The ads were so awesome that the game's campaign was simply disappointing.

Regulus

I still didn't pass the first chapter, chalk that one up for dedication!

However, I agree the marketing for it was pretty amazing, showing how the diorama was made and what it represented, especially from a fictional characters first hand point of view was interesting. It was very well constructed. My favorite one was where Master Chief looked up at the screen in the diorama as he was held by a Brute.

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Those ads were really good. The first time I saw one I got chills. I am a HUGE Bungie fan I post on bnet daily. Halo 3 was a HUGE disapointment to me. The single player could have been so much more epic just like the ad campaign.

Instead they focused on MP which is a good business move. So they can sell live subscriptions and map packs.

JustJake

"creating a mood using strong imagery that stirred the audience in a way simply looking at a video game could not"

essentially selling an experience the game doesn't represent... perhaps?

I liked the ads and the game was fun.. but I still feel with the budget and position of flag ship game the actual game itself didn't come close to capturing any real intensity as the ads promised.

Also I think Iluvbees was a much more interesting (though probably less reaching) campaign.

Ehardergardens

@Sloopydrew: I second this. What was offered really did tarnish the singleplayer aspect of the game for me, personally. The marketing campaign was truly fantastic, and eye openening. (imo) The game wasent.

muscrat_01

I actually didn't like the ads. I could see why they were successful, but an ad for a game that tells you nothing about the game and shows nothing of the game seems pointless to me. Yes I know everyone already knows what the game is about, but that just goes back to the whole "why are you spending so much money advertising this" thing.
Don't get me wrong, it succeeded in what is was trying to do, it's just that that's not what appeals to me. I prefer things with more substance. But that's just my opinion, and that's why I'm a programmer and not a marketer.

Tiber

Pity the game hardly lived up to what the ads hyped.

'emotion' in the game? **** no. Gritty warefare? **** no.

It was just Halo that had been Halo in 2001, not this amazing experience that the marketing campaign presented.

Still peeved i was a sucker for the hype, right before launch.

muscrat_01

THe ads were really well done.I loved the commericals with the Veterans and the one with the chief as a kid. Gears had a great commercial when it came out also.

enewtabie

@StealthMaster86: You want to play as a janitor in a museum housing a diarama of the Halo world?

KirbyMorph

I remember getting a phone call from my mother asking if I was playing that Halo game because she saw the commercials and thought they were really cool. They were pretty cool commercials.

Strange Bedfellows

If all that stuff that happened in the ad happened in the game it would truly be great. But alas it's like the past Halo games. And that it's not a bad thing ether.

StealthMaster86

@Sloopydrew: Agreed. I was playing Halo 3, hoping that I'd get to experience a scene from the sculpture.

The game was fun, but I was still sad that it didn't occur.

Lainface

I do have to agree that the advertisements drew me in, especially the ad with the sculpture.

It was so damn appealing that as soon as I heard the music playing for this commercial when the television was on, I'd stop completely what I was doing and focus my attention on the screen.

I don't remember ever being so drawn to anything in my life.

Lainface

The advertisements for Halo 3 were certainly good. Although i didn't like "Believe" all that much. I did like Stary night, as i think its called.

It makes you wonder "What if this game had advertisement like it, would it have done better?"

Tiberian

The believe ad WAS epic, the actual model of the entire stage was amazing.

redrabbit

Well kudos for Bungie.

The actual game might not have been revolutionary, but the ads certainly were.

The use of Chopin's raindrops during the Believe ad was a stroke of genius.

sooiee115

I liked Halo 3, and I still do. Go fuck yourself if that bothers you. Have a nice day!

Really though, I did like the ads. However, I could never take that ad with the old guy visiting the "memorial" seriously after I saw the parody version with the guy making a loud sniffing/sorting sound when the old man rubbed his nose.

KaneRobot

@futurebiblehero: "I was partial to Consolevania's take"

I couldn't agree more. Very well done ad.

caleb

No doubt I remember seeing this epic battle with the 'chief beaten, and thinking 'Gawd that level is going to be awesome'. Then it never happened. I was sold on Halo 3 before the believe ads, they just pumped me more for it.

Take away from the entire thing what you will but the believe ads we're the best of the advertising (Game Fuel anyone? wait I actually LIKED that soda...)

