I'd second this. The "advanced AI" was pioneered with Halo 2's Behavior Trees. I'd not give very high props to level design to any of the 3, partly because I so easily remember all the re-used assets and geometry and moving areas, but also because Halo was responsible for what I see as a decline in overall FPS design. From reload mechanics to limited ability to carry weapons, to the level design itself that went from more abstract and branching level design to long corridors with too much linearity. There's more creativity in things like the Metroid Prime series, just because of the need for backtracking and new areas when you get new gear. (Of course the Half-Life series also contributed, though interestingly few FPS games have tried to imitate the physics puzzles.) Later on Gears of War and other cover shooters took that to its own sort of perfection. There's good level design in all these, but it's good in their contexts, not exactly phenomenal or standout especially just looking at the FPS genre. (The multiplayer Halo maps are of course pretty good, but again while it's probably just a difference in taste, I think of them as overall steps down from what was going on in Quake/Unreal and their derivatives.) I guess I'm mostly just amused by the initial comment suggesting Halo 3 of all games as a super incredible cultural impact game. I just can't see it like that at all -- at the time it was just a capstone to what Halo 1 and 2 set up. And in modern times, Halo is so irrelevant that it's probably going to be on Sony's console.
xboxnolifes 2y ago
Fortnite has had a larger impact on the newest generation of gamers.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
devnullbrain 2y ago
I know people who called in sick on the release date of the Elden Ring DLC.
johnnyanmac 2y ago
that's highly opportunistic so what's your goal here? Some people can say Baldur's Gate 3 from less than 2 years ago. Others, Eldin Ring from 3 years. Some may even go more niche and suggest games like Undertale or Hollow Knight or go more artsy and suggest Orba Dinn. It's as subjecive as art. Closest I can get to an objective answer would be Fortnite (since you aren't really specifying the kind of cultral impact). and that's "only" 7 years old or so.

What is the last game you can think of that has the cultural impact of the Halo 3 release?

by tekla 2y ago

What is the last game you can think of that has the cultural impact of the Halo 3 release?

This is a common phenomenon, but I forget what it's called. Everyone thinks the golden age of whatever was when they grew up with it and it's never been quite the same ever since. Doesn't make it true though.

tekla 2y ago
OK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_gam... How many modern games are there on this list?
- diggan 2y ago
  Almost half of the games on that list launched after 2010, 6 of those being after 2020. Not sure what qualifies a "modern game", but after 2010 would probably be where I personally draw the line. The most recent game on that list is from 2023, maybe it just takes time before a game end up on that list? Baldurs Gate 3 was beyond mainstream popular at one point, and surely will end up that list sooner or later, but maybe it's still too early?
  - robertlagrant 2y ago
    I wouldn't call a 16 year old game particularly modern. I would probably say the OP was commenting more on Western gaming, as that's the pattern (see UbiSoft's consecutive string of failures, for example). Games like Elden Ring, Animal Crossing, and Cyberpunk came out of popular non-Western gaming. The only Western games in that list for the last 6 years are Call of Duty games and Hogwarts Legacy, which was good, although from what I remember vilified by Western media for helping enrich JK Rowling.
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      Why are we using business expenses to argue cultural impact of games to begin with? And how does this relate to unions?
      - robertlagrant 2y ago
        > Why are we using business expenses to argue cultural impact of games to begin with? I wasn't. > And how does this relate to unions? I was replying to the comment above, not a different comment.
  - mrob 2y ago
    I draw the line at the 2006 release of the Horse Armor DLC for Oblivion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_The_Elder_Scrolls_IV:_Oblivion#Background_and_Horse_Armor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_The_Elder_Scrol... This is the turning point where the industry began to change from selling products to selling services. Expansion packs existed before then, but they were sold as complete experiences, essentially mini-sequels sold at a discount because they reused the same engine. The horse armor was something different and controversial at the time.
  - ANewFormation 2y ago
    Think about what you're saying - the majority of those games are at least 16 years old. That itself is fairly damning but what puts it over the top is that there are wayyyy more gamers nowadays than there were 16 years ago. Modern AAA stuff is just simply pretty bad. Games made on a conveyor belt just don't work, at least beyond a point - and that point, wherever it may be, is well behind us for just about all AAA studios.
    - tmtvl 2y ago
      We should probably define what 'AAA' means, because Capcom has been hitting it out of the park pretty consistently as of late. The REmakes, Monster Hunter World and sequels, Devil May Cry 5,...
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      Yes... almost like 16 years ago is when game sales weren't depending on how long games were on shelves. Shocking that Minecraft can still sell today because it's been on a digial storefront for almost 20 years. >Modern AAA stuff is just simply pretty bad 1. your conclusion doesnt match your premise. what does sales have to do with quality? 2. this whole argument is just a useless tangent. If you want to look for games not on a conveyor belt, don't look at best selling lists. Especially for networked games continually updated for decades vs. hand crafted releases
      - ANewFormation 2y ago
        There's obviously many more long tail games, but with few exceptions games, even long tailed, tend to be heavily front loaded. The list, in terms of games from e.g. 2018-2023 will likely look identical, so far as the games included, in a decade. The reason the reflects on AAA games is because AAA in modern times is much more about budget than depth or quality. AAA games are dumping massive amounts of money on titles with the hope of a quick turn-around, but sales for these games are increasingly meh, because the games are increasingly meh. Even the same studios do a poor job of rehashing stuff. There are currently something like 10x as many players playing Skyrim as Starfield. It's quite pathetic.
- simonw 2y ago
  Games don't have the same effect as movies where everyone sees them within a month of release. It's hard for a game released in the past year to make it onto a top ten list full of games like GTA5 that have been consistently selling copies for over a decade.
- Goronmon 2y ago
  Well, Halo 3 isn't on that list either. And I see a handful of games released since 2020 on that list. It also only deals with games that are sold. Whereas games like Genshin Impact have a massive worldwide audience and yet aren't going to show up on that list.
  - dangisautism 2y ago
    [dead]
- jcranmer 2y ago
  First off, video game sales are notoriously opaque, and one always has to take numbers like this with a grain of salt. (I particularly doubt the number for The Oregon Trail here, and the citation for it is extremely weak). But also, note that many of the games--especially the ones near the top--also double- and triple-count their numbers by doing rereleases and special editions and whatnot that all get to count for the "same" game. Next, note that already 10% of the list came out since the COVID-19 pandemic started--is that not modern enough for you? Finally, several of these games are continually being worked on and receiving content updates. Minecraft and The Sims 4 may be over a decade old, but they both received updates within the past several months, and their players fully expect more updates in the next several months. Does that mean they aren't modern?
dandellion 2y ago
It's not that. Some of my favourite games of all time have been made in the last few years. Japanese devs, eastern European devs, Nordic devs don't seem to have any issues making absolute bangers. Meanwhile, the most recent one in my list from an American developer is... Skyrim. Over a decade old.
smeeger 2y ago
and it doesnt make you any more right. i remember in 2007 i noticed that movies sucked… i was a teenager. and i was right because every industry has its ebbs and flows. if you just measure the metrics of cultural impact, halo is a high water mark. people dont even play single player games or watch movies anymore. now the big cultural impact is happening on tiktok and things like that. things are not the same regardless of how much you want to believe that
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  >i remember in 2007 i noticed that movies sucked… i was a teenager. and i was right You had an opinion, it was neiter right nor wrong. I was a teenager and watched Juno, 300, Bay's Transformers, And Pirates of the Carribean 3. I thought it was a renaissance. It's all based on personal experience. > things are not the same regardless of how much you want to believe that So how is this related to a union in 2025?

