Halo 3 Beats Out GTA IV, Portal, Wii Fit For Edge Innovation Award (Keep this mature)

[tiredinnuendo]

There's a few things in this thread that bear repeating.

Halo 3, just as Halo 2 did before it, presents a roadmap for the way online will be integrated in videogames in the coming years

Innovation!

It shows how dim witted we gamers are.

Many, many gamers have been arguing for a long time now that Halo shows *exactly* how dim-witted some gamers are.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. But still, overall, no matter what you thought of Halo 3, it's hard to deny that the gameplay experience in nearly identical to Halo 2, which doesn't speak much for innovation.

- J

 

[wahi]

maybe they couldn't complete portal...

 

[Leon P]

Halo has got one of the best matchmaking systems to date
and a very very fun camera recording system which Ive yet to see in other video games

but Portal deserved to win IMO

 

[sunami88]

maybe they couldn't complete portal...

...Actually that's a really good theory.

 

[Relgaro]

i may have understood if maybe Halo combat evolved was there...

but half life 2 beats any halo game for me...

if i was stuck on an island and i could take any 360 game/games it would be the Orange box.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

UK outlet Edge has declared that Bungie's mega-blockbuster Halo 3 "does most to further the creative culture of gaming"

I literally accidentally launched my food off my desk, due to all the laughing! Ah... I needed a good laugh today ^^. Ok, I will keep it civilized. In my Honest Opinion, I think portal deserved to be at least one step ahead of Halo 3. Well, I have my opinion, they have theirs....

Halo 3, just as Halo 2 did before it, presents a roadmap for the way online will be integrated in videogames in the coming years

If you can consider all of the polite and friendly people that play Halo a part of the online experience that Halo presents, that's a scary thought :S

(No offense to the real polite people that play Halo 3)

 

[Anton P. Nym]

The Halo series has a ton of innovation... under the hood. Most of the gameplay innovations happened in Halo 1, but 2 and 3 both brought a LOT new in terms of web integration, the Party system, the Matchmaking system, the way they handle real-time surround-sound mixing, the AI mechanics, and the menu layout.

If that's what EDGE was recognising, then I agree with the award. If it was just a popularity contest, well, that'd be flattering to my tastes but not really valid.

-- Steve

 

[Saevus]

"It's not innovation for gameplay, it's innovation for menu systems, functionality, community support and new ways of playing games, ie. creating new maps with each other."

A comment that succinctly describes the award.

Because, apparently, doing stuff that has been done years before by Valve and the Steam community is very innovative.

Honestly, nothing they listed in their reasons for Halo 3 winning is actually new, nor innovative. The only way they can credibly back up their words is by, in fact, being completely fucking unaware of any multiplayer developments made on PC in the last 5 years. And none of this 'But this is the first time for console!', because that does not fit the whole 'innovative' part.

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

Oh god... here we go again... why Halo 3? I like the game but, most innovative? I think Portal should've won.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Because, apparently, doing stuff that has been done years before by Valve and the Steam community is very innovative.

Honestly, nothing they listed in their reasons for Halo 3 winning is actually new, nor innovative. The only way they can credibly back up their words is by, in fact, being completely fucking unaware of any multiplayer developments made on PC in the last 5 years. And none of this 'But this is the first time for console!', because that does not fit the whole 'innovative' part.

Jealous cat is jealous.

I wasn't aware that Steam allowed players to collaborate online in creating new maps in-engine... can you show me how to turn that on? Oh, and when did Steam start letting groups of players migrate from server to server without losing their inter-player connection? I know Steam allows players to accumulate statistics, but the integration between that collation and the web doesn't match bungie.net's yet. And as far as I can tell there's nothing remotely similar to Matchmaking in any Valve product... especially not in Portal, the nominee, whose technical innovations (impressive as they are) cluster around perfecting graphic rendering for through-portal viewing.

Stop getting all huffy and try admitting that there are more developers out there than Valve who're doing good work.

-- Steve

 

[Ghostkai]

and a very very fun camera recording system which Ive yet to see in other video games

Battle recorder in Battlefield 2?
The Ability to save replays of your matches in C&C: Generals? (and all the generals clones [battle for middle earth etc.])

Innovation from Halo 3? Not even a little, it's all been done before, heck, besides a couple of touched up bits, it's identical to Halo 2. Edge is a crap magazine anyway, no point even arguing this, I think most people (cept for you sad Halo fanboys who still hold a torch for it) think Portal should have won. And too bloody right!

 

[Jumplion]

Hell, by now, the only game that should ever win an award for innovation or originality is Portal because it's freakin' Portal. It's a god damn requirment for Portal to win Most Innovative and/or Original nowadays! Though, if it does win those awards even more people would start yelling "THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!" Soooooooooooo, I guess that's one upside to this ordeal.

 

[Saevus]

Because, apparently, doing stuff that has been done years before by Valve and the Steam community is very innovative.