Jetsetneo

I have to admit, the ads were much better than I thought they were going to be. They 'felt' epic, they broadened the Halo 'idea' and IMHO they delivered...

On a side note, regarding the potential Halo movie...my wish list would be:

1. It would HAVE to be CG.
2. Blur Studios would do the CG.

Sorta got off on a tangent somewhat, apologizes.

caleb

I was partial to Consolevania's take:

+ Watch video

futurebiblehero

The main thing I hated about the adverts for Halo 3 was that it got me all jazzed up for something that never happened in the game. The best thing to come out of the whole thing was the Neil Blomkamp short. At least that segwayed into the beginning of the game really well.

Guild_Navigator

The best part of Halo 3 wasn't in Halo 3. It was in that ad where everything seemed to be lost, the Chief seemed to be defeated, and in his hand you see the grenade (or whatever). That was such an incredible ad. Without such emotionally evocative advertising, would Halo 3 now be looked on by many as a disappointment? I think it's a better game than the second but ended up feeling disappointed at the end in large part due to that advertising campaign that promised something so much deeper than before.

Sloopydrew

"Halo 3 shall truly go down in history as one of the best(advertised) video games of all time."
and they couldn't spare some coins for a great score from gamespot because the game was sp was average??
/sarcasm

steliosco

Absolutly true, that ad was fantastic, a shame other games didn't do ads like that one, Brawl's ads would have been cooler that way!
Still despite how much the ad campaign rocks it still cant help the campaign in Halo 3 from sucking! ZING!

excel_excel

Oh, he called Halo "ordinary", I think he's gonna get flamed. What a noob.

Absent Blue

I can't wait to play "that" game.

:)

Black_Ops_19

I never even knew advertising awards existed.

Halo 3 definitely deserves all of them, though.

karasu is my homeboy

@Kovitlac: I wasn't disappointed,but I could do without having to drive a Warthog to safety at the end of a Halo game for once...I'm just saying

enewtabie

As someone who found Halo highly polished, and correct in its execution, but nothing more, I thought the ads were calculated to make people who were already going to buy it go nuts with anticipation and have a fangasm, while those not yet into it... would get nothing from them really.

fuchikoma

I've never played Halo, and barely seen Halo, but the ads for the third one made me really feel like I should have gone back and played them. They were truly well done. I remember the music and feel they created to this day.

(I still haven't actually played them, but at least it raised awareness)

Puck

To bad the game didn't share the same emotional impact as the ads did. I think I would like Halo a lot more if it didn't seem so cartoony.

The one line I remember is "No solider should be honored for doing what is expected" thats a really powerful line. One that I feel if Halo actually had a message of would have been something truly amazing.

ZenGaijin

I would like to see the standards that some of the people posting here about how supposedly "disappointing" the campaign was. Honestly, what lives up to your standards? One, maybe if you're lucky, two games?... That doesn't sound like any fun.

Kovitlac

@Tiberian: A lot of people have felt that Halo was more a success due to it's marketing than to it actually being itself an exemplary game. While not a bad game you could take several other decent games and give them the same treatment, and possibly hit the same level. But Halo also came at a key time to introduce polished FPS mechanics to consoles that was on par with PCs (the xbox being itself mostly a pc)

Also overlooked often:
I am surprised at how many games obviously choose titles that will be easily forgotten or are indistinguishable from other similar titles. Halo was a great title, easy to remember, and conveyed a lot of mystery about what was "halo" and linked to an iconic visual (the halo it self).
Imagine if they had named it something really dumb like Ringworld... :)

Ehardergardens

I enjoyed the Halo 3 commercials almost as much as I enjoyed the game itself. Genius.

I prefer that the scenes from the Believe ads wern't in the actual game. There are so many battles that the Chief participated in apart from those in the games (anyone would know this if they read the books). It would be pretty far-fetched to assume the battle from the museum would take place during those few days in Halo 3.

Kovitlac

Wow, Microsoft. First, the "Jump in" ads, then the "Mad World" GoW ad, and now Halo 3. Not bad at all.

It certainly beats "watching people play something," or "laughing girl on toilet" ads, don't it?

