Halo had me from Hello. And the third installment of the game, shown in a 30 minute preview here at E3, doesn't disappoint. Though it may not be the "Star Wars of games," as Microsoft would like to have us believe (that title might be better suited for the BioWare title, Mass Effect), it has done a remarkable job of casting the player inside a viable and gripping sci-fi universe. Halo 3 wisely sticks to the franchise's guns by keeping the changes minimal - new weapons, vehicles, improved AI and physics, etc.- as advances the mythology of the saga.
That said, there is one remarkable innovation that can easily go unnoticed: Save Film.
This is a feature that players use to record, edit, and share video of their multiplayer battles. You could play a 45 minute match, save it to your Xbox 360 drive, then go back in using Halo's Save Film editing tools and act like a mini-Spielberg - camera'ing around the landscapes, recording the action from any angle, freezing a still, and sharing your creations with your friends online. Had a fun time blowing up your buddy in a Warthog? Record the carnage in slo-mo and send it to him for posterity.
This kind of do-it-yourself animation - sometimes called machinima - has been around for years, and has its roots in PC shooter games like Quake. But Halo 3 takes it to a completely new level of ease and sophistication. It's a tool for pushing one of the most important consumer technology trends of the decade: personalization. It's not just about recording game play. Save Film lets gamers get their hands-dirty and create their own meta-Halo epic. For example, orchestrating a spoof of the Sopranos but using the characters and weapons of Halo, with some dubbed dialogue (if you steal my idea, at least email me a copy!).
And, oh yeah, Halo 3 is going to be a lot of fun to play.