Honestly, nothing they listed in their reasons for Halo 3 winning is actually new, nor innovative. The only way they can credibly back up their words is by, in fact, being completely fucking unaware of any multiplayer developments made on PC in the last 5 years. And none of this 'But this is the first time for console!', because that does not fit the whole 'innovative' part.

Jealous cat is jealous.

I wasn't aware that Steam allowed players to collaborate online in creating new maps in-engine... can you show me how to turn that on? Oh, and when did Steam start letting groups of players migrate from server to server without losing their inter-player connection? I know Steam allows players to accumulate statistics, but the integration between that collation and the web doesn't match bungie.net's yet. And as far as I can tell there's nothing remotely similar to Matchmaking in any Valve product... especially not in Portal, the nominee, whose technical innovations (impressive as they are) cluster around perfecting graphic rendering for through-portal viewing.

Stop getting all huffy and try admitting that there are more developers out there than Valve who're doing good work.

-- Steve

Try Steam friends sometime, and actually using the community. Does a lot. Matchmaking, however, there is not.

And perhaps you can demonstrate sometime why a few features that Steam lacks are vastly superior to the ability to switch between games in a near-heartbeat. O rite have to take the disc out and put in whatever you want to play other than Halo 3.

It wins an award for putting all features right in front of you and practically putting them in your mitts. Accessibility, however, does not suddenly turn all of those features into innovative gifts passed down from the heavens.

And for reference, I hate Steam. Viciously. But it's been phenomenally innovative and seriously done a lot to push online gameplay and digital distribution forward, in spite of verily pissing in the face of people with low-end PCs and presenting a number of problems with the third-party games it sells.

The article itself is, of course, purely an attention grab. It sells itself on the point that it gives the award for innovation to a generic shooter, over many exceptional games that pushed the boundaries of gameplay - then it clarifies 'O btw nothing to do with the gameplay lol'. And it's succeeded in the goal of provoking a shitload of people.

 

[sunami88]

Try Steam friends sometime, and actually using the community. Does a lot. Matchmaking, however, there is not.

Agreed. Also, people seem to forget that Halo 2 did alot of the stuff Halo 3 does for multiplayer as well (virtual couch, cross game invites IIRC, they had a "TruSkill" type system in place too). So there was even a console game that did all that stuff before Halo 3... and it was Halo 2.

EDIT: Removed redundancy was redundant.

 

[Joeshie]

And as far as I can tell there's nothing remotely similar to Matchmaking in any Valve product... especially not in Portal, the nominee, whose technical innovations (impressive as they are) cluster around perfecting graphic rendering for through-portal viewing.

-- Steve

But why should technical achievements be the only thing considered for innovation in video games?

 

[mjhhiv]

Don't act like Rock band was innovative there are games with drums and singing already out there. The game I was leaning towards was Portal with the creative thinking and the nice simple two portals and creative thinking to stop eight or so auto guns when it would take Master Chief a few grenades and a toss in the guns general dirction.

Yes, but no game has been able to blen them all together into one game, nor so seamlessly. Its like saying that Co-op in a game is no real innovation over single player.

Lets not forget the difference between unprecedented and innovative. DLC has been going for a while, and other games have done well with DLC, maybe not on the level that Rock Band did, but innovation creates something new. Rock Band didn't.

 

[the monopoly guy]

Halo isn't innovative? But, But...dual wielding!

 

[Auron555]

I agree with Gamer137 when he said that no shooter in the last 5 years has truly been innovative, it seems to me like they're in the same line as sports games: Neaten up the graphics, change the function of the right analog stick and bump up the roster. Boom, new game. It's just like Yahtzee said, games are considered innovative if the main space marine has a moustache, however you spell that... Oh, and buy portal on steam. Best $20 ever.

And I haven't heard of this "Edge Innovation" thing before, but to be fair, maybe they ah screw it. Bias! Bias! Rabble rabble!

 

[Anton P. Nym]

And as far as I can tell there's nothing remotely similar to Matchmaking in any Valve product... especially not in Portal, the nominee, whose technical innovations (impressive as they are) cluster around perfecting graphic rendering for through-portal viewing.

But why should technical achievements be the only thing considered for innovation in video games?

Why should they be excluded? The only gameplay innovation introduced by Portal was the way gameplay and story were integrated. All the other, wonderful gameplay touches in Portal were arguably done by Narbacular Drop first... save that through-portal graphics rendering technique, which is indeed a technical marvel but it's just the one.

This isn't a prize for "most creative" or "my huggliest-favourite EVAR"; it's a prize for innovation, and I guess the judges at Edge viewed the technical aspect to be as important as the creative aspect.

-- Steve

 

[Audemas]

The day awards like these are given to appropriate games is the day that Hell freezes over. And I'm guessing Bungie slipped those guys a nice amount of cash to say that crap. But whatever, those with a brain know for a fact that Portal was a more innovative game. How many games are there like this that have such a dark comedic presence, intuitive gameplay and to end on a great note a song by Jonathan Coulton. You can't get any better than that.