*runs away*

boopadoo

The ads were phenomenal and far more interesting than the actual game, much like most movie trailers today. Despite my utter loathing of all things Halo, the marketing stuff is a joy to watch, especially the WETA short with the warthog zipping all over the place. As a game, it's nothing special. As a sci-fi myth, Halo is spectacular.

dunetiger : the mekuri master

The game is great, everything about it feels 'finished', which is really what a game should feel like.
I was a bit disappointed we didn't get to take part in that massive battle that were in the ads.

okrangerbob

@Kovitlac: setting expectations appropriately is a duel edged problem.
The ads were designed to hype and raise expectations. i.e. the ad companies did their job well, because even I was very affected by the teaser ad (e3) and subsequent spots.

And I don't necessarily blame bungie, because I'm imagining that MS did have the final word on their precious IP and what they could and could not do.

I had very high expectations(though assumed they'd dumb down mechanics more than they did) for Bioshock and was not disappointed, other games I have less expectations for simply because I don't know about them or their ad campaigns do nothing for me.

The Darkness had completely forgettable trailers as I recall (hehe), but the game itself was very memorable.

Ehardergardens

@enewtabie: That wasn't how the last game ended :)

That's cool. I like it - it tied the 3rd game to the 1st one. I loved the eending, how the Chief went into cryo, just like how he awoke from cryo in the 1st game. A completed circle, how I see it.

Kovitlac

That website that they had with the interactive fly through over the huge diorama was awesome. Complete with stories behind some of the individual soldiers and 3D models of the enemies. Is it still up and running?

DJ Magneto

@Ehardergardens: I honestly do not recall The Darkness's trailors in the slightest bit. But I think that Halo 3 delivered very well after their advertising campaign. But I guess things like that are all in the eye of the beholder :)

Kovitlac

Halo 3 was a great game. God I hate people who have little else to do other than post hate about it all the time.

sargemat

Thought they were crap myself, but then most video game ads are crap.

Until my parents ask me about Halo or other video games, I agree with the poster who mentions they were preaching to converted.

Was there a better ad campaign for video game, probably not but that's not saying much at all.

spot778

@Kovitlac: exactly. and you have my envy for having that enjoyment.

Ehardergardens

A friend of mine, who doesn't game at all, saw the ads and said "I want to play Halo".

Mission accomplished.

mind in rewind

These ads were really awesome, better than the actual game.

SAKY

Oh God I loved those ads... and the Gears of War ones.
That's the one thing Microsoft has had really good luck in, as opposed to Sony, with their boring God of War ads and their 30 second pantsu Heavenly Sword ad.
The Halo commercial actually made me stop and say "Maybe... Maybe I was wrong about Halo"... Then I saw the actual game.

Zerbrechen

@SAKY: I was going to comment and say the exact same thing. The ads were inspiring and created a very engaging universe that was completely not there in the story line of the game.

Was there a story line in the game?

Lou3000

@Zerbrechen: Sony's game ads are terrible, but their console are great. I love the thumping music and effects and the black ball that is tranforming.

On the other side (and possibly why they have a great attach rate), more than once I have bought a game I didn't plan on getting only because of the 360 ad. Gears of War, Halo, and Lost Odyssey were all games I was swayed to buy after seeing the ad.

Lou3000

A few people have mentioned the Gears of War 'Mad World' ad, and that must have been from the same advertising team - very awesome. But it's pretty much the same story as the Halo ad's in that it totally fails to get across the mood of the game.

I was surprised when I saw it; I had already played the game through some weeks earlier, and there is a scene rendered with the engine in which marcus fenix runs along the road and dives through the window, and then theres this close up of his face looking lost and desperate. Really emotional moment, totally draws the viewer in. In the actual game though, Marcus is totally expressionless. He just frowns pretty much, and theres a lot of gung-ho talk. I think both games would have been better with this kind of emotion in them.

Lov3

Halo 3 was a very involving ad campaign. I got emotionally involved with it, when they did shots of the real people saying they were in the war, it felt real. The diorama, everything was moving. Well deserving of the award.

kylo4

The Gears of War "Mad World" ad was what was attracted me to the game in the first place. It had the epic feel of a great story, which I appreciate in a game more then pretty much anything else. It also deviated from the norm, which really caught my attention. And it's the same with the "Believe" ads. I appreciate that they did something different.

Kovitlac