pmalynin 2y ago

Most recently I think Baldurs Gate 3. People have also been enjoying Balatro a lot

smeeger 2y ago
go out onto the sidewalk in your city. ask a hundred people what they think about balders gate 3 and then ask them what they think of halo… doing so might break your mind open to the truth
- Maxatar 2y ago
  I didn't go out and ask random people, but as far as sales figures go from what I find Baldur's Gate 3 has sold more copies than Halo 3 has. Of course it's not a fair comparison since Halo 3 was released in 2007 and only on a single platform, but I would imagine if I went around and asked a random group of people they'd likely be far more familiar with Baldur's Gate 3. Halo 3 seems to also be very popular only in the U.S., while Baldur's Gate 3 is more recognized internationally.
- daedrdev 2y ago
  Only if they are in your age group though. People older wouldn't know Halo, and Fortnite is far more popular than halo ever was both overall and with the youth.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  break my mind that... most people on the street didn't play halo. Or any "hardcore video game". Sure.

SpicyLemonZest 2y ago

Just from the 2020s, Hogwarts Legacy, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and Valorant. I think you're overweighting the impact of Halo 3 - note that its sales numbers put it nowhere close to the list of best-selling games you linked below.

qingcharles 2y ago

Is Halo 3 good? I honestly didn't even know there was a Halo 3 and I'm an ex-gamedev, so I'm thinking the impact of it wasn't that huge?

ANewFormation 2y ago
It set the standard for online matchmaking, had exceptional (if not revolutionary) AI for an FPS, phenomenal level design, and is a definite competitor for the best game soundtrack ever. It is probably Bungie's magnum opus. So it makes perfect sense that contemporary AAA devs would have no idea it even existed.
- silisili 2y ago
  I'd argue Halo 2 set the standard for online matchmaking. I don't think younger people understand just how popular xbox live/halo 2 were in that era. Probably how us olders underestimate just how popular stuff like Fortnite is today.
  - Jach 2y ago
    I'd second this. The "advanced AI" was pioneered with Halo 2's Behavior Trees. I'd not give very high props to level design to any of the 3, partly because I so easily remember all the re-used assets and geometry and moving areas, but also because Halo was responsible for what I see as a decline in overall FPS design. From reload mechanics to limited ability to carry weapons, to the level design itself that went from more abstract and branching level design to long corridors with too much linearity. There's more creativity in things like the Metroid Prime series, just because of the need for backtracking and new areas when you get new gear. (Of course the Half-Life series also contributed, though interestingly few FPS games have tried to imitate the physics puzzles.) Later on Gears of War and other cover shooters took that to its own sort of perfection. There's good level design in all these, but it's good in their contexts, not exactly phenomenal or standout especially just looking at the FPS genre. (The multiplayer Halo maps are of course pretty good, but again while it's probably just a difference in taste, I think of them as overall steps down from what was going on in Quake/Unreal and their derivatives.) I guess I'm mostly just amused by the initial comment suggesting Halo 3 of all games as a super incredible cultural impact game. I just can't see it like that at all -- at the time it was just a capstone to what Halo 1 and 2 set up. And in modern times, Halo is so irrelevant that it's probably going to be on Sony's console.

xboxnolifes 2y ago

Fortnite has had a larger impact on the newest generation of gamers.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

devnullbrain 2y ago

I know people who called in sick on the release date of the Elden Ring DLC.

johnnyanmac 2y ago

that's highly opportunistic so what's your goal here? Some people can say Baldur's Gate 3 from less than 2 years ago. Others, Eldin Ring from 3 years. Some may even go more niche and suggest games like Undertale or Hollow Knight or go more artsy and suggest Orba Dinn. It's as subjecive as art. Closest I can get to an objective answer would be Fortnite (since you aren't really specifying the kind of cultral impact). and that's "only" 7 years old or so.