This is definitely a huge game. A compelling science fiction universe that addresses the current culture malaise in the U.S. The game play has been tuned to a more extreme degree than most other games, ensuring that the player's experience will be flawless.

Whether or not Halo3 will be a huge boost to the Xbox360 is doubtful. Even if the systems sell well initially, Microsoft's horrible hardware problems with the Xbox360 will ensure that they aren't replaces when the systems invariably break.

The real question that decides the next gen winner is whether the Nintendo Wii will see better games in the coming year or two. It seems that Sony has thoroughly shot itself in the foot, and barely counts as a contender at this point.

Sent by Jody Sol | 5:19 PM ET | 09-25-2007

I have no qualms with Rich, and as a game fan i daily try to think of what the next horizon might be for the seeds of these virtual worlds already sown. Second life is still all about tha avatar and the region they inhabit, however dull it may be (without all the cyber)
But, Halo 3 is unprecedented in the sense that it not only caters to the tight, balanced competitve element of online multiplayer as well as adding that element into the story campaign by adding a scoring and ranking system to playing through this third and final installment of the story arc. No, it has also, in a sublime act of navel-gazing, allowed any player to review every game played multiplayer or otherwise, story or big team battle, from any camera angle, let alone any player's point of view, in slow motion or fast, and share these fully director-interactive videos and clips in-game, online, via the fileshare that bungie.net has also set up on the interwebz to make for some incredible opportunites for gamers novice and veteran to share their exploits, or permutate them into some filmic work of excellence (pending voiceovers-the saved films feature does not save in game chatter as of yet). The result is an online community that start from a certain vantage point, the game, and spreads outward from that DIY chaos into the realm of making and producing art and entertainment. Just check out red vs blue or better yet this spartan life to see the way i which the first halo games were made into more widely acceptable televised and film media. With all the added features of the final installment, the bar has been set and any video game that aspires to the levels of massive involvement that Bungie's newest offering has created will be spinning its wheels trying to come up with a way to make videogames a springboard for creativity and connectivity that might challenge the ratings hold of reality television. just you watch...

Sent by alex n | 1:30 AM ET | 10-26-2007